Gray Hands Out Across the Board Raises

While many media companies have instituted layoffs (Meredith, Sinclair, CBS, NBC, ect) or furloughs (Tegna) during the pandemic, Gray Television did not.

And while groups like Sinclair have frozen employee raises for 2021, Gray is upping their game by giving their employees raises across the board.

The staff was sent an internal memo that FTVLive obtained that said they would be getting a bump in pay, by up to 4%.

From: GrayTV - HR Communications
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 11:58 AM
Subject: Announcing Gray-wide Raises

 Ladies and Gentlemen:

 Last year, due to the impacts of the pandemic and resulting recession on our business, Gray Television froze annual raises for 2021 for all employees at all levels, from our senior-most leadership to our part-time staff.  (We however did fully honor raises required by employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements.)  When 2020 ended stronger than expected, and in recognition of the tremendous sacrifices made by all employees throughout 2020, Gray paid a three-percent year-end cash bonus to all full-time and part-time, contract and at-will, and union and non-union employees (excluding corporate staff and officers) in the last week of the year.

 This Year’s Improving Picture

 Over the past few months, we have seen revenues return a bit better than expected, while expenses have largely remained in check.  In addition, our workplaces are posting impressive rates of vaccination against the Covid-19 virus.  The high vaccination rates among our employees are allowing us to return to pre-pandemic working arrangements among our co-workers in many workplaces across the country – and hopefully to return to such arrangements in all workplaces in the next few months.  We believe this return to normality will further improve Gray’s ability to serve its viewers, customers and communities, which in turn will strengthen our company even more.

 Across-The-Board Raises

 Gray’s senior leadership believes that these improving trends warrant an unprecedented action on the company’s part.  In particular, effective July 1, 2021, we will increase hourly rates and salaries for the remainder of 2021 for all station, production company, corporate and shared services employees who did not receive a raise in 2021 over their 2020 pay.  These across-the-board raises will be implemented as follows:

 Employee Annualized Wages          Mid-Year Raise

 $49,999 and under                            4.0 percent annualized

$50,000 to $99,999                           2.5 percent annualized

$100,000 and above                          1.5 percent annualized

For example, a (part-time or full-time) employee earning $16 per hour on June 30 who did not receive an annual raise this year will see his hourly rate increase on July 1st to $16.64 for the remainder of 2021.  Likewise, an employee with a current salary of $50,000 who did not receive a raise this year will have her salary increased to $51,250 for the remainder of 2021.

Important Exceptions

 Those handful of individuals who did receive a raise in their hourly rate or salary for 2021 due to employment contracts, collective bargaining agreements, or otherwise will not participate in this mid-year raise program.  In addition, individuals hired by Gray in 2021 are not eligible for the July 1st mid-year raises.  Finally, Gray will not include our General Managers and corporate officers in these across-the-board raises.  While we very much appreciate their sacrifices and loyalty, Gray’s senior leadership believes that it would be better to direct the compensation increases to those employees for whom the pay freeze in 2021 had the most financial impact on their personal circumstances.

 Thank you!

 Gray’s improving financial performance so far this year is the direct result of the continued excellent work by our wonderful employees remaining committed to the missions of our stations and production companies.  We have no doubt that a good portion of this upside has resulted from the return to face-to-face interactions made possible by the impressive vaccination rates across our workforce.  We ask that you continue your tremendous work throughout the year.  We also strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated immediately if you have not done so already, so that you, and we, can together make 2021 a much better place to work than 2020!

Gray Senior Leadership