By Joe Irizarry
Delaware Public Media, March 8, 2021
Legislation raising Delaware’s minimum wage to $15 per hour is expected to be introduced soon. And there is some business support for it. ...
Courtney Sunborn is the owner of Ecolistic Cleaning, a cleaning service in Lewes, and she says raising the minimum wage will help businesses as well as employees.
"Raising the minimum wage will bring people out of the impossible situation of working so hard at a full-time job that they're not able to make ends meet and when you raise the minimum wage it increases consumer spending and businesses rely on that to survive and grow," Sunborn said.
Sunborn adds increasing the minimum wage will also increase employee commitment and reliability while reducing turnover.
Sunborn’s business pays employees at least $14.50 per hour after their first month, and she provides an example of how paying a higher wage helped her business.
"For us by paying livable wages we've seen that it increases both employee commitment and reliability, but it also decreases turnover. Turnover has proven for me to be so expensive. Keeping our wages high keeps our turnover low, so for me from that perspective it makes incredible business sense."
She adds later this year, her business plans to bump starting wages to $15 per hour.