In the past, workers needed to work at least 20 hours a week to buy into the health-care plan. Now employees will need to work at least 30 hours per week, beginning next year.
Whole Foods – which employs close to 95,000 workers – says it’s making the change “to better meet the needs of our business and create a more equitable and efficient scheduling model,” a company spokesman said in an email to Business Insider.
“We are providing Team Members with resources to find alternative healthcare coverage options or to explore full-time, healthcare-eligible positions starting at 30 hours per week. All Whole Foods Market Team Members continue to receive employment benefits including a 20% in-store discount.”
The change in health benefits is to take place on January 1, 2020, and affects just under 2 percent of Whole Foods’ workforce. The change means that part-time workers will no longer be able to buy into medical coverage through the company.
Online shopping giant Amazon bought Whole Foods two years ago for nearly $14 billion, cutting prices on some items and adding its smile logo to aisles. In 2018, Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour, including Whole Foods employees.
Amazon also announced last week that it was planning on adding more than 30,000 permanent jobs in its tech, corporate and fulfillment departments, reports CNBC News.
