CHARLOTTE – Bank of America is raising the minimum wage of its employees to $21 per hour in what the financial company called “the next step” toward its goal of establishing a $25 per hour wage by 2025.

In 2017 the bank raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour. In 2019, it announced a $20 minimum to be reached over the next two years, according to CNN.

The company is also requiring that its vendors in the United States pay employees “dedicated to the bank, at or above $15 per hour,” having issued that requirement in May.

“We make broad-ranging investments to attract and develop talented teammates who serve our clients and local communities every day, and who can build long, successful careers with our company,” said Sheri Bronstein, chief human resources officer at Bank of America.

Virtual training

The bank also announced that it will launch a virtual reality training program in its nearly 4,300 financial centers nationwide.

The company said that about 50,000 of its employees would practice “routine to complex tasks” using a virtual reality headset, with 20 different simulations.

Managers would have access to real time analytics through the VR technology and would be able to “identify skill gaps and provide targeted follow-up coaching,” the bank added.

The company said it piloted the training program with 400 employees.

According to its careers webpage, Bank of America is hiring for more than 1,000 positions that would be based in North Carolina.