LANCASTER, Texas — There are still several hundred employees who work at the Walmart distribution center in Fort Worth. The retail giant hopes those employees will choose to help fill up to 500 jobs at its new location.
What was once just rural Texas land in Lancaster turned into a major construction site for months, and is now home to advanced technology in the retail business.
The location is also where Walmart has made employees an offer some may find hard to refuse. The retail chain recently opened its Lancaster facility with 500 employees. But there are 500 more positions open at this location.
The incentive for employees to transfer from the Fort Worth location to the Lancaster is a one-time bonus of $7,500, training on New Automation, and for new employees, starting pay is $21.15 an hour, above the starting hourly pay at other locations by about $1.15.
Inside the distribution center, employees use all new automation to handle millions of products every day to ship to customers. But Walmart needs more hands on deck in Lancaster.
"Our new Lancaster facility gives associates an exciting opportunity to work in a newly designed work environment that prioritizes associate comfort and is powered by state-of-the-art technology," Walmart spokesperson Anne Hatfield said.
It's a technology and an incentive the retailer hopes will help lure more than 300 employees to drive about 50 miles back and forth to work each day.