What we did was put in a temporary weekly bonus program. We also wanted to recognise that they were in there every day, helping our customers on the frontline. So we needed those associates who were willing and able to work, to be able to come into work. They have not been spending money on things like vacations and going out to eat, so they've been spending money on their homes and we've seen that in increased sales in 2020. That meant that the retailer needed a workforce on the frontline, notes Smith, and that need brought its own challenges:Ī lot of people have spent a lot of time at home. For associates who fell into a high risk category - such as those with chronic medical conditions or those that were over a certain age - a further incremental four weeks were granted.īut Home Depot needed to keep up-and-running with demand for product soaring, as locked-down customers took the opportunity of ‘house arrest’ to embark on that long-planned, but never actioned home renovation project that they’d talked about doing for years. It granted two weeks incremental paid time off to every frontline associate in the company, reasoning that it didn’t want employees to feel forced to come into work at a time when little was known about the virus. When the pandemic struck home in March 2020, Home Depot took a couple of immediate actions from an HR policy perspective. As events have transpired, it was a timely strategic move by Home Depot. Back in late 2019, pre-COVID, Smith took the lead in rolling out Workday cloud solutions to add to the mix. The HR operation at Home Depot consists of a number of key elements - HR tech, HR reporting and analytics, an HR Shared Services team and a Payroll team. That March and April timeframe was crazy for all of us. Or as Scott Smith, VP Compensation, Benefits and HR Operations, Home Depot, puts it: Managing all of that would be a big enough HR challenge at the best of times, but since the onset of the pandemic, the complexities have inevitably increased, particularly in the first months of the crisis.
Finally there’s a store support center, based at corporate HQ in Atlanta. In-store associates are primarily paid on an hourly rate, while there are a number of distribution centers which employ all full-time associates. In total, the firm boasts nearly 500,000 people on its payroll. Home Depot has around 2,300 stores, mostly in the US, complemented by a Canadian and Mexican presence, with an average store typically employing between 150 and 200 associates. US DIY institution Home Depot has tapped into Workday to assist in managing its way though the disruption from an HR and Payroll perspective. The COVID crisis has created additional pressures and challenges for employers in terms of supporting their workforces.
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