Walmart workers receive quarterly bonus

There was good news for Idaho Walmart associates this month.

The company announced it handed out $1.56 million in second quarter bonuses in their September 6 paychecks.

It is part of an overall incentive plan to reward associates whose stores achieve sales and customer service goals. The company said it enjoyed its best performance in more than ten years with sales growth of 4.5 percent and a better than 2 percent increase in customer traffic.

In January, Walmart announced plans to increase the starting wage for all hourly associates in the U.S. to at least $11, expand maternity and parental leave benefits, and provide a one-time cash bonus for eligible associates of up to $1,000. Walmart also recently announced a commitment to train and develop one million associates over the next five years and introduced a new education benefit for associates, which includes free college credit for on-the-job training and options for associates to earn a college degree without incurring student loan debt.