Almost 1 million Walmart employees are receiving bonuses up to $500 in what the discount retailer says is a sign that its new business plan is working.

The quarterly bonuses were given to staff at approximately 99 percent of U.S. stores and were awarded for meeting sales and profit targets along with "customer experience" goals, such as cleanliness and checkout times, spokesman Kory Lundberg told CNN Money.

The average bonus payout amounts to approximately $220, according to Reuters.

Over the last two years, Walmart has worked on improving the customer service experience and has increased entry-level wages, according to Lundberg. The company has also tweaked its scheduling system, ensuring more staff at busy store times and offering staff more reliable schedules.

Walmart announced earlier this month that it was eliminating about 7,000 positions, mainly office positions in accounting and invoicing.

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