The 20,000 Steps to a Walmart Manager's Six-Figure Salary

Summary

The Journal: The 20,000 Steps to a Walmart Manager's Six-Figure Salary

Released on February 17, 2025 | The Wall Street Journal & Gimlet

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Introduction

In the episode titled "The 20,000 Steps to a Walmart Manager's Six-Figure Salary," The Journal delves deep into the intricate role of Walmart store managers, exploring the reasons behind their substantial compensation packages. Hosted by Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, alongside correspondent Sarah Nossauer, the episode offers an insightful look into the demanding responsibilities and rewards that come with managing one of America’s largest retail giants.

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Walmart's Valuation of Store Managers

Walmart employs a store manager for each of its 4,600 U.S. stores, many of whom now earn upwards of $400,000 annually. This surge in compensation is attributed to larger bonuses, higher base salaries, and stock options. Sarah Nossauer highlights, "It almost can't be understated how important a store manager is to Walmart. They are the ones who have the most control over the sales and profit of that box of that store and are the most important financial entity in the whole company." (02:10)

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A Day in the Life of Nicole Hart

Nicole Hart, a store manager at a Walmart in Belmead, Texas, epitomizes the dedication required for the role. Starting her day around 7 AM, Nicole's routine includes a thorough walkthrough of the store, addressing issues such as overnight shift absences and maintenance concerns like a burnt-out letter on the store sign.

“It's a normal day for me,” Nicole mentions while logging approximately 18,000 steps daily (04:34). Her journey with Walmart began at 19 years old as a part-time employee earning $6.25 an hour. Driven by the potential for growth, Nicole ascended the corporate ladder, inspired by the substantial bonuses her superiors received.

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Responsibilities and Challenges

Managing a Walmart Supercenter, which typically generates over $100 million in sales, Nicole balances a myriad of tasks:

• Staff Management: Overseeing more than 300 employees, ensuring they align with corporate goals and customer service standards.
• Inventory Coordination: Ensuring products are stocked timely and efficiently, often making strategic placement decisions to boost sales. For instance, placing a high-margin, low-price barbecue bottle in a high-traffic area to cater to the store’s core shoppers (13:12).
• Sales and Profit Targets: Meeting monthly and yearly sales goals set by corporate, while also managing operational costs like labor.

Sarah observes, “She did several sort of tours of the store where you're literally walking around the store and understanding what's going on in every aisle and what needs to be stocked and where is there a mess and what work needs to be done.” (07:08)

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Compensation and Incentives

Nicole's income surpassed $240,000 last year, with approximately half derived from bonuses. The increase in pay reflects Walmart's strategy to retain top talent amidst fierce competition in the retail sector. Nicole expresses her appreciation, stating, “I was excited about it. It's awesome. I mean, it's nice to be appreciated for the work that you put in.” (09:37)

Walmart's investment in its managers is not solely financial. Nicole notes, “They're investing in our associates as well. I mean, there's been several changes over the last few years. This was just another piece to the puzzle.” (10:03) This comprehensive approach ensures that managers like Nicole feel valued and motivated to maintain high performance standards.

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Adaptation to Online Shopping Trends

With Walmart's aggressive push into online retail, approximately 25% of store sales now stem from online orders—a figure continuously growing. Nicole discusses how this shift has expanded her responsibilities:

“It's not just the shoppers coming into your store. You've got thousands of shoppers that are outside of your store that are expecting you to deliver excellence to them.” (14:22)

Managers must ensure that online orders are fulfilled efficiently, maintaining high standards to satisfy a broader customer base. This evolution introduces new challenges but also significant revenue opportunities.

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Balancing Act: Human and Operational Management

One of Nicole's most significant challenges is uniting a large workforce towards common objectives. “I think the hardest part is when you take a new store and you have got to get all 300 people to push in the same direction.” (15:31) Effective communication, clear expectations, and consistent processes are vital to harmonizing efforts across such a vast team.

Sarah summarizes, “It's like they're managing all the humans that work for them and with them up and down, you know, managing up their bosses and the people that work for them, they're managing all the stuff and making sure it arrives at the right time and can be unloaded and is on the shelf.” (07:59)

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The Broader Implications on the Labor Market

The fact that Walmart store managers can attain six-figure salaries without requiring a college degree speaks volumes about the current labor market. Sarah interprets this trend as indicative of persistent "choke points" in the job market—positions that demand extensive expertise and resilience, making them difficult to fill.

“To me, it says that there are these still these sort of like, choke points, jobs that are hard to fill because they're hard jobs and you have to have a lot of expertise over time to do them.” (17:01)

This phenomenon underscores the value of hands-on experience and internal company growth, as exemplified by Nicole’s career trajectory within Walmart.

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Conclusion and Updates

Originally published in May, the episode notes that since its release, top-performing Walmart store managers have seen their potential earnings rise to over $600,000 annually. This increase underscores Walmart's ongoing commitment to valuing and retaining its key managerial talent.

Through Nicole Hart's story, The Journal illuminates the complexities and rewards of managing a Walmart Supercenter, highlighting the essential balance between operational excellence and human resource management. As Walmart continues to evolve in the retail landscape, the pivotal role of its store managers remains more critical—and lucrative—than ever.

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The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal. For more episodes and insights into money, business, and power, tune in weekly.

Transcript

[Kate Limebaugh]

Hey, it's Kate. We're off for President's Day, but we wanted to share an episode we made last year about us retail giant Walmart. In this episode we look at how Walmart compensates some of its store managers with bonuses, stock options and huge six figure salaries. We followed one manager to see why the job demands such high pay and Perks. It's about 7 in the morning at a Walmart outside of Waco, Texas and Nicole Hart is getting the download from her night manager.

[Nicole Hart]

Good morning everybody.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Good morning.

[Nicole Hart]

How's everybody doing? Great.

[Kate Limebaugh]

The night manager told her that some people didn't show up for their shifts overnight and the letter T on the Walmart sign outside is burnt out. Those are things that Nicole would have to deal with that day. But first she takes a lap around the store.

[Nicole Hart]

Yeah, because I do this every single day. This is my morning. Every morning we walk and we tour. So there's things that I already, I mean we walk by, granola bars on the cereal aisle. I already know they're coming in on the 24th.

[Kate Limebaugh]

On this day, Nicole had an addition to her morning routine. Our colleague Sarah Nossauer. Sarah was going to follow Nicole around to try to understand her job. Sarah became interested in managers like Nicole when she saw a press release Walmart published about raising their pay. What stood out to you in that release?

[Sarah Nossauer]

Well, my first thought is why do they feel the need to do this? Is turnover going up? Do they feel they're losing some of their better store managers to other big box stores? The competition for those folks is really, really, really high.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Across retail, Walmart has a manager for each of its 4,600 US stores. And some of them can now make more than $400,000 a year because the company is offering them bigger bonuses, higher salaries and stock options.

[Sarah Nossauer]

It almost can't be understated how important a store manager is to Walmart. They are the ones who have the most control over the sales and profit of that box of that store and are the most important financial entity in the whole company.

[Kate Limebaugh]

How would you describe a day in the life of Nicole?

[Sarah Nossauer]

It's really hectic. It's not for introverts and it's she is expecting the unexpected.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Welcome to the Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Kate Limebaugh. Coming up on the show, the hectic, unpredictable and increasingly well paid job of a Walmart store manager.

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[Kate Limebaugh]

A Walmart store manager is basically running a massive business inside an even more massive business. Its supercenters on average generate more than $100 million in sales and its store managers tend to be homegrown like Nicole Hart. I spoke to Nicole from her office. How much time during the day do you spend in your office?

[Nicole Hart]

Not very much. I would say maybe an hour. Top.

[Kate Limebaugh]

What are you doing the rest of the time?

[Nicole Hart]

Walking my floor, touring my sales floor, meeting with my associates, just day to day.

[Kate Limebaugh]

And at the end of the day, how many steps will you have walked?

[Nicole Hart]

Oh, probably about 18,000 a day.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Is that a lot?

[Nicole Hart]

That's a normal day for me.

[Kate Limebaugh]

What kind of shoes do you wear?

[Nicole Hart]

It just depends. Today I'm wearing flats. I have on some Kate Spade flats and a red dress. I might come to work tomorrow in a pair of Jordans. You never know.

[Kate Limebaugh]

So would you mind telling us like how you got started working at Walmart?

[Nicole Hart]

I was 19 years old and I was a mother of two little girls and needed a job. So I started here as just a part time job. Never planned on it to turn into my career. But as the years went by I noticed the opportunities that Walmart can provide and so I decided to climb the ladder.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Do you remember how much you made?

[Nicole Hart]

$6.25 an hour.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Part time.

[Nicole Hart]

Part time, yeah.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Was that enough to support?

[Nicole Hart]

No, no, not at the time. No, it wasn't, it wasn't. But I mean I saw the opportunity, right? That's what I saw. I was young, I had kids, I had responsibilities and I saw that yes I was making 625 part time, but I could go and be a salaried member of management.

[Kate Limebaugh]

When did you decide you wanted to be a store manager?

[Nicole Hart]

I would say whenever I was an assistant manager my boss would show me like the amount of their bonuses and what the money they were making in that role and that was the incentive to drive me because I knew I could do that. It just needed to put in the work and so Once I saw the financial benefits of becoming a store manager, I learned everything I could to get there.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Do you remember your first day as store manager?

[Nicole Hart]

Oh, yeah. Oh, my goodness, yes.

[Kate Limebaugh]

What was that like?

[Nicole Hart]

Oh, the second that I walked in the door of that store, I had associates, like, come and just, like, corner me, almost like, oh, you're the new one. Fresh meat. Exactly. Fresh meat. And that was. That was something, you know, because I hadn't been in that type of a situation before. But it was just all in how that you present yourself to them to win over their trust you. They've got to be able to trust you.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Nicole's been running the Supercenter in Belmead, Texas, for four years. She has to juggle managing her staff of more than 300, coordinating inventory, interacting with customers, and making decisions on the fly. That was all on display when our colleague Sarah spent the day with her.

[Sarah Nossauer]

She did several sort of tours of the store where you're literally walking around the store and understanding what's going on in every aisle and what needs to be stocked and where is there a mess and what work needs to be done.

[Nicole Hart]

If I don't fill that up early now, then how many sales am I missing throughout the day?

[Sarah Nossauer]

Right. She was always holding her phone because it has a Walmart app that a lot of the workers use to communicate. It's a big store. It's over the size of three football fields. So you can't just, like, walk up to every worker at every moment and say, you know, can you do xyz? So they do use this app and walkie talkies, and they're talking to each other that way.

[Kate Limebaugh]

They don't have segues.

[Sarah Nossauer]

They don't have segues. I can see customers maybe not finding that that great, but she's constantly in contact, but also constantly walking around the store.

[Kate Limebaugh]

And on that particular day, something unexpected happened with a customer who had a camera rolling.

[Sarah Nossauer]

Hi, can we get some Snoop cereal on the shelf?

[Nicole Hart]

Snoop cereal on the shelf.

[Sarah Nossauer]

I used to have those, and they never sold.

[Nicole Hart]

We had them forever.

[Sarah Nossauer]

Thank you.

[Nicole Hart]

You're welcome. Y'all have a great day.

[Kate Limebaugh]

He was recording me.

[Sarah Nossauer]

Yeah. There was a guy who came up filming her, Nicole and one of her managers who was asking a question about Snoop cereal. Snoop had sued Walmart. We didn't know really what was going on, but it was something related to that. She has to sort of have a calm answer while she's being filmed.

[Kate Limebaugh]

What did you learn from spending a day with Nicole?

[Sarah Nossauer]

I think seeing sort of how the chaos can Be Wrangled was just really, really interesting and eye opening for me about what it really actually takes to run a store.

[Kate Limebaugh]

How so?

[Sarah Nossauer]

It's like they're managing all the humans that work for them and with them up and down, you know, managing up their bosses and the people that work for them, they're managing all the stuff and making sure it arrives at the right time and can be unloaded and is on the shelf. And then they're managing customer expectations and trying to drive sales.

[Kate Limebaugh]

And now Nicole is getting paid more. Last year her total income was $240,000, about half of that from bonuses. Walmart put out this statement announcing higher pay for store managers and bigger bonuses. Like, when you heard that, what did you think?

[Nicole Hart]

I mean, I was excited about it. It's awesome. I mean, it's nice to be appreciated for the work that you put in.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Why is Walmart investing in store managers now?

[Nicole Hart]

I would say for retention, right? To be able to get quality leaders in these positions because it's a very important position to hold. And I think that they want to get the right people in the right place to be able to deliver results.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Would it be helpful if that investment was going to your associates?

[Nicole Hart]

They're investing in our associates as well. I mean, there's been several changes over the last few years. This was just another piece to the puzzle. And I think that they just looked at the management as well, because we are associates too. You know what I mean? Like, you've got to, you've got to be fair and consistent across the board and you've got to be able to compete with competitors when it comes to pay.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Did it feel like a shift in sort of how corporate appreciates people in your position?

[Nicole Hart]

I don't know about a shift. I just think that they're recognizing that we have a very important role and that, I mean, I don't know. I think, I feel like they're taking care of us right now. Like, it's, it's good. I mean, they're not giving us all this money. I don't know. It's not just like, here, take it. You know what I mean? Like, we've got to earn it. We have things that we have to do if we want to meet the metrics that are expected for us. So it's not just handed to us, but it's there within reach if you want it.

[Kate Limebaugh]

And for Nicole to get that money, she's got targets to meet. That's next.

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[Kate Limebaugh]

Meeting sales goals is a crucial part of Nicole's job, and she needs to rally her more than 300 employees to get there. When Sarah visited, she went to Nicole's daily staff meeting, which Nicole kicked off by congratulating her team on a strong month of sales.

[Nicole Hart]

Right. All the things that we're doing is working. So keep doing what we're doing, keep going after the items, keep filling the holes, right? Keep working the meal picks, doing all the things that we do because it's working. It's working. And it's something to be super, super proud of. I'm proud of you. I mean, definitely.

[Sarah Nossauer]

The sales and profit goals for the store are set at, you know, in corporate offices and then filtered on to her. And she has to meet those, you know, month by month, day by day, week by week. And so she's thinking about that for sure, as well as how profitable her.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Store is, what's within her power to achieve those targets.

[Sarah Nossauer]

She can decide some of what gets sold in her store. There's certain things in areas of the store where it's really her and her sort of direct reports that are saying, okay, for our store, for example, there was a little refillable barbecue bottle that she was selling at her store for 97 cents. And when we walked by it, she explained, like, this is something that works well in our store. We have a low income core shopper. I know that this product is a low price point but a high margin and we can sell a lot of them. So here we put them in this high traffic area at the end of a shelf. You know, she can control some of the product decisions and then she can also have some control over what they spend on labor. Some of that is decided by corporate, but ultimately it's her and her direct reports that are kind of looking at that minute by minute, day by day.

[Kate Limebaugh]

There's a new challenge for Nicole that doesn't have to do with the in store experience. It has to do with Walmart's push into online shopping. What proportion of your store's sales come from online orders?

[Nicole Hart]

It's about 25%.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Is that on top of what existing sales had been? Wow.

[Nicole Hart]

Yeah. And I mean, it just continues to grow year after year after year. It just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And the company just is rolling out many more initiatives that make people want to shop online. It makes the experience better. So it's a moving piece, but it's fun. I like change and I like challenges.

[Kate Limebaugh]

How has that changed your day to day?

[Nicole Hart]

It's not just the shoppers coming into your store. You've got thousands of shoppers that are outside of your store that are expecting you to deliver excellence to them. They, they want the items that they're ordering. You've got to know what items are being ordered and not being found so you can fix them. It's just, it's one more piece that's just added to the puzzle, but it also brings in a lot of dollars.

[Kate Limebaugh]

But you have to hit sales targets. You have to make sure your store looks good. You have to manage people. It is a lot. Not to mention, like understanding your shoppers, what they want, where their price points are. What would you say is the hardest part of your job?

[Nicole Hart]

I think the hardest part is when you take a new store and you have got to get all 300 people to push in the same direction. Right. Because they've got to understand your expectations, they've got to understand their rules, they've got to understand processes. It's not me that does all of these things. This is my team, my 300 people that I manage that makes this big building work. It's not just Nicole, you know.

[Kate Limebaugh]

And what are you going to do after this meeting?

[Nicole Hart]

I'm going to go back out on my floor. I'm going to go follow up on the notes that I gave this morning and be sure that everything is ready for evening business. Go and walk the grocery side and be sure I have rotisserie chickens and bread and fruits and meat out for the evening. Just be sure that we're ready.

[Kate Limebaugh]

Do you think Nicole Hart is a typical Walmart store manager or is she exceptional in some way?

[Sarah Nossauer]

Yes and no. I've talked to enough store managers over the years to know that. I think she is exceptional in some ways in her ability to sort of handle the multitasking that is needed to do the job without losing it. I think she's typical in the sense that she came up in the company. She doesn't have a college degree. She grew up in the place where she is. She knows the community quite well. I think those things are more typical.

[Kate Limebaugh]

This is a job where a person doesn't have to have a college degree. They can make potentially $400,000. What does that say to you about the labor market?

[Sarah Nossauer]

To me, it says that there are these still these sort of like, choke points, jobs that are hard to fill because they're hard jobs and you have to have a lot of expertise over time to do them. I don't think any, like, college grad could waltz in and be the manager of a Walmart store. Right. And as Nicole herself told me, you know, if you can run a Walmart store, you can run a Home Depot, you can run a Target, you can do other things. And so once someone has gotten to that level at the company, it makes sense that Walmart would really want to keep them.

[Kate Limebaugh]

This episode was originally published last May. Since then, Walmart's top performing store managers can now make even more, over $600,000 a year. The Journal is a co production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. Thanks for listening. We'll be back Tuesday with a new episode.