Costco dished out huge bonuses to executives who hit ‘metrics concerning diversity’, a report has revealed.
Top bosses raked in a total of at least $217,333 between 2021 and 2024 for achieving social and environmental goals, according to a study by Fox Digital.
In 2023, then-CEO Craig Jelinek was given $100,000 for achieving the necessary goals, a proxy statement showed.
Current CEO Ron Vachris scooped a $93,333 bonus last year, while other executives were handed $24,000 each for meeting their aims.
The targets were based around ‘metrics concerning diversity, equity and inclusion, resource consumption, and other environmental-related areas’.
The retail giant has not been forthcoming on the exact nature of the requirements needed to achieve the extra pay.
However, Costco’s inclusion policy states the company seeks to: ‘Empower our workforce and strengthen our culture by creating an environment where all employees feel a sense of belonging — that they are accepted, included, respected and valued for who they are’.
Costco has handed out hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth in bonuses to executives who hit DEI targets, including former CEO Craig Jelinek
Current CEO Ron Vachris scooped a $93,333 bonus last year
The pledge outlines Costco’s commitment to treating all employees fairly regardless of, ‘race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered military or veteran status, political ideology or expression, genetic information, marital status or other protected status’.
In January, the board voted to retain its commitment to DEI and Rev. Al Sharpton staged a ‘buy in’ in a New York City store as an expression of his support for the move.
As part of its DEI commitments, the retailer instructs all employees to take a ten-module course on ‘inclusive conversations’.
However, Costco has come up against backlash for its progressive policies, with 19 states’ attorney generals ordering the chain to drop them in order to conform with President Donald Trump’s executive order scrapping DEI in federal roles.
Trump called the order, ‘the most important federal civil rights measure in decades’ and claims it will advance equality.
Former Costco executive Roger Campbell dismissed the criticism and said that DEI has always been promoted at the chain.
The targets included, ‘metrics concerning diversity, equity and inclusion, resource consumption, and other environmental-related areas’
‘The term ‘DEI’ didn’t even exist to us, it was the way we ran our business… it’s who we are,’ Campbell said.
Data included in the policy reveals that there is an almost even split between the number of white and non-white managers employed.
However, the number of executives was overwhelmingly male at 72.3 percent compared to just 27.7 percent female last year.
