Walmart's good intentions to raise the minimum wage of employees earlier this year had not completely compelled confidence among its 1.3 million workers across the U.S.
The increase of about $9 an hour in April and at least $10 an hour increase in February 2016 would only benefit 500,000 Walmart workers, creating an unnecessary discord among employees, according to Bloomberg.
In some Facebook comments and rants, Walmart employees are calling the management decision unfair to mostly senior workers who got no increase and now make the same or close to what newer, less experienced colleagues earn.
Charmaine Givens-Thomas, a 10-year Walmart veteran, told Bloomberg that the new Walmart wage policy somehow "hurt employee morale and is pitting people against each other."
Other than increasing the minimum wage, the new wage policy covers an increase for managers and workers who had been promoted while also adjusting the maximum pay for all hourly positions upwards.
Kristin Oliver, Walmart's U.S. human resources head, said that the company saw this coming and has made some adjustments to ease the turnover of upset workers.
To retain workers who did not get a raise, Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg told The Washington Times that the company changed the scheduling system and started a new training program for those who wanted to move up in the corporate ladder.
David Cooper, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, said that it is a worthy undertaking for several of U.S. retailers including Walmart, Gap, Target and TJX to increase the minimum wage for their workers in recent months. However, the retailers must consider how they should address the pay concerns of veteran hourly workers.
