Big Y giving bonuses to 12,000 workers in Conn., Mass.
The Massachusettsbased supermarket chain Big Y is rewarding its employees with holiday bonuses in honor of the work they have done during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
The bonuses will be given to all 12,000 of the Big Y full- and part-time employees in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Big Y has 36 Connecticut locations, including in Bethel, New Milford and Newtown.
Charles D’Amour, president and chief executive officer of Big Y, said he is “grateful to all of our employees for their valiant efforts throughout this pandemic.”
“I am so very proud of their resilience and dedication to serving our customers during this past year,” D’Amour said in a statement.
The statement did not say how much the bonuses would be.
Michael Galat, vice president of employee services for Big Y, said the size of the bonus depends on a worker’s employment status. Full-time worker will get the largest lump sum payment, Galat said, with a smaller bonus for part-time workers.
Big Y employees who work less than 20 hours a week, which the company defines as “casual workers” will receive a smaller bonus than part-timers, whose hours range between 20 and 39 hours a week, he said.
Galat said Big Y will offer additional employee bonuses during the first quarter of 2021.
David Cadden, a professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University’s School of Business, said the timing of the bonuses being awarded helps “to assure employee loyalty during a time of year that is particularly stressful for workers in retail businesses.”
The supermarket chain had already offered its workers bonus pay earlier this year.