Walmart Raises Pay for 1.2 Million Employees

By SUSAN PETRONI (Patch Staff)

Salem, MA - More than 1.2 million Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club associates received a pay increase, under the second phase of the company’s two-year, $2.7 billion investment in workers.

The pay raise was one of the largest single-day, private-sector pay increases ever, said wal-Mart.

The pay raise took effect today, Feb. 20. Salem has a Walmart at 450 Highland Avenue.

Other changes, according to a company pay raise, included:

• All associates hired before Jan. 1, 2016 will earn at least $10/hour.
• New entry-level associates will continue to start at $9/hour and move to at least $10/hour after successfully completing the company’s new retail skills and training program known as Pathways.
• Associates already earning more than $10/hour will receive an annual pay increase in February rather than waiting until their anniversary date.
• When these changes go into effect, Walmart’s average full-time hourly wage will be $13.38/hour. The average part-time hourly wage will be $10.58/hour.

Wal-mart and Sam’s Club also are launching a new, simplified PTO policy, effective March 5, 2016 that will streamline paid vacation, sick time, personal time and holiday time into one category.

And the one-day wait to use sick time will be eliminated, as promised.

When the plan rolls out in March, both full- and part-time associates will earn PTO based on tenure and hours worked. The plan includes:

• No waiting. PTO is available to use as soon as it’s earned and can be used for almost any reason.
• Full-time hourly associates can carry over up to 80 hours (48 hours for part time) of PTO from year to year.
• Any unused hours at the end of the year above the 80 hour and 48 hour limits will automatically be paid to hourly associates in the first paycheck every February.
• Associates will also keep any existing and accrued sick and personal time. These balances will be kept separate, to be used for certain circumstances once all available PTO is used.

In January, Walmart announced that it’s shutting down 154 of its U.S. locations, and that 10,000 workers would either be laid off or relocated to a different store.

In 2015, Walmart’s share price dropped 30 percent.