As the holiday shopping season approaches Walmart is keeping its workers on its shop floor with special bonuses and pay raises. In a Wall Street Journal exclusive, the agency said that sources detailed the various incentives offered by the nation’s largest employer. The approaching holiday season is crucial for all retailers and the nation’s retail giant is ensuring that its workers are motivated to work without leave by giving them a huge payout for these efforts.

According to the WSJ which quotes sources familiar with the matter, many of Walmart’s warehouses across the nation are giving employees either weekly bonuses or pay raises. The amount depends on the location as well as the type of job performed by its employees.

The person, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the WSJ that a few workers could receive $1000 for not missing a single scheduled shift during the second half of summer. Last week, other workers were eligible to receive temporary raises in pay amounting to several dollars an hour through early next year.

A Walmart spokesperson told the news agency that the retailer aimed to acknowledge employees’ efforts with incentives. It also wanted to provide opportunities to its workers in a competitive environment.

The spokesperson also said that the company’s warehouses continued to see high volumes as they prepared for the “peak season.”

Walmart is the largest retailer in the nation. It employs 1.6 million workers in the U.S. it has 190 warehouses across the nation.

Although many retail warehouses give employees bonuses during peak seasons, this year is of utmost importance for two major reasons. Despite the surge of the delta strain, there are no more lockdowns, and the economy is recovering. People are also eager to splurge their savings and shopping is definitely considered as “retail therapy” by many.

The second major reason for an increase in bonuses and pay raises to workers is a huge labor shortage across the U.S. Although the number of unemployed is still high, the number of job openings are higher according to Indeed, a job site. This makes it imperative that companies who have workers need to retain them as the labor demand is greater than the worker supply and a high attrition rate will have a negative effect on the company’s balance sheet.

Image Walmart