(Bloomberg) — Ikea’s largest franchisee is awarding greater than 170,000 workers a one-time bonus for serving to speed up web-based gross sales in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ingka Group noticed the web share of its 37.4 billion euros (US$43.4 billion) income for the 2021 monetary yr improve to 30% from 18% a yr in the past. That development and workers efforts to rapidly adapt shops to introduce Covid-19 security measures imply workers worldwide will share a complete of 110 million euros, in response to an announcement on Friday.
The typical bonus per employee has not been disclosed however might be primarily based on every nation’s proportion of complete wages and might be paid out in January.
Ikea isn’t the primary retailer to reward workers for working in frontline retail positions the place they’re extra more likely to be uncovered to potential Covid an infection in the course of the pandemic.
Most of Britain’s largest grocers, together with Tesco Plc, J Sainsbury Plc, and Asda Shops Ltd have already elevated bonuses for workers. Final April, Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, Britain’s fourth-largest grocer, tripled the annual bonus for workers who acquired simply over 1,000 kilos (US$1,380) in comparison with a median of about 350 kilos the prior yr.
Within the U.S., Walmart Inc. has paid a sequence pandemic-related bonuses since early 2020 to employees who’ve helped inventory cabinets, pack and ship on-line orders and serve clients in the course of the pandemic.
Sweden’s Ingka operates house furnishings shops in 32 markets. The retailer opened 25 new places in the course of the monetary yr and its funding unit earlier this week introduced plans to purchase an iconic seven-story constructing on London’s Oxford Avenue for 378 million kilos.
The positioning will host considered one of Ikea’s smaller shops with a format concentrating on buyers much less in a position to journey to the big, edge-of-town shops the Swedish retailer is thought for.
“Our bodily shops, massive and small, will all the time be a necessary a part of the Ikea expertise,” stated Peter Jelkeby, nation supervisor for Ikea U.Ok. and Eire.
Forward of the COP26 convention in Glasgow subsequent week, Ikea launched its new “Sustainable Residing Outlets” within the U.Ok. Thursday, in a bid to assist buyers eager to sort out local weather change. The “shop-in-shops” items will showcase merchandise that may assist customers use much less vitality and water, create much less water and cut back single use.
