BNY Mellon raises minimum pay, offers new worker benefits

Bank of New York Mellon is raising its minimum wage, offering stock options to a wider range of employees and expanding well-being programs amid a tight labor market and increasing demand for employee benefits.

BNY Mellon is increasing the hourly base rate employees will be paid beginning March 2024 to $22.50 per hour, according to a press release from the bank Friday. That’s a 12.5% increase from the previous rate of $20 per hour.

The bank will also offer all eligible new employees stock in the company and health insurance plans with zero-premium coverage for workers making less than $75,000 per year.

Bank employees will also have access to additional mental health care resources and 16 weeks of paid leave regardless of gender after employees or their spouses give birth, adopt or become surrogate or foster parents to children.

BNY Mellon chose to “invest in our culture” by expanding worker benefits and incentives, Sharyn Jones, the bank’s global head of talent, said in a statement.

“We want our employees to feel valued and know that they are being compensated competitively,” Jones said in the statement.

Starting before the COVID-19 pandemic, a tightening U.S. labor market has pitted banks against one another in recruiting and retaining employees. Similar to any given price battle, when a prominent bank has announced higher wages or new benefits, others in the industry have followed.

In 2019, for example, New York-based JPMorgan Chase increased its base rate from $16.50 to $20 per hour. Within two years, regional banks including BMO Harris Bank in Chicago and Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services set an $18-per-hour minimum wage.

And last July, following an announcement that Bank of America would begin paying workers a minimum $22 per hour, JPMorgan matched BofA’s rate. Truist Financial, which like BofA is based in Charlotte, N.C., increased its minimum wage from $15 to $18 as well.

However, BNY Mellon’s pay increase also comes after some banks have announced plans to cut expenses, including layoffs.

In April, BofA reduced its employee head count by around 1,000 and projected that further cuts later in the year would lower its costs by up to $500 million. And last month, Associated Banc-Corp in Wisconsin said it had laid off more than 4,000 employees, while New York-based Citigroup informed workers about upcoming layoffs.

At BNY Mellon, the bank agreed with the U.S. Department of Labor last year to pay $1.9 million in back wages and interest to resolve allegations of pay discrimination against minority workers in the bank’s technology services group.

In recent months, BNY Mellon and more than 30 other companies have been sued for noncompliance with new labor laws in Washington state requiring employers to state a job listing’s wage scale or salary range.

The case against BNY Mellon seeks class-action certification.

“We are unable to comment on pending litigation,” a BNY Mellon spokesperson said in an emailed statement.