Walmart's (WMT +0.92%) Canadian branch announced on its website Friday that it intends to hire 10,000 more employees. In addition to the standard, expected roles -- shelf stockers, meat and bakery section workers, greeters, and checkout clerks -- the retailer says it's looking for people to work in the areas of most recent growth, such as e-commerce and delivery, as well as extra warehouse personnel.
The company links its hiring drive to a $3.5 billion upgrade to its stores, which is slated to continue over the next half-decade. One part of the initiative involves expanding pickup availability to 70% of Walmart Canada locations by year-end.
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The spending will also boost e-commerce capacity and rework outlets as "smarter stores," the company said, enabling swifter pickup and delivery, electronic labeling, and new checkout options for less contact. Almost a third of the money is earmarked for the construction of two massive new distribution centers and the addition of new automation to an existing site.
Walmart has been engaged in an aggressive modernization drive, including challenging online retail titan Amazon's Amazon Prime with its own Walmart+ subscription delivery service. Numerous other initiatives are also under way, from experimentation with drone delivery to the company's late-September launch of its new Free Assembly private-label garment brand.
