Walmart is further expanding benefits for its U.S. store managers as the country’s largest retailer and private employer offers stock grants along with pay increases.
The company, which is based in Bentonville, Arkansas, and has nearly 4,700 U.S. namesake stores, said Monday that U.S. store managers will receive up to $20,000 in Walmart stock grants each year starting in the new fiscal year that begins Thursday.
Walmart – which announced a renovation of more than 1,400 stores last October – has risen 15 percent in the past 52 weeks. The stock closed Friday percent, or $1.43 per share, at $164.27 from Thursday.
Follow the movements an announcement The discounter announced earlier this month that it would increase the starting salary for store managers, while redesigning its bonus plan of up to 200 percent of their regular salaries to put more emphasis on winning among these leaders.
The pay increase and bonus change will also take effect on Thursday.
Walmart is further expanding benefits for its U.S. store managers as the nation’s largest retailer and private employer looks to retain its leaders and attract new ones in a still-competitive labor market.
Walmart said it has not made any changes to its store manager pay structure in more than a decade.
And while the turnover of U.S. store managers and the rest of the workforce has stabilized since 2022, the pressure on workers has increased.
The acceleration of online services like BOPIS, for “buy online in stores,” since the pandemic has created more challenges for retail leaders as they balance inventory for both in-store customers and online shoppers.
Walmart said the amount of the annual stock grant is based on store size. U.S. managers of the sprawling supercenters, which span about 180,000 square feet, will receive $20,000 in equity grants.
Those running the smaller Neighborhood Market stores – as well as the so-called “Division 1” stores, which sell mainly general merchandise – will receive $15,000 in stock grants.
And those who run the Hometown stores, a smaller version of the Division 1 stores, will receive $10,000 in stock grants each year, the company said.
Walmart said the equity grants will vest over three years, with one-twelfth of the total grant amount vested each quarter.
The grants will be awarded in April, which is the company’s traditional time for the compensation period.
John Furner, CEO of Walmart’s American division, was once a store manager himself
The company, which is based in Bentonville, Arkansas, and has nearly 4,700 U.S. namesake stores, said Monday that starting with the company’s new fiscal year, which begins Thursday, U.S. store managers will receive up to $20,000 in Walmart stock grants each year.
“It’s fair to say we’re asking them to act like owners and think like owners,” John Furner, CEO of Walmart’s U.S. division, said in a call to reporters on Sunday. “And with this announcement, they will all be owners, and many of them own shares.”
In fact, Furner noted that Walmart has long had an employee stock program, where employees can purchase stock directly and then have the company match 15 percent of the employees’ purchases, up to $1,800 per year.
However, Walmart is not offering a discount on the stock.
The new annual base salary for U.S. store managers will range from $90,000 to $170,000. Previously the range was between $65,000 and $170,000.
That means the average base salary for store leaders will jump from $117,000 to $128,000, said Cedric Clark, executive vice president of store operations at Walmart’s U.S. division.
About 75 percent of store management started as hourly workers, said Walmart, which itself was a store manager.
Neil Saunders, director of research firm GlobalData, noted that Walmart is not only trying to keep its top leaders from moving to rivals like Target and Costco, but also offering them more incentives to boost profitability at a time when declining inflation is putting more pressure . on retailers to sell more items.
Rising inflation was bad for shoppers, but it did boost companies’ overall sales.
Furner noted that Walmart has long had an employee stock program, in which employees can purchase stock directly and then have the company match 15 percent of the employees’ purchases, up to $1,800 per year.
The average base salary for store leaders will increase from $117,000 to $128,000, said Cedric Clark, executive vice president of store operations at Walmart’s U.S. division.
“The store manager will ultimately make or break the store,” Saunders said.
‘So they have to get better performance from their existing stores. The way to do that is to incentivize managers more so they become more efficient, more driven to deliver growth and more laser-like focused on their objectives, including profitability.”
Walmart announced in January 2023 that American workers would receive pay increases the following month, raising the starting wage to between $14 and $19 per hour.
Starting wages previously ranged from $12 to $18 per hour, depending on location.
Walmart has unveiled more than 100 remodeled stores — part of a $9 billion investment over the past two years to upgrade more than 1,400 of its 4,700 locations nationwide.
The chain is dedicating more of its floor and store space to online grocery pickup and delivery at its modernized stores, and has added new “dollar stores” in addition to the cash register.
Walmart pharmacies have been moved to the front of the renovated stores, the company said in a statement rack Monday, with new private screening rooms for pharmacy consultations and services.
The retail giant reopened 117 stores in 30 states at a cost of half a billion dollars in an effort to boost sales.