I love hearing good news stories rather than the typical doom and gloom stories that the media outlets seem to be putting out. This one made me smile…
A company giving back to their employees
Recently I heard that David Green, the CEO of Hobby Lobby stores, decided to increase their minimum wage to $10/hour. The change will affect 9,200 of their full-time employees and will cost the company about $15 million dollars each year.
Spokeswoman Carol Troy said they took the action because, “they have had a profitable year and want to pass that on to their employees.” And David Green said, ““Our employees are the backbone of our company, and we believe that giving them the opportunity to share in our success is the right thing to do,”
Apparently David Green is a Christian and he runs the business with Biblical values in mind. What’s exciting is that you can see God’s hand on that business as it thrives in an economy that is putting many businesses under. Over the last year Hobby Lobby has actually had a significant increase in sales and they have plans for expanding in 2009, opening 25 new stores while creating another 1000 jobs.
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That is great to hear. My company froze wages this year. I haven’t had a lot of experience with Hobby Lobby, but the few times I’ve been in their stores it’s looked like a mess. Hard to see how they’re having a profitable year, but hey more power to them.
I heard about this recently at church. It is so refreshing to hear about something like this when it seems that most companies these days are just out to make as much money as they can without any care or concern for their employees or their customers. Thanks for sharing the news!
It’s nice to hear some good news for a change. I love walking through Hobby Lobby and hearing hymns playing over the intercom.
And because instead of hording profits, he gave raises to his employees, I’m sure the company will do even better over the coming years.
Good to see that the world isn’t coming to an end… at least not yet.
I heard the interview that Dave Ramsey did with David Green right after the pay increase was announced. His point was that Hobby Lobby was not participating in the recession. I was visiting Liberty University today and heard how Liberty had cut tuition for all students by $500 …. another organization not participating in the recession.
I heard the interview that Dave Ramsey did with David Green right after the pay increase was announced. His point was that Hobby Lobby was not participating in the recession. I was visiting Liberty University today and heard how Liberty had cut tuition for all students by $500 …. another organization not participating in the recession.
On a recent Dave Ramsey show, someone asked for examples of businesses that were operating debt free. He mentioned Hobby Lobby, as well as Chick-Fil-A and a couple of others I believe. Maybe they’re on the right track. Personally, I’m a real estate investor and one of the first rules in real estate is to leverage your money. Purchase as much as you can with as little cash as you can. I’m starting to waver on that, but I’m not confident that debt free is the way to go. Hmm…
Being a previous HL employee, I can give you the facts. I worked there for 4 years off and on and they are the WORST most UNCHRISTIAN place EVER!!
When they gave this raise to all of the full-time employees and department heads, all of us part time employees were let go, and they are now refusing to pay us unemployment– including two single mothers who are now living off of welfare and having to stay at friends’ places because they can’t afford to pay rent anywhere.
I’ve quit twice and now been fired twice from this place. The first time, they didn’t even bother letting me know I was fired. They refused unemployment for me then, too.
Take my word for it: this company is VERY good at pretending to be something it’s not. Appearances are deceiving.
As a Hobby Lobby employee for nearing a decade, I can say your experience was a minority, Jess. Keep in mind that they’re a Christian business, but a business nonetheless. The company pays for half of all Angel Food for full time employees. The company doubled all 401k contributions of all employees last year. They have a 2 full time Chaplins available for all employees. The list of positives go on and on. Of course everything isn’t always so peachy. They do a fine job of taking care of those who take care of them.