Wesfarmers announces lockdown pay for 30,000 workers at Bunnings, Kmart, Officeworks and Target

One of the nation’s biggest retailers has announced it will maintain wages for 30,000 Victorian staff for the duration of the state’s stage four lockdown.

Bunnings Warehouse in Maribyrnong this week. Picture: Getty Images

Up to 30,000 Wesfarmers workers in Victoria who would have been left with only two weeks’ pay to last through the state’s six-week stage four lockdown have won a major boost from the Perth-based conglomerate, which is now pledging to fully pay staff sent home for the full six weeks.

Wesfarmers, which operates stores including Bunnings, Target, Kmart and Officeworks, is not eligible for JobKeeper, leaving affected staff without government assistance as they sit out the COVID-19 crisis.

But Wesfarmers has decided to pay its affected workers to sustain them through the period. “Wesfarmers is today advising all permanent team members affected by the current stage four restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne that they will remain employed and paid fully for the duration of the current six-week lockdown, in the event that the group’s businesses do not have meaningful work for them,’’ Wesfarmers said in an ASX statement on Friday.

Similarly, Wesfarmers’ casual team members who regularly worked 12 hours a week or more would be paid the equivalent of their regular hours for the remainder of the lockdown, the company said.

In line with the advice provided earlier this week, casual team members who worked less than 12 hours a week would be paid for the equivalent of two weeks of normal rostered hours in the event there is no work.

Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott.

Earlier this week Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott lamented the pandemic’s impact on staff and household budgets. He said the impact of COVID-19, and recently announced stage four restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne, had resulted in enormous hardship and uncertainty to the public, including the group’s 30,000 staff in Victoria. The restrictions on business activity including the temporary closure of in-store retailing has created further anxiety for team members and their families, Wesfarmers said.

“We are committed to the wellbeing of our team members who have done so much in recent months to operate our businesses safely and to support each other and our customers. This has required rapidly adjusting to changes in demand and ways of working, which will likely continue through the stage four restrictions,” Mr Scott said on Friday.

“Notwithstanding the federal government’s significant stimulus and income support to employees through JobKeeper, many businesses and employees, including Wesfarmers’ team members, will not be eligible. We can’t eliminate the uncertainty for our team members, but we can reduce concerns about a sudden and unexpected loss of regular household income that may otherwise occur because of store closures during the restrictions.

“It would not have been possible to provide this support without the strong performance our teams and businesses have delivered through the early months of COVID-19.”

Mr Scott said during the stage four restrictions, the most severe yet applied in Australia, many of Wesfarmers team members would have important work to do, including supporting online and click & collect operations and trade customer access in Bunnings.

“Beyond the lockdown, we look forward to our team members returning to their normal work. We recognise the important role they and our businesses will play in rebuilding the economy and supporting the community in the future.”