September 13, 2018
Walmart just paid its Ky. employees millions in bonuses. Here’s why:
Walmart workers across Kentucky had a little something extra in their Sept. 6 paychecks: $4.45 million in bonuses.
In January, associates, as hourly workers are called, received $200 to $1,000 in one-time payments after the Republican tax break that cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
But last week’s bonuses were on top of that. They were part of $200 million that the Arkansas-based retailer paid out to 915,000 hourly workers in the second quarter, a news release from the company states.
Why?
On Aug. 16, the company announced sales growth of 4.5 percent, the best performance in more than 10 years.
“We are proud to reward our outstanding associates across the Commonwealth for their performance,” said Kentucky regional general manager and vice president Thomas Underwood in a statement. “They are the reason our customers continue to come back time and time again, and we are proud to thank them with these bonuses.”
The company gives out bonuses every quarter, according to Anne Hatfield, Walmart spokeswoman, based on how well individual stores do. The program is called MyShare.
“The amount can vary from quarter to quarter, so the better earnings are and the better their store does, the better the bonus,” Hatfield said. “Every store is different but every associate at the store gets the same bonus. Employees love it.”
All employees, including part-time workers, are eligible after they have worked there for six months, she said.
Leading the way in growth for many stores was the important grocery segment, in which Walmart is aggressively taking on Amazon and Whole Foods as well as Kroger, Meijer and other stores.
Walmart now offers online grocery ordering and pickup at more than 1,800 locations and by the end of the year, about 40 percent of the U.S. population will have access to grocery delivery, according to the company.
Walmart is the nation’s largest employer with about 1.4 million employees. As the economy and job market have picked up, stakes have been raised for employers who want to stay competitive. In January, Walmart announced that it would raise its minimum wage to at least $11 an hour and expand some benefits.
But according to a labor group report, about half of Walmart’s workforce is still part-time, with reduced access to company benefits.
And even as Walmart was planning to boost base pay, the company closed dozens of its Sam’s Club warehouse stores in January and since has closed more under-performing Walmart stores, including one in Lexington and three in Louisville.
By Janet Patton
Lexington Herald-Leader
If your going to write a article at least get the store manager name correctly before you post it
JESS, HOW CAN I GET HIS NAME STRAIGHT IF HE WON’T ANSWER THE PHONE?
Well when you called to ask all your noisy questions it’s not that hard to ask for the store manager and when he would have got on the phone he would of stated his name and if he did not then it’s not that hard to ask what his name is and also it’s on the door and on every Louisa Walmart receipt and another thing it is against Walmart policy for a store manager, assistant manager and even a employee to discuss what your pay or bonus’s is it’s no ones Business
You did get his name correct it’s Josh Pruitt and he is never there.
I know this is an old post but I know for a fact my sons work there and there is a lot who did not get the bonus this past pay day either for no reason…..do not know why
It’s a yes or no question, ???
His name is Josh. And it is listed at the front of the store as well as on every single receipt. That would be one of two ways to know his name.
As for if they received the bonus this week, newsflash it isnt pay week this week.
Walmart is a joke they are douch bags try own their employees you can’t do certain things on your time off you can’t be Friends on face book with people over at Walmart list goes on about the ignorance they try to pull
Why not use your real name Matt Adkins?
I did in Facebook and thot that was good enough Christine , why don’t you go sit down in a isle and play on your phone . Lord knows you sure don’t know what your doing why I drive hour to Verizon store to deal with people with college education hat can really assist you
First off, I do not sit in the floor-i have a stool. Second, i have 3 college degrees (1 BA and 2 associate degrees).
Your are welcome to go pay more for your phone and be charged for transferring your personal items. More power to you.
Admin: If you called the Louisa Walmart why didn’t you ask the name of the store manager (journalism 101)? You should have thought your reply to Jess through before you posted it lol.
Because he didn’t take journalism 101. Very unprofessional to those that actually do journalism as a profession
Store Manager’s name can be fount on any receipt from the store u shop at. Look just under the Walmart*
Bonus? Most all Walmart employees are on government assistance that they have to have to get by. The owners are multi billionaires, and the employees are treated like peasants. Walmart should pay their workers more so they don’t need government assistance. The bonus is nice, but let’s get real, Walmart is a greedy corporate monster that lets their employees barely get by while they make billions. It should be against the law for a corporation as big as Walmart to have employees making just enough to scrape by while on government assistance that gets spent at Walmart. Ridiculous.
>>It should be against the law for a corporation as big as Walmart to have employees making just enough to scrape by while on government assistance that gets spent at Walmart. Ridiculous.
This is the United States, not socialist Europe. If you don’t like capitalism, go somewhere else.
I worked for Walmart back there, I was able to get assistance. After a while with help through assistance I was able to make it on my walmart check. People whom chose to do better, I believe can. Also offering mandatory money managing classes for those on assistance could pay to be helpful. Educate with mandatory class rooms building skills to better them self. Let the churches in on mandatory classes to build confidence . Just a thought 🙂
How is this news?
You get quarterly bonuses that range in size due to how well YOUR store has been doing. Depending on if there were any safety issues and the store profits, also like I said they get one every quarter so why is this even an article? Who’s business is it if they got a bonus or not? I mean come on.
We never asked any specifics just if our local Walmart people got the bonus. And yes, it is a public issue when you have over 100 employees in a small town like Louisa. BTW, the same article was published statewide that same day so is that clear enough for you to see we were attempting give credit ti Walmart not diss them. And it is NOT OLD NEWS. SAME DAY COVERAGE.
I will tell you all YES we did receive a bonus
Admin – you are wrong. An individual’s salary is not a public issue. It is personal and private to that individual. Would all you whiners be happier if Walmart pulled its store, and its money, out of Louisa and left those employees jobless? Find somewhere else to poke your nose.
They will need the bonus to pay bills because they cut the workers hours the week before it’s time to get bonus pay.
The bonuses given to Walmart hourly employees is chicken feed compared to what the store manager gets. That is why the reduce employee hours, minimize the number of employees at the check out lines etc. The store manager uses tools to compute how much more he/she can profit the store by reducing hours etc. as well as predict how much business the store will do in the upcoming weeks and months depending on holiday’s, beginning of the school year etc. By being able to predict future business the manager can allot a certain amount of hours per employee and how many employees are necessary to perform only the minimal amount of work that will meet customer satisfaction. Not that the customers are going to be ecstatic about the service and will most likely will not be really happy but they will keep shopping at that particular store. All managers get a bonus based on the profit of that particular store so you can bet they are going to cut costs every way possible.
That’s exactly what a manager is supposed to do when they manage a store. The manager wouldn’t have their job long if they had everyone working long hours, no store profit, etc. etc. All managers are supposed to manage their store for maximum profit. Put yourself in Wal Mart’s shoes. Suppose you owned a store and hired a manager that you thought was going to help you make money. They instead hired too many people that worked too many hours and had way too much inventory (or none at all), every cash register had someone standing doing nothing, etc. What would be the first thing you would do when you seen this happening?
I know a lot of ppl have not received theirs ppl whom have been there for years! Yes hours have been cut due to a new scheduling system. They need the bonus desperately after hours being dramatically cut.