The model of consistency here has to be bulk retailer Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST). Even before Obamacare became the law of the land, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) was divvying out health benefits to full-time and part-time employees (and spouses!). Following the announcement of Obamacare becoming law, instead of scaling back hours or benefits, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) saw this law as a way of complementing its already existing health plans and benefits. As such, Costco forged an alliance with Aetna to offer an individual insurance plan known as Costco Personal Health Insurance that would be priced below state-run exchange rates. If anything, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) employees will be receiving the same quality care, if not better, than before.
Just yesterday, Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) CEO Howard Schultz, in an interview with Reuters, announced that, “…Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) will continue maintaining benefits for partners and won’t use the new law as excuse to cut benefits or lower benefits for its workers.” This is big news because the restaurant industry is among the sectors expected to be hit hardest by a transition to part-time labor. With Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) among the industry’s largest restaurateurs — employing some 160,000 employees worldwide — this could be a move that leads to actual change within the sector.
Even Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI), the holding company behind Red Lobster and Olive Garden, has done well to redeem itself after initially signaling that it would tinker with hiring more part-time employees. Following this short-lived experiment, Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) realized the value of having its 45,000 full-time employees in its restaurants more often as forging connections with customers is certainly more valuable than whatever cost-savings the company would have racked up from cutting employees’ hours.
Could these corporate heroes start a trend that sees more companies bucking the trend and sticking firm to their full-time hiring habits? Only time will tell if that’s the case, but these three companies should certainly get a pat on the back from everyone in the meantime.
The article 3 Companies Doing Right by Their Employees Ahead of Obamacare’s Implementation originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.
Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of, and recommends, Costco and Starbucks. It also owns shares of Darden Restaurants and recommends United Parcel Service.
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