Asia Tech Wire (Sep 13) -- Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com on Friday announced that it has initiated another pay hike, following three consecutive rounds of pay hikes in early and mid-2024.

According to a statement, starting from October 1, 2024, JD.com's retail group and functional system will take two years to achieve a 20th-month salary, meaning employees will get 20 months of salary per year.

Meanwhile, other divisions at JD.com will subsequently launch their pay hike programs.

In a speech in May, Richard Qiangdong Liu, chairman of the board of JD.com, had said that he was going to give another pay raise to all JD.com's purchasing and sales staff, including cash and stock.

The minimum cash raise, according to him, would be 20%, with salary increases averaging 50% and up to 100%, in hopes of reaching the highest level in the industry.

In addition, Liu said the company will also set up an incentive fund of 10 million yuan for each division.

Public sources show that JD.com has been announcing salary increases in recent years.

JD.com announced in February that since Feb. 1, 2024, more than 20,000 frontline customer service employees have realized an average annual salary increase of more than 30%.

The company had previously announced a round of salary increases primarily centered around its recent business priorities, JD.com purchasing and sales, including live streaming.

At the end of 2023, JD.com had announced that since January 1, 2024, the annual fixed compensation of frontline business staff such as purchasing and sales had risen significantly by nearly 100%, and the entire retail staff would receive an average pay increase of no less than 20%.