Following criticism over its treatment of workers, Amazon.com Inc. today announced plans to hike the minimum wage of U.S. workers to $15 an hour starting next month.

The move is set to affect more than 350,000 workers. That includes over 250,000 full-time and part-time employees, plus the 100,000 seasonal staff Amazon will hire for the holiday season this year. Hourly personnel in the Customer Support and Operations groups who already make $15 an hour will see an increase, too.

Amazon previously said the average wage for its U.S. warehouse workers amounted to $15 an hour when including stock-based compensation and bonuses. Nevertheless, the company’s workforce management practices have come under criticism from both lawmakers and employees in recent years. Some staffers are pursuing legal action against Amazon over claims of unpaid wages, while others are pushing to unionize.

The newly announced wage increase constitutes the core of a multilayer effort by the company to address wage concerns. In addition to increasing the hourly rate for U.S. workers, Amazon will phase out performance-based incentive pay and end its practice of granting stock. In place of the latter program, Amazon intends to implement a “direct stock purchase plan” for employees by the end of the year.

Lastly, the company pledged to lobby Washington to raise the federal minimum wage. “We will be working to gain Congressional support for an increase in the federal minimum wage,” Jay Carney, Amazon’s senior vice president of global corporate affairs, said in a statement. “The current rate of $7.25 was set nearly a decade ago. We intend to advocate for a minimum wage increase that will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country.”

On top of everything else, Amazon’s wage raise could also boost its recruiting efforts amid low unemployment and moves by rival retailers to offer more competitive compensation. Walmart Inc. raised the minimum hourly rate for its employees to $11 an hour in January, while Target Corp. set its base pay to $12 a few months later and plans to hit the $15 mark by the end of 2020.

As part of today’s move, Amazon will start offering more competitive wages in the U.K. as well. The company plans to raise the minimum hourly wage to £10.50, or $13.60, in London and to £9.50, or $12.30, for the rest of the U.K. effective Nov. 1.

The increases are expected to have a modest impact on Amazon’s bottom line. Bloomberg cited Anthony Chukumba, an analyst with investment bank Loop Capital Markets LLC, as saying the wage hike will add between $1 billion and $2 billion in incremental costs for the company.

Photo: Amazon