Walmart has announced plans to increase the salaries of 440 of its regional multi-store managers, meaning the top earners could make as much as $620,000 a year.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the American retail giant has informed its supervisors they will be eligible for increased bonus and stock awards this year in recognition of the pivotal role it says they play in the success of a company that currently has more than 4,600 premises across the United States.
Walmart, which is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, is also reportedly shoring up its operations elsewhere, ending remote working for its office-based staff, cutting pay at certain grades and moving workers on to one consistent health insurance plan to ensure parity.
The boost it is offering to its regional managers, known as “market managers” internally, reflects the high degree of competition between retail businesses right now as they battle to find and retain the right candidates for leadership roles, according to the Journal.
Once the new changes come into effect, Walmart’s market managers, often responsible for a dozen stores or more, could potentially make between $420,000 and $620,000 if they receive their full bonuses, an increase from $320,000 and $570,000 respectively.
Stock awards for people in those roles will also increase from $75,000 to $100,000.
Minimum base pay for multi-store managers will meanwhile rise to $160,000 a year from $130,000, although the maximum will hold at $260,000.
Walmart’s moves come at a time when other companies including Amazon and Google have cut mid-tier management positions, with the retailer bucking that trend in support of bosses who face a demanding workload and often have to spend long hours on the road moving between the stores for which they are responsible, the largest of which might have 300 employees.
Market managers sit one place above store managers in the corporation’s hierarchy, a position whose occupants now receive base salaries ranging from $90,000 to $170,000 after they too received raises in 2024.
Store managers are also now offered a bonus at 200 percent of base pay, contingent on store profitability and top-line sales, plus stock grants of up to $20,000.
That means the highest-earning holders of that office stand to make $530,000 a year, not bad for a position for which a college degree is not required.
Walmart also prides itself on making promotions from within, rather than prioritizing outside hiring, with 75 percent of its current salaried field management team having started their careers in junior hourly roles.
Its store manager pay stands comparison with roughly equivalent retail businesses like Target and Ikea, with a manager at the former standing to make between $99,000 and $144,000 a year, depending on their experience and responsibilities, according to Glassdoor.
