Walmart to hire 150,000 more workers, awards $365 million in bonuses to employees for working through pandemic

Big box grocery giant Walmart announced that they would be rewarding their workers with bonuses, and hiring 350,000 more workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

While the government response to the virus is taking an immense toll on the United States economy, Walmart appears to be benefitting from the increase of Americans shopping to stock up for quarantines.

The bonuses totaling $365 million will come to $300 for each full-time employee and $150 for each part-time employee.

Walmart is also shortening the hiring two-week application process to get people approved for work within 24 hours. Those jobs will begin as temporary jobs but could transition to permanent jobs over time.

Those new workers will likely come from industries that have been devastated by the response of some state governments to the coronavirus. Some states have seen such a great increase in unemployment applications that their systems are shutting down.

Walmart is also working to help provide coronavirus testing to respond to the pandemic.

Amazon, the online competitor to Walmart, also so an increase in sales and announced that they would be seeking to hire 100,000 new employees in order to meet the jump in demand.

Here's a Walmart exec on the bonuses:

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