Walmart is creating a faster path for employees to become certified skilled tradespeople and will give some frontline workers up to $1,000 annual bonuses.
Why it matters: The announcement comes ahead of Walmart's annual shareholders' business meeting today at 10:30 am where proposals call for the company to make public reports on racial equity, civil liberties, human rights and workplace safety.
- Another proposal calls for the company to establish wage policies "to provide workers with the minimum earnings necessary to meet a family's basic needs."
Driving the news: Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said on a call with reporters that 700,000 employees will be eligible for bonuses up to $1,000, Axios' Kelly Tyko reports.
- The program recognizes performance and years with the company, Furner said.
- "The longer an hourly store associate stays with the company, the higher their bonus potential, up to $1,000 a year," Furner and Lo Stomski, a senior vice president, wrote in a Walmart blog post.
Yes, but: The hourly worker bonuses are much smaller than bonuses for store managers, which can be up to 200% of their salary, Tyko notes.
Walmart also said it will pilot a program with 100 Dallas-Fort Worth metro area employees to help store and supply chain workers move into facilities maintenance, refrigeration and HVAC, reliability and automation technician roles that pay between $19 and $45 per hour.
- It will double the certifications through its Live Better U program that lead to higher paying jobs like pharmacy technicians, opticians and software engineers.
Flashback: The company raised the average manager salary from $117,000 to $128,000 and average wage for front-line hourly employees to $18, up from $17.50 in February.
- At that rate, a U.S. full-time hourly employee will gross $37,440 annually.
The big picture: The retailer employs more than 2 million people and is one of the world's largest companies , therefore can potentially influence global social change and the livelihoods of its workforce.
What they're saying: "For the last year or so, we've heard associates saying we would like a program where we can get some kind of bonus that rewards us" for performance, Furner said Tuesday.
- "Now, when it comes to compensation, we have a lot of choices … and we love the idea of our associates … if they hit their metrics, and they've been with us … to be able to participate in the financial success of the company."
The other side: "Being an African American woman with more than 15 years of managerial retail experience, I find it extremely difficult to advance with Walmart," employee TaNeka Hightower said on a call with the media Tuesday.
- "Over the course of my six years at this corporation, I've seen less and less people who look like me, especially at the top, even though we make up a majority of Walmart's workforce."
- Proposal No. 5 seeks to have the company disclose hourly pay gaps by race, Hightower said.
What we're watching: In its proxy statement , Walmart recommends shareholders vote against proposals 4-10, citing its existing policies and practices.
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