Hundreds of thousands of Walmart store workers won’t get their “MyShare” quarterly bonuses after Jan. 31, 2022, instead earning hourly wage increases from the world’s largest private employer, according to a company memo sent to staff first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
“We are rolling MyShare into associates’ base pay going forward,” the memo said, according to the WSJ report.
Most Walmart employees have said their hourly wages are the most important part of their pay, so the decision is about giving them predictable income, a company spokeswoman told the WSJ. MyShare quarterly bonuses have been a staple of Walmart employees’ compensation for decades. The company opted for the quarterly bonus structure in 2007 after they were originally based on store performance.
Walmart plans to raise its starting hourly wage from $11 to $12 at the end of this month as part of the wage restructuring in a move that increases the pay for more than 525,000 of its 1.6 million U.S. workers. Walmart’s warehouse and fulfillment facilities pay their workers more than $15 an hour.
Last year, Walmart boosted wages for about 165,000 store workers and got rid of their bonuses. It did the same thing for about 425,000 digital and stocking workers in the spring.
Related: Walmart Warehouse Workers Get Weekly Bonuses To Put Off Vacation
Walmart warehouse workers had to choose between getting weekly bonuses and taking vacations in August in a move aimed at helping the big box retailer prepare for the holiday shopping season.
Some Walmart warehouse workers were offered $200 weekly bonuses, while others across the company’s 190 U.S. warehouses could bring in $500 a week, depending on their locations and job types.
The retailer’s distribution warehouses “continue to see high volume as we are preparing for peak season,” a Walmart spokesman told WSJ in August.