Walmart Unveils Another Impressive Store Manager Benefit
During the Walmart U.S. Year Beginning Meeting, in Houston, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner made a surprise announcement about a new benefit for the company’s store managers: Starting this year, all will receive an annual stock grant of up to $20,000. Furner also posted the news on LinkedIn.
While on stage at the meeting, Furner surprised store managers in the audience with the benefit. The amount of the annual stock grant is based on store format: $20,000 for a Supercenter, $15,000 for Neighborhood Market or Division 1 store, and $10,000 for a Hometown store.
“A Walmart store manager is running a multimillion-dollar business and managing hundreds of people,” Furner noted in his LinkedIn video. “It’s a far more complex job today than when I managed a store. And we ask our managers to own their roles and act like owners. And now they’ll literally be owners.”
According to Walmart, “Today’s announcement is the latest step in our ongoing journey of investing in our store associates – a journey that’s focused on pay raises for hourly store associates over the past several years.” The company also notes that about 75% of Walmart store, club and supply chain managers started as hourly associates, and on average it took only five years to rise to a management position, with no college degree required.
This latest benefit comes on the heels of Walmart’s recent investments in store manager pay, which will increase the average salary to $128,000 per year, and a redesigned bonus program that gives store managers the chance to earn an annual bonus that’s up to 200% of their salary.
Each week, approximately 240 million customers and members visit Walmart’s approximately 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company employs approximately 2.1 million associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Walmart one of its Retailers of the Century.
