BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Hoping to shed its reputation for offering little more than dead-end jobs, Walmart, the nation’s biggest private employer, is giving raises to nearly a half-million workers and offering what it says are more opportunities for advancement.
As part of $1 billion it’s spending to change the way it trains and pays workers, the company will give raises to nearly 40 percent of its 1.3 million U.S. employees in the next six months.
In addition to raises, Walmart said it plans to make changes to how workers are scheduled and add training programs for sales staff so that employees can more easily map out their future at the company.
The company said the changes, which were announced on Thursday as Walmart reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, will hurt profits this year.
“We are trying to create a meritocracy where you can start somewhere and end up just as high as your hard work and your capacity will enable you to go,” CEO Doug McMillon said.
The changes come at a time when there’s growing concern for the plight of the nation’s hourly workers.
Thousands of U.S. hourly workers and their supporters have staged protests across the country in the past couple of years to call attention to their financial struggles. Business groups and politicians have jumped into the fray, debating a proposal by President Obama to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour.
At the same time, competition for retail workers is becoming increasingly stiff. As shoppers get more mobile savvy, retailers are seeking sales staff that are more skilled at customer service. But in the improving economy, the most desirable retail workers feel more confident in hopping from job to job.
Because of its massive size and impact, Walmart has faced outsized pressure by organized labor groups to raise its starting hourly wages to $15 and provide workers with more consistent hours. With its new changes, the company’s average full-time wage will be $13 an hour, up from $12.85. For part-time workers, the hourly wage will be $10, up from $9.48.
That’s below the $14.65 average that hourly retail workers in a non-supervisory role earn, according to government data that includes people who work at auto dealers and other outlets that would likely pay more than discounters like Walmart. But it’s above the $9.93 average hourly pay for cashiers and low level retail sales staff, according to Hay Group’s survey of 140 retailers with annual sales of $500 million.
McMillon, whose first job at Walmart was an hourly position loading trucks during college, said the company is making the changes in both wages and training because it realizes it needs to do more than just pay more. In a survey Walmart conducted of 24,000 workers, it found that many don’t know how to move up at Walmart.
“We want to make it really clear that working at Walmart is a great opportunity,” he said. “Time will tell what the significance of the decisions will be.”
Walmart’s plans
• Start raising entry-level wages to at least $9 an hour in April and to at least $10 an hour by February of next year.
• Raise the floor and ceiling of its pay range for each position in most stores. For example, the pay range for cashiers is $7.65 to $16. The new range will be $9 to $17.55.
• Raise the starting wage for some department managers to at least $13 an hour by this summer and at least $15 an hour by early next year.
• Give newly hired workers a $9 per hour training wage, and when they successfully complete the six-month training program, raise it to $10 an hour.
• Give hourly workers hands-on training in areas including teamwork, merchandising, retail fundamentals and communications.
• Roll out a program that offers some workers fixed schedules so they can be able to choose the same hours each week. The program is being tested in Wichita.
The Associated Press
