Retailer Walmart will gradually eliminate quarterly bonuses and instead charge it at the base salary of associates, the company confirmed to The Hill in a statement.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, said Walmart informed employees in a note that the quarterly bonuses, dubbed “MyShare,” will end on January 31, 2022.
“It’s important to note that the quarterly bonus represents only a portion of the pay rise that associates receive,” a Walmart spokesman told The Hill in a statement. “These bonds vary quarterly because they are based on in-store sales.”
“The vast majority of our associates claim that their hourly wage is the most important part of their pay and, by folding the bonus into the overall wage rise, associates receive a predictable and consistent salary.” added the spokesman.
The newspaper noted that while Walmart has implemented bonuses for decades, it wasn’t until 2007 that the retail chain distributed them quarterly.
Employers in almost every sector have increased wages and incentives to attract potential employees to their stores amid a shortage of domestic workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, Walmart announced it would increase the pay of more than 500,000 employees by at least a dollar, according to Reuters. The U.S. president of the chain, John Furner, told staff in a note that the average hourly wage for Walmart employees was now $ 16.40.
In addition, the chain said last week that it would hire 20,000 new partners at distribution centers, compliance centers and transportation offices, promoting an average salary for supply chain members of $ 20.37 per hour before ‘a busy holiday season in the coming months.