Walmart on Thursday announced it will raise the pay for nearly a third of its employees this March. 

What You Need To Know

  • Walmart will raise the pay of 425,000 employees come March 13

  • The pay raises will be concentrated in online and stocking roles

  • Rates will increase to anywhere between $13-$19 depending on each store’s location.

  • Walmart also announced it is investing $14 billion this year to speed up its distribution network

The company – which is the nation’s largest private-sector employer – boasts nearly 1.5 million employees in the U.S. alone. Around 425,000 of the store’s store associates will see a pay bump come March 13, with rates increasing to between $13-$19, depending on each store’s location. 

The pay raises will be concentrated in online and stocking roles.

“This is an investment in our people, at the same time we make new investments in our Supply Chain, automation and technology,” John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart U.S., wrote in a letter to employees. “It follows other actions we took last year, including special COVID-19 bonuses, raising pay for 165,000 key leadership roles, and restructuring to a team-based model of working in our stores.”

Last year, Walmart raised the pay of 165,000 employees in manager-level roles to a starting wage of $15 an hour. 

While Thursday’s announcement will bring up the overall average Walmart employees make, the company is still behind several of its competitors for workers’ low initial earnings. Walmart raised its starting hourly wage from $9 to $11 not too long ago, and that starting wage will remain.

Amazon and Target, for example, have already increased hourly wages to $15 for all workers.

Walmart on Thursday also announced it is investing $14 billion this year to speed up its distribution network as the nation’s largest retailer navigates vast industry changes that were accelerated by the pandemic.

Walmart Inc. reported a mixed performance Thursday for the fourth quarter. It swung to a loss partly due to costs related to the pandemic, and the sale of its Japan and U.K. divisions. But sales surged by 7.4% in the period that includes the critical holiday shopping season. Sales at stores opened at least a year rose 8.6%, up from 6.4% in the previous quarter.

While online sales surged 69%, that is down from an 80% spike in the prior period and it was the slowest growth since the pandemic began. The company also said it expects overall sales to moderate this year. Shares dipped almost 6% in early trading.

It is the steepest one-day sell off in almost a year.

Walmart has pushed hard into fast and convenient delivery during the pandemic. But even the massive infrastructure put into place by Walmart in recent years were strained by the crush of orders from millions of people sheltering at home.

That means yet more spending to accommodate shoppers growing increasingly accustomed at shopping from home. The company announced plans this year to build warehouses at stores where self-driving robots will fetch groceries to be picked up within an hour or less by customers. And that was before Thursday’s announcement that it was bumping related spending by $14 billion.

“Change in retail accelerated in 2020, “said CEO Doug McMillon. ”The capabilities we’ve built in previous years put us ahead, and we’re going to stay ahead. Our business is strong, and we’re making it even stronger with targeted investments to accelerate growth.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.