Walmart Hiring 5,000 People Per Day

The race for hiring amid the coronavirus pandemic continues. Earlier this week, Amazon reported bringing on more than 100,000 new associates in the past four weeks, with plans to hire an additional 75,000 people. Now, Walmart Inc. is delivering a similar message.

Walmart has onboarded 150,000 new associates in less than a month, six weeks ahead of the company's original timeline, with a new commitment to hire 50,000 more associates as soon as possible.

"We continue to see strong demand in our stores, and at the same time, we want to give our current associates the flexibility to take time off and stay home if they feel more comfortable doing so," said Donna Morris, EVP and chief people officer at Walmart. "In stores and clubs, we’ll continue to hire key roles, such as cashiers, stockers and personal shoppers. In distribution centers and fulfillment centers, we’ll hire additional fillers and pickers. And, we’ll also continue adding roles such as more drivers to our fleet."

Walmart says it has had more than 1 million applicants and hired an average of 5,000 people per day during the outbreak. The retailer has worked with more than 70 companies that have furloughed workers to offer many of these temporary or part-time positions. Others may turn into permanent roles. 

An expedited hiring process can take a job prospect from application to associate in less than 24 hours. 

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart operates more than 11,300 stores under 58 banners in 27 countries, and ecommerce websites, employing 2.2 million-plus associates worldwide. The company is No. 1 on Progressive Grocer’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.