Sherwin-Williams has resumed its employee 401k match program, in what can be seen as a potential sign of a quick rebound for the painting industry.

You’ll remember that the paint maker paused its retirement match four months ago, augering signs of economic uncertainty as many businesses braced for the potential impact of tariffs and the country entered a third year of housing market slowdown.

The company will resume the match as of Feb. 1, as well as providing employees with a discretionary makeup contribution to compensate for the four-month pause.

“While many companies chose widespread layoffs, we chose a different path,” CEO Heidi Petz said in an email to employees. “We chose to protect jobs, retain talent and invest in the long-term health of our organization by keeping our teams intact.”

Petz credited Sherwin-Williams employees for elevated productivity and said the anticipated risks in the economy were not as severe as had been feared.

This is good news far beyond the Cleveland headquarters of Sherwin-Williams. Some of the brightest minds in paint looked at the sales data and decided that things were looking up for our industry.