Human Resource Strategy in Walmart
Question 1 How would you describe Walmart’s human resource strategy?
Walmart was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and has grown to become a multinational retailer with 8,500 stores in 15 countries. With a work force of over 2.2 million, the human resource division is one of the imperative pillars of Walmart’s success. Walmart’s human resource strategy is to minimize costs of maintaining a trained and effective work force. Human Resource’s role in Walmart is to ensure continuous learning and development among the staff and to focus on employee empowerment and employee ownership (Bergdahl, 2010). Leadership and team work are greatly encouraged and new managers attend the Walton institute to learn the Walmart culture. In keeping with the low cost strategy, Walmart pays a little more than minimum wage and has reduced the number of permanent staff to prevent employees from joining unions (Biddle, 2004). This has lead to relentless criticism of Walmart’s human resource strategy and practices.
Question 2 Have you ever been encouraged to work “off the clock”? How did you handle it? How would you respond if you were told to do so in the future?
Working “off the clock” refers to the practice of workers reporting to work early, or leaving late compared to the official working hours so as to perform their minor duties such as cleaning and shelf stocking with no extra compensation for the work done. Last summer when waiting tables in a snack bar, my supervisor required the waiters to report to work early to clean and arrange tables. I complied since it required only about 40 minutes a day and this snack bar had better working conditions and pay than other available job openings. In future, when required to work “off the clock,” I will ask for a job description which recognizes any work done “off the clock” as overtime.
References
Biddle, R. (2004). Wal-Mart: Bully or Benefactor? Megachain an Economic Godsend in Many Areas Daily News, March 28, 2004, pV1.
Bergdahl, M. (2010). “How the HR division at Wal-Mart drives the company's success through
people” Retrieved on 30 May, 2012, from,
