Tennessee’s biggest bank is boosting its minimum pay for its employees to $15 an hour, or $31,200 a year for full-time work.
First Horizon National Corp., the parent company of First Tennessee Bank, granted $1,000 one-time cash bonuses to 70 percent of its employees at the end of 2017 and announced the higher minimum pay rate Thursday. The bank said the bonus and pay raise “reflects the company’s continued investment of tax savings in its people” after the new tax law cut the top corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent this year.
The Memphis-based First Tennessee Bank has more than 4,000 employees, including more than 200 employees in the Chattanooga area market.
Jeff Jackson, market president of First Tennessee Bank in Chattanooga, said the raise will affect about a third of the bank’s local staff, “which in turn impacts their families, as well.
“It’s another reason I’m proud to work for First Tennessee.” Jackson said. “With this increase, we hope to retain many of our talented people.”