Dive Brief:
- Amazon is investing more than $230 million to provide Whole Foods Market team members with higher pay, expanded benefits and new programs supporting their health and families, the company announced late last week.
- Beginning Sept. 28, hourly workers will get compensation increases “with predictable [pay] increases each year,” the company said. Starting Jan. 1, the specialty grocer’s workers will gain access to Amazon’s comprehensive benefits.
- These changes mark the latest in a series of moves by Amazon to align Whole Foods more closely with its operations and employee structure.
Dive Insight:
Amazon said the average total compensation for Whole Foods’ store workers is increasing to more than $29 an hour when factoring in the new benefits, and that the total value of benefits for full-time employees is increasing by more than 75%.
At the start of next year, eligible full-time employees will begin receiving comprehensive health plans that provide access to primary care and behavioral health providers with $5 copays. Eligible plans include a One Medical membership with same-day and virtual doctor visits at no added cost, according to the press release. Nearly 20,000 part-time employees will gain access to dental and vision coverage and free basic life insurance.
Amazon noted team members covering a family or managing ongoing health needs “stand to see the most meaningful savings.”
Company-paid short- and long-term disability insurance will begin automatically at no cost, and when workers enroll in an Amazon medical plan, they will gain fertility and family-building care as well as cancer support and care navigation. Fully paid parental leave will also be available, with up to 20 weeks for birthing parents and up to six weeks for supporting and adoptive parents.
Every hourly Whole Foods employee will also get a free Amazon Prime membership, low-cost prescriptions through Amazon Pharmacy and other savings in addition to their existing 20% in-store discount benefit.
Career Choice, Amazon’s education benefit that prepays tuition for college, skills training and certifications, will also become available to Whole Foods staffers next year.
Since mid-2025, Amazon has been working to unify its leadership and integrate its benefits with Whole Foods. In June 2025, the company restructured its Worldwide Grocery division to add Whole Foods executives. A few months later, Amazon set a deadline of December 2026 to bring corporate Whole Foods employees under the same benefits program and compensation structure as Amazon corporate workers.
