Ok, let me get this straight, Walgreens wants employees to donate to a fund to help under paid coworkers? Am I understanding this correctly? That can't be what it truly is. No company would expect its employees to make up the pay gap for them not paying their employees a living wage? Am I missing something or is Walgreens really that out of touch???
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There are plenty of things that Walgreens/Sycamore does badly.
You do not have to use the Employee Benefit Fund, which does help employees, as one of them.
The Walgreens benefit fund is funded by Walgreens team member payroll deductions, company contributions, employee fundraisers, and external donors/vendors.
I have seen many people benefit: two who had their houses burn down, one who was in an automobile accident, and one who couldn't pay rent.
I do not think any employee should fund this program. I have seen people who got money want to 'give back' so I do think the option should be there if you want to help fund it but I certainly don't think anyone SHOULD fund it.
I don't think Walgreens is going around saying everyone should fund this. Its funded by many sources.
Walgreen Benefit Fund has been around for a very, very long time. It is there to help support fellow team members who have run into hard times such as a fire, weather related disasters, high medical bills, and other tragedies. This is a 501(c)(3) organization and is funded through donations. Many other companies have similar programs.
@ad You're being sarcastic, right??
Asking employees to contribute money to other employees is very strange to me. The company should have a fund that they set up to help out their staff. Never in my life have I heard of a company expecting their employees to financially help their coworkers. It just seems really backwards to me, but this company does a lot of things I don't understand so I shouldn't be shocked.
@OP Basically, many Walgreens employees are poorly compensated, live paycheck-to-paycheck and have no safety net so the company was kind enough to establish a fund that fellow financially strapped employees can contribute to for those in need.
Benefit Fund is funded by employees and is for employees facing financial hardships, been in place a long time.
@a2 Oh, I see. Still sounds odd to me. Never heard of a company doing that before. Seems like the company should provide those benefits, not the employees. Oh well.
It helps coworkers if they have an emergency like funeral expenses, fire, natural disaster. It's not for normal living expenses.