Costco is a wholesale company that deals with beef, chicken, organic foods, wine, and many more grocery items. The origination is an American multinational corporation that has various retail outlets in about 786 locations worldwide. The business has grown big since its establishment in 1983 in the state of California. Of course, Costco is a renowned company that many individuals would love to work with, as it is a place where the employee’s welfare is catered for appropriately. Costco has over 254 000 employees working across its stores in the United States and other countries where Costco is present. Here, let’s know about Costco Employee Benefits.
The Costco Company provides all its employee’s many benefits, which are mouthwatering and juicy for many of their employees. Besides, most of their workers are considered kings among other retail workers in the United States. The benefits and discounts provided by Costco help the company to retain its hard-working workers and also as a way of showing gratitude to the employees. If you are hoping to get a job with Costco and you are curious about what the organization’s employee benefits are like, then you are on the right page. In this piece, we will explore the benefits provided to its workers by Costco.
Some background information about Costco
Before we break it down further, some information is paramount to Costco, including the worker’s expected age. Before you can work for Costco, you must be at least 18 years old, and also Costco hires seniors. Most of the departments where seniors are hired to work for Costco include the optical, pharmacy, and member’s services departments. Meanwhile, there is no required age of retirement at Costco, which indicates that you can work for as long as you desire with the Costco company.
Costco Employee benefits
Costco provides various employee benefits, which are often provided based on your position in the organization. The benefits include the following;
Comprehensive Health and Dental Insurance
Costco believes that to have a formidable team of workers, they must all be active and healthy to perform the required duty they are assigned at work. As it is well known that health is wealth, the importance of health insurance for employees cannot be over-emphasized. If you have worked with the Costco Company for more than 180 consecutive days and you have worked more than 24 hours per week, then you are eligible for health benefits as a Costco employee. However, you can choose your health care insurance provider, which makes the out-of-pocket costs very low compared to the competition. More so, since Costco has an in-house pharmacy department in the warehouse, you would gain access to a professional pharmacist and a solid drug plan should you need one. In addition, Costco workers only pay $5 for generic drugs, while brand-name medications are given about 5 to 15 percent off the original price. Aside from that, all employees get access to a low-cost dental plan provided by the company for services including teeth cleaning and some other basic dental care such as cavity filling.
Generous 401 (k) Match
The goal of the 401 (k) retirement saving plan is designed to help you maximize your contribution towards saving and building a better future for yourself. The company offers about 50 percent on your retirement saving plan, often up to about $500 per year. However, you can also add about $1000 per year if you are smart enough to maximize your benefit. This means that Costco would help you add $500 to your 401 (k) retirement savings account if you can add $1000 per year. This is a great deal for you as an employee with Costco.
More so, Costco would contribute a percentage to your retirement saving plan regardless of the amount you add to your 401 (k) account. However, your 401 (k) contribution starts after being employed for a year, and you have started at 3 percent increases periodically. Indeed, Costco’s 401 (k) employee contributions are quite more generous than that of other retail businesses.
Do Costco Employees Get Discount Benefits?
Here is another interesting question you might get to ask, which most people do not think is a problem. The employee pays the same price as every other person who walks into the store to buy any items sold. However, one of the benefits that the Costco employee enjoys is that they can easily shop after hours when the store is empty and no more customers to be attended to. Of course, this can save the employee plenty of time, and as you know, time is money.
Starting Salary
Based on the Wall Street Journal article, the starting hourly salary paid to Costco entry-level staff is $15 per hour. This hourly wage is very high compared to other big boxed employers of labor in the United States. Only a few organizations have this awesome pay offered to their employees. Besides, the wages are significantly higher for workers who perform the Sunday shifts. If you are wondering about the growth of the employee and the possibility of getting an increase in hourly pay, the hourly Costco employee tops out at about $26 to $28 per hour, although it could take you 6 to 8 years before you get there.
Paid Time off Policy
Most organizations do not offer their employees paid time off. The case is different with Costco as their employee benefits from the paid time off designed by the business. After you have worked with Costco cooperation for over a year, you would have accrued at least 2000 paid hours which would then, in turn, mean you would have accumulated paid time off. Meanwhile, at Costco, the paid time off is earned by the number of years you have worked with the organization an and the benefits is structured in the following way;
– 1 year of employment: 1 week PTO
– 2-4 years: 2 weeks PTO
– 5-9 years: 3 weeks PTO
– 10-14 years: 4 weeks PTO
– 15+ years: 5 weeks PTO
However, if you work for less than 2000 hours, your paid time off is prorated according to the number of hours you have worked. Meanwhile, you must know that you cannot roll over your paid time off from year to year but can only be rolled over to the following year alone. The goal is that you use the vacation hours, so you don’t have to lose them.
Free Turkey
This sounds good. Based on the Business Insider write-up, employees at Costco get a free turkey at the time of the thanksgiving celebration. The gesture is cool, I guess, but this isn’t the same as the Christmas bonus, which is more like the Jelly of the Month Club’s bonus to Costco employees. The good thing is that employees can donate their turkey to charity if they do not want to take it home.
You can also benefit from the Time and a Half on Sunday.
You can get an opportunity to increase your paycheck if you choose to work the Sunday shift. If you choose to work regularly on Sundays, you will earn time and a half as an employee of Costco. This means if your normal hourly pay is $15/hours, that means you would be going home with $22.50 per hour, which is considered as a nice pay increase for their employee. With that figure, your hourly rate is averagely increased to $16.50 per hour by working on Sunday.
Four free membership cards
The Costco store operates on a membership card which gives the customers a high discount rate on whatever they shop on yearly. Also, the Costco workers are entitled to 4 free annual membership care, which they can decide to give out the rest 3 to anyone they prefer to give. Most often, Costco workers prefer to give out their cards to their family members. Therefore, you should choose wisely whenever you decide who to give your three free membership cards to.
Conclusion
There are various benefits that the employees of Costco stand to gain when working with the organization. This is major because the organization always wants to make their employees happy and highly motivated; this is why the company goes the extra length to give out many benefits. For example, if you are a hard-working employee at Costco, you would easily move up the chain of your career, and in no time, you can easily shoot for the supervisor position and then eventually become a store manager. In addition, other bonus benefits are offered by Costco, including six-monthly bonuses and annual bonuses for the employees.
FAQS
What position pays the most at Costco?
Various positions can offer you a juicy hourly rate at Costco; they include the following;
What are the Top 5 Best Paying Related Costco Jobs in the U.S?
| Job Title | Annual Salary | Hourly Wage |
| Costco Health Solutions | $70,439 | $33.86 |
| Costco QA | $61,173 | $29.41 |
| Costco Quality Assurance | $61,173 | $29.41 |
| Costco Remote | $58,744 | $28.24 |
Is getting hired at Costco hard?
Landing a job at Costco can be very competitive, but it isn’t that hard. If you follow the right application process and are more than 18 years of age, you can easily get a job.
