Walmart Pays Hourly Workers Almost $180 Million in Bonuses, Promises ‘More to Come’

The Walmart company paid its hourly workers nearly $180 million in cash bonuses Thursday and met its goal of hiring 200,000 more employees.

To help its associates during the coronavirus pandemic, Walmart planned to “accelerate the payout for our quarterly incentive,” which store employees received last week, wrote Chief People Officer Donna Morris in a memo.

She continued:

With this, we paid nearly $180 million in cash bonuses to hourly associates, with more to come next month on our originally scheduled quarterly bonus payout date. This is in addition to the special cash bonus for all U.S. hourly associates earlier this month, which was $300 for full-time hourly and $150 for part-time hourly, a total of more than $365 million paid to our associates.

Morris also explained the company had fulfilled its March 19 commitment to hire 200,000 employees to work in its stores, clubs, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers.

“We are humbled to be able to give an opportunity to so many Americans to work, often serving as a bridge for employment, while helping Walmart better serve customers during this time of increased demand,” she continued.

April 17, the company said it had received over 1 million applications for employment since committing to hire 150,000 extra workers and hired an average 5,000 people a day, according to Breitbart News.

“We’re seeing these associates come to us from restaurant and hospitality industries and other retailers. Of the associates hired, approximately 85 percent are being hired into temporary or part-time roles,” Morris said at the time.

“While many of these associates want temporary employment that serves as a bridge during this time, we also expect others to convert to permanent roles,” she stated.

Sunday on Twitter, Walmart shared a video assuring customers of its commitment to serve them.

Thursday, Morris said the company also remained focused on keeping its associates safe while they worked.

“We’re conducting health screens and daily temperature checks and providing masks and gloves to all associates. We’ve also added sneeze guards at registers, limited the number of customers in stores, installed social distancing signage and instituted sanitation protocols,” she noted.

“We appreciate everything our associates are doing to serve our customers and communities. They’re truly making a difference,” Morris concluded.