Walmart store manager says he 'almost fainted' when he found he could make up to $530K under a new pay plan

• Earlier this year, Walmart announced a new store manager pay plan that tops out at $530,000.
• Store manager Greg Harden told Bloomberg he "almost fainted" when he learned of it.
• Walmart says better pay and benefits, plus better tech, have lowered turnover among store leadership.

Walmart made waves earlier this year when it announced it was upping pay for store managers, with some potentially able to earn up to $530,000.

"I almost fainted when I found out," said Greg Harden, a Supercenter manager in Texas told Bloomberg.

Harden currently manages over 400 workers and more than $100 million in sales at his store in Grand Prairie, Texas, one of the largest in the Dallas area, according to the report.

Under the new plan, Walmart says the average base salary for US store managers is now $128,000, up from $117,000, while the top-paid Supercenter managers will see a base salary of $170,000.

Add to that a 200% performance bonus and stock grants worth between $10,000 and $20,000 — depending on store size — and the package starts to look quite lucrative for a job that notably does not require a four-year college degree.

Still, it's a lot of work to run a Walmart, and Harden told Bloomberg he has put in lots of six-day weeks with 10-hour shifts that start at 5 a.m. each morning.

Other managers told the publication it's a bit like being in charge of a small town — to the point where they could consider a job like being mayor.

Walmart's executive vice president of store operations Cedric Clark told Bloomberg the pay increase, along with recent improvements in benefits and a slate of new tech tools, have helped to improve morale and reduce turnover among store leadership.

You can read the outlet's full interview with store manager Greg Harden here.

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