Following into the footsteps of retailers like The Gap and Old Navy, the home furnishings company IKEA on Wednesday announced a 17% increase in the minimum wage of its employees.

The new wage structure will be implemented in all 38 stores of the company across the US.

The new program will become effective as a location based raise increase based on cost of living versus as an across-the-board minimum wage for all collective stores.

These days many companies are increasing the wage of their employees as they are seeing this also a part of their investment.

Earlier this month, McDonald's Don Thompson had backed the legislation to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. Ikea's acting president, Rob Olson said that the wage increase will help the company in long-term.

"We are of course investing in our co-workers. We believe they will invest in our customers, and they will invest in Ikea's stores. We believe that it will be a win-win-win for our co-workers, our customers and our stores," Olson stated.

The White House has already launched "Raise the Wage" campaign under which employers are encouraged to lift hourly wages for the 28 million Americans that are in this category.

Experts maintain that the wage increase is definitely a good move as it would motivate the workers to focus on their duties and deliver more for the company. This will ultimately benefit the companies which are adopting this new strategy.