Wal-Mart announced Thursday that it will give a half million employees, about 40% of their overall employee count, pay raises. Full and part-time hourly workers will earn at least $9 per hour by April, and wages will go up to $10 per hour for all current employees by Feb.1, 2016 as stated in the retailers mixed quarterly earnings report. Walmart is the largest private employer in the U.S.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced the pay increase in a letter and pre-recorded video released early Thursday morning, after talking of possible wage increases for the company’s workers for months. In a statement accompanying Walmart’s fourth quarter report, McMillon announced what he called a “bold new initiative” pushing to see about 40% of the 1.3 million U.S. workforce, or 500,000 low-wage workers, given a pay boost well above the federal minimum wage. Some jurisdictions already have a minimum wage at or above $9 per hour, including California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington state.

The retailer says it is also working to improve its company benefits and sick-leave policy, grant employees more control with scheduling hours, and make it simpler for employees to advance forward within the company. “We’re pursuing comprehensive changes to our hiring, training, compensation, and scheduling programs, as well as to our store structure, and these changes will be sustainable over the long term,” McMillon wrote. Walmart has said that its hourly workers make, on average, $11.83 per hour with most of the minimum-wage earners in entry-level positions.

In October, it was hinted that Walmart would move towards a higher minimum wage when McMillon told reporters, “It is our intention over time that we will be in a situation where we don’t pay minimum wage at all.” The retail chain has been under significant pressure from labor activists to raise wages as well as improve scheduling and worker policies.

“I think it actually is good news,” Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Trussell said about the wage move. “There’s been a lot of disgruntled workers, and frankly this does sound like the new CEO both of the U.S. Wal-Mart team and Doug McMillon at the helm taking a step to perhaps correct those past evils.”