This paper analyzes the human resource management policies and employment relations practices of Walmart, the world's largest private employer with over 2.2 million workers across 27 countries. It examines the company's recruitment and selection methods—including fresh graduate hiring, experienced professional recruitment, and internal job advancement—alongside its virtual and one-way interviewing techniques. The paper also covers training and development, cultural diversity management, compensation packages, and FMLA compliance. Critically, it highlights significant controversies involving gender discrimination, pregnancy accommodation failures, sexual harassment cases, and age discrimination that have drawn regulatory scrutiny and damaged Walmart's public image as an employer.
Walmart Stores, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that operates thousands of retail stores, warehouse stores, and large-scale discount department stores around the globe. Headquartered in Bentonville, United States, Walmart was incorporated in 1969 by Sam Walton as Walmart Discount City Store. It is ranked third on the Fortune Global 500 list of the largest public companies by revenue for the year 2012. Walmart is also the largest employer in the world, with more than 2.2 million employees working in its worldwide retail stores, regional offices, and U.S. headquarters. At present, Walmart has business operations in 27 countries under 69 different brand names. The company has been pursuing a continuous growth strategy for its worldwide operations. Approximate customer service of 200 million transactions per week and $444 billion in annual sales reflect the operational and financial strength of this retail giant (Walmart 2012).
The mission of Walmart is to provide everything that consumers from all age groups, lifestyles, and income classes may want. Walmart sells its products at discounted prices so that consumers can save money when they shop there. It deals in all kinds of consumer electronics, household items, and office equipment — including cell phones, computers, televisions, home appliances, books, furniture, clothing, shoes, games, toys, gifts, jewelry, exercise equipment, pharmacy, health care and beauty products, grocery, pet supplies, and numerous other product lines (Walmart 2012).
This paper presents the current human resource management practices and employment relations policies of Walmart. It begins with a brief introduction to Walmart's human resource department and proceeds to discuss its various HRM policies, including recruitment and selection, interviewing techniques, training and development, cultural diversity management, compensation packages, and FMLA compliance. The paper also highlights various issues and criticisms that Walmart has faced in recent years due to unfair policies and discriminatory treatment of employees.
Being the largest employer in the world, Walmart must manage a vast workforce. It has currently employed more than 2.2 million employees across 27 countries. Walmart depends heavily on its human resources to ensure efficient product delivery and superior customer service quality. It has developed strong relationships with its Human Resource Associates, who directly supervise employee performance and work to improve workforce efficiency. Walmart is committed to recognizing each individual employee in order to motivate the whole workforce and get work done effectively and efficiently. It provides attractive salaries, non-financial benefits, opportunities for professional growth, regular training and development, and a positive working environment. In addition to these financial and non-financial benefits, Walmart also adheres to industrial relations regulations in both local and international markets (Walmart 2012).
Walmart's founder, Sam Walton, named the company's Human Resource Department "The People Division." He had a strong belief in the value of human resources for an organization, understanding that Walmart could not grow or satisfy its stakeholders if its employees did not perform efficiently. The People Division was not merely a name for the department; it reflected the confidence the founder placed in his Walmart team (Bergdahl 2010). Current managers at Walmart believe that the company's human resources can provide a competitive advantage in several ways: by performing efficiently to reduce operational costs, providing the highest quality of customer service, generating innovative ideas for business improvement, and enabling the company to grow rapidly within its industry.
Recruitment and selection involves filling vacant job positions in a company from inside or outside the organization. Walmart fills its vacancies in three main ways: hiring fresh university graduates, hiring experienced professionals, and placing existing employees at higher or parallel positions through job advancement and rotation.
Walmart regularly conducts talent searches at leading colleges and universities in each country in order to find the right people for the right positions. The company can train fresh graduates across different professional fields and prepare them to become future leaders. Fresh graduates are placed in various departments according to their interests and fields of study. Generally, new employees find job openings in sales and marketing, finance and audit, regulatory compliance, production, e-commerce, global sourcing, and supply chain functions at headquarters, stores, and regional offices (Walmart 2012).
Walmart recruits experienced and skilled professionals from the industry to fill higher-level vacant positions. Experienced candidates are preferred for these roles because the nature and complexity of the work does not allow fresh graduates to fit well in them. Walmart therefore seeks individuals who have hands-on experience in their field along with the required qualifications and skills.
Job advancement is a technique that managers use to fill vacant positions using existing employees. Managers identify the most suitable employees capable of taking on greater responsibilities and performing well at higher positions. In some cases, employees are simply assigned greater responsibilities within their current roles. Job advancement is primarily a motivational tool. At Walmart, it is carried out by The People Division in collaboration with the relevant department. Job advancement is similar to job promotion, in that the employee moves to a higher position that offers professional growth within the organization.
Job rotation is part of an employee training and development strategy, but it is also used to fill vacant positions across departments. In job rotation, an employee from one department is transferred to another where there is a greater or more urgent need. At Walmart, job rotation is typically conducted following performance appraisals. For example, if an employee is not performing well in one department or section, the manager may rotate that employee's responsibilities with those of another employee and assess whether performance improves over time.
To fill vacant positions across its departments, Walmart invites open applications from interested candidates. Once all applications are received, the HR department screens candidates according to its selection criteria. After initial screening, candidates are interviewed by the HR committee using various formats and methods. In addition to traditional methods — where candidates were called to appear at a company office on a specified date — Walmart also employs advanced interviewing techniques to make the overall process more efficient (Lorenz 2011).
Unlike traditional methods, a virtual interview is conducted entirely online. The candidate does not need to travel to a specific location; instead, the company interviews the candidate while he or she is at home. This is a live interview in which the candidate responds to questions posed by the HR committee in real time, much as in a traditional interview setting. The primary benefit of virtual interviewing is saving time for both parties. It also reduces administrative costs, which are among the major expenses in the recruitment and selection process (Lorenz 2011). This method is also referred to as two-way interviewing.
In contrast to two-way or live interviews, the one-way interview allows candidates to complete the interview or online assessment at their own convenience, with no fixed time requirement. Walmart sends a questionnaire to all candidates on the interview list and gives them a specified period within which to submit their responses. Candidates are not required to install any software or connect to a special portal. The questionnaire is either sent to the candidate's email address or posted on the company's website, where the candidate logs in and completes it.
"Employee training, benefits, and diversity management"
"Discrimination, harassment, and accommodation failures"
"Statement of ethics, privacy rules, and FMLA adherence"
Walmart is the world's largest employer with a vast workforce and a massive scale of operations. It has instituted human resource management policies and practices designed to manage its workforce in an efficient and well-organized manner. Key policies include recruitment and selection processes, initial screening and interviewing practices, cultural diversity management, salary and compensation packages, anti-sexual harassment and anti-gender discrimination measures, and FMLA compliance. However, there are significant areas where Walmart has faced societal criticism and legal action. Its history includes cases involving gender discrimination, sexual harassment, inadequate accommodation practices, and FMLA violations.
Walmart has faced severe criticism for gender discrimination, cultural differences, and sexual harassment over an extended period. These issues have damaged its reputation as a top employer. According to its more recent employment relations and corporate social responsibility reporting, Walmart has redesigned its HRM policies and practices in an effort to rehabilitate its public image. It has implemented more effective recruitment and selection procedures, published a cultural diversity management manual reflecting its commitment to a diverse workforce, and claims to have built a strong organizational culture capable of uniting talented employees from different regions and nationalities. In order to avoid further controversy, Walmart will need to give substantially greater weight to the human dimensions of its operations through robust cultural diversity management, consistent anti-discrimination enforcement, and genuinely competitive and equitable compensation policies for all of its employees.
You’re 54% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 3 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.