Australia's biggest supermarket chain Woolworths Group said on Tuesday it will reward more than 100,000 of its staff with free company shares for their efforts during a period of upheaval amid bushfires and the coronavirus buying frenzy.
FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk into a Woolworths supermarket in Sydney, Australia August 22, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo
The company said it would give full-time employees up to A$750 of shares each to keep or sell, while part-time staff would get shares on a pro-rata basis. Casual staff would get cash bonuses or store discounts. It also comes after several top Australian companies, including Woolworths, faced heavy criticism recently after admitting to underpaying workers. Woolworths said in October it had underpaid thousands of its supermarket staff up to A$300 million for years, prompting a government agency to say it would investigate the company.
As airlines, discretionary retailers and casinos laid off staff by the tens of thousand, Woolworths and No. 2 rival Coles Group Ltd had to hire people to restock shelves and carry out “social distancing” measures like installing protective screens.
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