Walmart Is Rewarding Staff for 'Herculean' Efforts

With pandemic panic buying and widespread uncertainty, these are tough times for Walmart workers—but the company says they will be rewarded. Walmart exec Dan Bartlett says the company is paying cash bonuses totalling around $550 million to its hourly workers the Wall Street Journal reports. "We felt this was a moment they needed to be provided some extra merit pay," he says."They are doing herculean work in our stores serving our customers in frankly a tense environment."

Full-time workers will get a $300 cash bonus and part-timers will get $150. Walmart, which has reduced store hours and rationed some items, is also hiring 150,000 new workers, largely for distribution centers dealing with online orders, CNBC reports. The company says it has streamlined the hiring process and reached out to workers from restaurants and other industries hit hard by coronavirus-related closures. (Amazon has also reached out to laid-off workers as it tries to fill 100,000 vacancies.)