Wal Mart Stores : CEO Doug McMillon's Note to Associates on Tax Savings

Happy New Year! I hope you and your families had a great holiday season. Thank you so much for all your efforts to serve our customers during our busiest time of the year. I know there were many smiling faces on Christmas morning and throughout the season because of you. Thank you for serving them so well and for helping each other to do it as a team.

We've got some really good news to share today. As you know, the President and Congress have approved a lower business tax rate. Given these changes, we have an opportunity to accelerate a few pieces of our investment plan. We plan to continue investing in you, in our customers through lower prices, and in our future--especially in technology to help improve your jobs and the experience for our customers.

So, we're pleased to tell you that we're raising our starting wage to $11 an hour for Walmart U.S., Sam's Club, Supply Chain, eCommerce and Home Office hourly associates effective in February.

We're also providing a one-time bonus to hourly associates that pays a larger amount the longer you've been with our company. Associates that don't benefit from the new starting wage increase are eligible for the bonus and it will range from $200 to $1,000 depending on your length of service. As an associate who's been with the company more than 25 years, I understand the value of experience and we all appreciate those of you that have helped build this company over the years.

I'm also excited to tell you that we're making an important change to benefits by expanding our paid leave policy to provide full-time hourly associates with 10 weeks of paid maternity leave and six weeks of paid parental leave. This expanded parental leave also applies to salaried associates and to parents who adopt. We will also contribute $5,000 to the cost of adoption. I recently heard from two associates on this topic-one through an open door note and one at a town hall. Both pointed out how limited our policy was for adoptive parents so we're happy to be addressing that concern now. Families are a priority to us and connecting with and caring for a new family member is obviously important.

As we look to the future and how we'll win with customers, we'll be assessing what additional investments are needed, and we'll make those decisions with you, our customers, and our shareholders in mind.

Thanks again for everything you do. I'm proud of our progress and we have momentum. Let's build on that in 2018!