- Walmart is offering pay raises and stock bonuses that will mean some managers can earn up to $600,000.
This week, retail giant Walmart announced that about 440 managers are set to earn a pay raise that will bump some employees’ salaries well into the high-six-figure range—even up to $620,000.
“Walmart is increasing base pay, bonus opportunity, and annual stock awards for our market managers,” a Walmart spokesperson confirmed to Fortune. The position “is key for our business and for serving our customers however they shop. This is the latest in a series of investments in hourly and salaried roles across Walmart U.S.”
On Feb. 1, base pay for market managers will be raised from $130,000 to $160,000. Factoring in additional bonuses and stock awards, managers made about $320,000 to $570,000 in 2024. Accounting for the policy change and additional stock granted, these employees will take home $420,000 to $620,000.
Stock grants for market managers will increase to $100,000 a year, up from $75,000, while potential annual bonuses will rise to 100% of base pay, up from 90%, per the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the changes.
America’s biggest employer wants to remain exactly that
“This is the latest wage investment in our people,” spokesperson Anne Hatfield told Fortune. “This has been a yearslong journey with increases in hourly pay that started in 2015.”
Recently, Walmart raised hourly wages and started a bonus program to incentivize loyalty—with a maximum bonus of $1,000 for workers who have been at Walmart for 20 years or more. Walmart hourly employees make on average $17.50 per hour, according to the company website. Pay raises were mainly allotted to reduce turnover—a driving factor behind the new payment programs for managers, too, as Bloomberg reported a manager drain, especially when the pandemic first hit.
“We will continue to raise wages across the business,” Hatfield adds.
It’s all part of a decade-long effort to retain employees after historically low wages and high turnover. Hourly workers for the largest private company in the world were once paid so little that many qualified for government assistance programs. Walmart was named the top employer of Medicare-enrolled workers in three states and top employer of SNAP recipients in five, in a 2020 Government Accountability Office report.
Walmart is “rewarding store managers for growing their businesses. As their store’s profit grows, so does their annual bonus,” Hatfield told Fortune in 2024.
Silicon Valley shirks middle managers but Walmart is holding fast
Walmart’s pay bump comes as managers are starting to feel strung out. A whopping 82% of middle managers reportedly feel frustrated and invisible, according to a survey of 1,000 in said position. Meanwhile, experts have predicted that 2025 is set for a “manager crash”—a “significant downturn” when it comes to managerial well-being and performance.
This past fall, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy sent an internal memo announcing that the ratio of individual employees to managers would be reduced at least 15% by the end of the first quarter of 2025. “I hate bureaucracy,” he said in an internal call. He’s not the only Silicon Valley figure likely to turn away from the manager; United Parcel Service and Google also recently made headlines for laying off managers.
“Amazon’s slashing of manager roles isn’t just about cost-cutting; it’s a glimpse into the future of work,” Naeem Zafar, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in entrepreneurship and strategy, told CNBC. “Technology is eating away at the traditional corporate ladder, and middle management is feeling the bite.”
Even so, managers can be key to a company’s performance. “There’s a lot of pressure placed on middle managers—their actions can affect the success or downfall of a company,” writes Anneloes Raes, professor and head of the department of managing people in organizations at IESE Business School. “Because they are in charge of the brunt of people management, they are also responsible for their teams’ mental health and ensuring fair work-life balance for subordinates.”
While managers might be on the chopping block when it comes to trying to reduce costs, it seems companies like Walmart are realizing that paying up will pay off.
