Walmart adding store manager perk after hiking pay, bonuses
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Walmart managers are getting a new benefit. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Walmart will start giving its store managers stock grants this year on top of new pay raises, the retailer announced Monday.
Why it matters: It's the latest move by the nation's largest private employer and retailer to retain and reward managers in a competitive labor market.
- Walmart has not offered this benefit to store managers before, company officials said.
Driving the news: Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner told store managers at a company meeting in Houston that they'll receive an annual stock grant of up to $20,000 starting this April.
- "A Walmart store manager is running a multimillion-dollar business and managing hundreds of people. It's a far more complex job today than when I managed a store," Furner said in a video posted on LinkedIn.
Of note: Furner said on a call with reporters that staffing turnover levels across the entire business "stabilized quite a bit post-2022."
The big picture: Walmart confirmed to Axios that all levels of management above the store manager level on the store side already receive annual stock grants.
- On the supply chain side, Walmart distribution and fulfillment center general managers and management levels above them receive annual stock grants.
By the numbers: The amount of a manager's annual stock grant is based on store format, Walmart said.
- Store managers of Supercenter locations get $20,000.
- Managers of neighborhood market and Division 1 stores of 70,000-plus square feet will get $15,000.
- Managers at Hometown stores — locations under 70,000 square feet — will get $10,000 grants.
Walmart manager pay increase 2024
Flashback: Walmart unveiled on Jan. 18 that it was increasing store managers' pay, hiking the current average manager salary from $117,000 to $128,000 starting Feb. 1.
- The retailer also is redesigning its store manager bonus program to offer managers who hit all targets up to 200% of their base salary.
Zoom in: A store's profit will play a bigger role in calculating the bonus, Cedric Clark, executive vice president of store operations at Walmart's U.S. division, said in a blog post.
- The new pay range for managers is $90,000 to $170,000, up from $65,000 to $170,000.
Meanwhile, Walmart also is raising the average hourly wage for front-line hourly employees to $18 in February, up from $17.50.
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