Walmart: You have Failed Your Associates

People often don’t know what to expect during their first week as a Walmart employee. Before you show up to work, go in with an understanding that retail is hard. Retail is particularly difficult when you work at one of the largest retail companies on the planet. This fact only becomes more difficult to live with when you come to realize that this company’s main goal is to cut money wherever it can, to show that it made more money than it did the previous year.

As a new Walmart employee, you must accept this simple truth: “You are replaceable.” This isn’t something that anyone wants to hear nor accept, or go to work knowing that anyone can do their job; however, this is just the fact of the matter. You will be making $17,000 - $18,000 a year, generating over $220,000 a year in revenue, for a company who claims they can’t afford to give you over 30 hours a week. Simply speaking, you mean absolutely nothing to Walmart. This is a company who isn’t afraid to fire around 400, corporate employees at their home office, just to show that they made more money than the year before. Walmart as a company, does not care about their employees. They won’t even give employees the opportunity to get health insurance through their company. Most employees will never reach full time status; most aren’t given the chance to work more than 30-35 hours a week, making less than $9.00 an hour. How can a single person expect to make ends meet, let alone a single parent trying to support several children? Walmart does not care.

I can’t begin to tell you what it was like to listen to conversations in the Walmart breakroom. I can say with absolute confidence that I heard the same conversations every day. People were struggling to pay bills, health expenses, and most could barely afford food. They often spoke of how they would be ok if Walmart allowed them to have full time hours with benefits to support their families. Walmart needs to make a better commitment to their employees before they can make a commitment to customers. Associates want to have pride in their job, they just want their employer to take pride in them. A two-dollar raise isn’t the answer; it is just a mere start. And Walmart can’t implement such a measure, just because they want to see if it will increase profits in the long run. That’s bad for a business, it’s just plain horrible.

I will leave you this quote from Art of war:

“Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.” –Sun Tzu

Just to clarify, I am not telling associates to work themselves to death, I am however asking that Walmart view its employees as its own sons and daughters. Walmart doesn’t have the luxury of saying that this is the case, if it was, their profits would be considerably higher, and people would not have such a negative opinion of the company as a whole.

Walmart has failed its associates across the United States of America and the world. It needs to start treating everyone in its company as family. The “Always low prices” mission statement is dead, and can no longer be applied. People will pay more for a better shopping experience, just look at Target. Walmart needs to adapt to today.

Walmart seems to be failing...

Walmart seems to be in a state of decline recently.  The company's low prices and low wages are beginning to become a recipe for disaster.  To have a decent retail store, the workers need to be positively motivated and the prices of the in-store stock must be low.  The current times don't seem to allow for both.

Today, workers are able to post their frustrations on social media.  This allows us to see the real colors of the real Walmart. What people have been seeing isn't pretty.  This past April, Walmart closed several stores, due to what the company called, "maintenance issues." It just so happened that the associates of these stores were attempting to organize.  Walmart made sure that this did not happen.  Walmart doesn't like any form of associate coordination.  Talking to another associate while working is often frowned upon.  It's very rare to work in any kind of team environment.  Typically, there is only one associate working in any given department.  These lone associates are performing tasks well beyond what they are getting paid for, and often lack the training necessary to complete these tasks.  Store Managers lack the money and time to allow associates the training required to do their job effectively.  This reason alone is why stores are often lacking stock. Associate don't know how and lack the time to figure it out.  I can't remember the last time I was in a Walmart store when the laptop cases were stocked.  It seems like the only thing anyone gets out of a Walmart store visit is a frustrating, wild goose chase to find an associate to help them locate what they are looking for. Often, the associates can't even help them.  Why doesn't Walmart just run it's stores with members of management?  Associates don't get paid enough and they aren't given the opportunity to train.