Walmart is seeking to improve EmployeeExperience by training store managers to be more compassionate. The rationale is that Walmart’s success is possible only if managers take care of their employees and customers. During these trainings, managers are taught how to make all employees, from the cashiers to the overnight cleaners, feel like they are contributing to the bigger corporate mission. As further reinforcement to keep managers motivated, Walmart has recently increased base pay and offered stock grants.
However, is this top-down approach to CultureTransformation really reaching the frontline employees who need it most? It would seem not yet, at least. Within a recent NYT article, there is a link to a The New Republic article that paints a very different picture of Walmart.
â–ª Frontline employees are pressured to work through illness and other extenuating circumstances.
â–ª Frontline employees are penalized for things like showing up late or taking unscheduled time off; if they accrue five points within six months, they are at risk of being fired.
▪ A 2020 analysis of 15 government agencies in 11 states, including Arkansas, revealed that Walmart has the greatest number of employees subsisting on food stamps and Medicaid.
â–ª Walmart routinely fails to properly report employee illnesses, injuries, and fatalities to OSHA and frequently fights any fines levied against them.
“Compassionate leadership” is not another buzzword companies should throw around as a topic of conversation so they can keep up with the latest workplace trends. In this age of self-checkout and in-store pickup lockers, all in the name of operational and financial efficiency, it is crucial to remember there are still human employees who are needed to keep things moving, and those employees deserve dignity and respect.
Walmart’s corporate mission is “to save people money so they can live better.” But helping customers live better at the expense of making employees’ lives worse seems like a hypocritical and ill-conceived strategy.
