4. HRM:
Wal-Mart’s success in Human Resource Management is keeping their
workforce of 1.3 million from unionizing, while adding to it and pursuing other
HR activities to further Wal-Mart’s success. Wal-Mart would not have been
able to expand and have the same level of success without hiring and taking
care of quality employees. Some of Wal-Mart’s human resource activities
include employee advancement, employee recruitment on college universities,
and employee training and development. Additionally, while most firms have
slowed down their hiring of new employees, Wal-Mart has sought out new
ways to attract employees to compensate for their further expansion over the
next five years.[11]
Looking at Wal-Mart’s Human Resource Management, one of the most
important aspects is Wal-Mart’s employee advancement program. Currently,
65% of the company’s managers began working hourly jobs, such as
cashiers.[12] Wal-Mart has taken great efforts to ensure that there are
opportunities for their employees to rise up through the ranks so to
speak. This availability of opportunities to advance past low-paying hourly
wage jobs undoubtedly is part of the reason that Wal-Mart was voted as one
of Fortune magazine’s most admired companies and was distinguished as one
of the best companies to work for in the U.S.[13]
In the realm of employee recruitment and employee training and
development, Wal-Mart has targeted college students to add to their
workforce. Wal-Mart achieves this recruitment by fanning out over 80 college
campuses.[14] While they are at these colleges, they are also able to expand
their demographics by looking at minority fraternities and sororities, which
brings all types of people from different backgrounds, races, and genders
together in the Wal-Mart family. Having a wide variety demographic for a
workforce, only serves to attract more people to seek employment with WalMart because they are able to show that they have a very open hiring
process. Beyond this recruitment, Wal-Mart has taken an additional step
with college students by offering management training for college students
while they are still in school so they are more developed and prepared upon
their graduation.[15] This program serves the purpose of making college
students consider careers with Wal-Mart, and over the last two years, the
program has had immense success.
The results of these Human Resource activities speak for
themselves. Wal-Mart has achieved a very good retention rate for their
employees, and the proof of this is their focus on adding to their workforce
over the next five years by hiring 800,000 new employees bringing the total
over two million.[16] Despite the reports that Wal-Mart’s employees are
underpaid and not given benefits, Wal-Mart has not wavered. Employees, as
much as 60%, have gone on record saying that they stay with Wal-Mart
because the benefits allow them to take care of their families.[17] If
employees were unhappy and leaving at a considerable rate, then the focus
would be on filling these open spaces rather than expanding their workforce.