A Critical Analysis of HR Practices in Walmart: Recommendations

This report provides a critical evaluation of human resource (HR) practices at Walmart, a leading global retailer. It examines key HR areas, including talent selection processes, performance management and appraisal systems, employee training and coaching programs, compensation structures, and learning and development initiatives. The analysis considers how these HR practices align with Walmart's overall business strategy and objectives. The report delves into the specific methods and criteria used in each area, such as the use of internal and external recruitment sources, performance measurement metrics, and the types of training programs offered. Furthermore, the report identifies potential areas for improvement within Walmart's HR framework, offering recommendations to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of these practices. The report is based on the provided assignment brief, which required a critical evaluation of HR practices in an organization, and draws upon academic references to support the analysis and recommendations.

RUNNING HEAD: HR PRACTICES
Title: HR practices In Walmart
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
Walmart is one of the most reputed and highest revenue receiver retailer across the globe
that has its branches all over the world. In order to make their strategies work and at the same
time selecting and maintain their employees so that they are aligned with the corporate goals, the
company makes and extensive effort. The report analyses various HR areas of the company like
the selection process, the training process, the compensation package and the learning process in
order to understand whether their HR practices are going hand in hand with their strategies in
order to gain the maximum benefit.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary:........................................................................................................................1
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Strategy and Mission of Wal-Mart:.................................................................................................4
Talent Selection in Walmart:...........................................................................................................4
Performance Management and Performance Appraisal:.................................................................6
Training and Coaching Employees:.................................................................................................7
Compensation or Pay Structure in Wal-Mart:...............................................................................10
Learning and development of employees......................................................................................11
Recommendation and Conclusion:................................................................................................13

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Introduction:
Walmart is one of the most reputed consumer goods retailers that have its base in
America. It operates as a chain of discount department store, hypermarkets and grocery stores.
The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and came into operation in 1969. By
revenue, Wal-Mart is the largest company that has the revenue of 14.405 billion US dollar
according to the Fortune Global 500 (Lawless 2014). The company is a publicly traded family
own business since the total operations is controlled by the Walton family. The operations of
Walmart are carried on into four divisions- Walmart International, Walmart US, Sam’s Club and
Global E commerce. The company offers a large range of retail formats throughout the assigned
divisions including the supermarkets, supercentres. Warehouse clubs, hypermarkets, cash and
carry stores, speciality electronics, home improvement, drugstores, apparel stores digital retail
and convenience stores. The company has been the employer of billions of employees
throughout the world. In terms of business value as well as the organisational size, it is one of the
largest organisation. It ensures that the human resource management of the company is done to
satisfy the business needs and expectations (.Martinson and De Leon 2018)
The human resource practices and areas deals with the employees who work for the
organisation as well as the departments that is responsible for the management of the resources
that are linked with the employees (Hayat 2014.). The practices that are performed under the
umbrella of human resource management are aimed at the development and the flourish of the
human resources and aligning the organisational strategy with the individual objective.
The present report will deal with the different human resource practices in the
organisation of Wal-Mart and at the same time will analyse how the practices helps the

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organisation in ensuring that their business strategies are kept intact along with the development
of the efficiencies and competencies of the employees.
Strategy and Mission of Wal-Mart:
Walmart is an organisation that keeps close watch on the equation of the internal
organisational process and the activities and development of the human resources. For example,
while chalking out the human resource planning or the job designing process, it stresses more on
the ways that will contribute to the high level of performance among the employees of the
organisation (Seale 2019). The company also stresses on the human resource management
particularly to organisational structure, selection process and the performance management of the
corporate will contribute to the work productivity as well as the growth potentials. The HR
managers of the company addresses various issues and criticism and optimise the workforce by
creating scopes for business resilience and aims at reducing the turnovers and boosting their
position in the retail industry environment (Collings, Wood and Szamosi 2018). The human
resource management of the company also stresses on the ability of the organisation to cut down
the operational expenses and pursuing the effective leadership to retain their status of the world’s
leading store that “helps people save money so that they could live better.” The key human
resource staffs of the company works primarily to promote the culture that is supportive of their
business strategy.
Talent Selection in Walmart:
The company, in the process of the recruitment uses a plethora of recruitment sources and
methods according to the needs that the position demands. In the selection process the company

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uses the retail industry specific criteria. In the recruitment for the key talents in the various
positions, the company makes use of both the internal as well as the external sources. In using
the internal sources, the company focuses on the current employees to fill up the vacancies for
the new positions. This is done mainly with the aim that the current employees are already aware
of the organisational cultures and will have the opportunity of learning from the candidate who is
exiting. Thus, the current employees makes a good source for the managerial or supervisory
posts as these requires a deep understanding of the strategies and culture of the organisation as
well as the work process. The company has been noted to support the promotion of the
employees who work as hourly sales employees to the position of the managers. About 70
percent of the current managers are said to have started their career in the organisation as the
hourly sales employees. The Human resource wing of the company has made scopes for the on
job trainees to be a compatible source for the internal selections. The external sources include the
online job advertisement, campuses and previous applicants. The online job advertisements help
the organisation to maintain their strategy of reducing the operational costs. The selection criteria
of the company depend primarily on the job position. The basic criteria that the company looks
for in the candidate are the education and training backgrounds and their criminal records or any
other controversies (Martinson and De Leon 2018). The company puts essential stress on the
knowledge retention for filling up the position of the hourly sales employees. The sales
personnel’s designation are selected after scrutinising the interpersonal skills and the
communication effectiveness of the candidates. For the managerial or the supervisory positions,
the company also puts stress on the conflict management, problem solving skills and analytical
skills of the candidates. In selecting the candidates the HR wing of the company designs
structured interviews and the job knowledge evaluation role plays for most of the positions. This

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approach helps the company to determine the expectation and the perspectives of the candidates
in detail. The examination and the evaluation of the informations will help the company to
analyses the “person job and person organisation” fit. Walmart also incorporates the usage of the
personality tests to determine whether the candidate can fit himself in the culture and context of
Wal-Mart. Since Wal-Mart puts a considerable amount of stress on the education and knowledge
of the employees, the selection processes are strictly based on the evaluation of the practical and
theoretical knowledge of the candidates.
Performance Management and Performance Appraisal:
The performance management or the performance appraisal process of the company is
done in a way that it is aligned with the capability of the company to support the global
expansion. The performance management as conducted by the company addresses the problems
regarding the performances of the employees (Capuano 2018). The main process of the
performance management in the company is through the performance appraisal of the
employees that takes place once in a year. The system aims at providing the feedbacks to the
employees regarding their levels of performances. Moreover, the HR management of the
company uses a software based technology that helps in the analysis of the level of performances
of the team as well as the individual. The appraisal also aims at the providing of feedbacks on
how the employees can improve their performances. The purpose of this process is directed at
the ability of the HR management to establish the goals, objectives and the job responsibilities or
specifications.
The corporate objective of the company is linked to the performance management areas
as conducted by the HR management. The main orientation of the farm is the maximisation of

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the revenues through the sales performances. The company uses measurements and and
standards for the evaluation of the performance of the human resource and analyse whether it is
satisfactory or not (Walton, S., 22 Case 6: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., June 2012). The company uses
the following performance measures:
1. the effectiveness of the total process
2. The efficiency of the process
3. Quality of the service provided to the customer
4. Timelines and activities oriented to the supply chain.
5. productivity of the sales personnel.
The performance interviews are conducted at the company so that it can provide more
informations during the time of appraisals. The company conducts such interviews at least twice
a year so that it can monitor at a regular basis the progress at the employees and check the faults
at prime time before it hampers the productivity to a large extent. In the process the company is
also benefitted as it gets the scope of getting feedbacks from the employees. Walmart also
encounters various problems related to the performances low employee morals or tardiness.
Through the process of the performance management system the company also evaluates the
promotion policy or increment policies. This also helps the organisation in understanding the
training needs of the employees.

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Training and Coaching Employees:
The training and development of the organisation is designed to ensure that the
employees in Walmart are effective in the handling of daily job tasks and the capability to adjust
in the emerging demands and needs of the retail industry. The management of the farm has
incorporated the cost effective trainings of high quality to ensure the maximisation of the
productivity of the employees.
On the basis of the availability and the needs of the organisation, the Walmart
incorporates the training and coaching programs for the employees. The applicability of the
programs is dependent on the objectives of the human resource management. The following
types of training and coaching needs can be seen in the organisation of Walmart:
1. The task or the work analysis
2. Cost benefit analysis
3. Analysis of the organisation. (Hayat 2014.)
The analysis of the task is used in order to understand the specific skills, knowledge and
abilities that is required to perform the task. The management of Walmart makes use of this
analysis for the maximum number of positions where the analyses the training needs of the
employees related to the task and the performance enhancement in the job (Tippett 2014). In
addition to this, the company also makes use of the cost and benefit analysis in order to identify
the requirements of the specific tasks for certain supervisors or the sales personnel and to get an
idea of the total management cost that will be required for providing an optimising training for
the employees. This method analyses the best cost effective yet the most resourceful and
effective training for the employees that will yield the best result. Since one of the major goal of

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the company is to determine the firm’s “cost leadership generic strategy”, the utilisation of the
cost minimisation analysis helps to a great extent. The organisational analysis helps the HR
department of Walmart to helps in the identification of the emerging concerns in the human
resource management that can be integrated in the coaching and development programmes
effectively.
The training and coaching programs of Walmart are aimed at two major approaches for
the set up of the training designs (Hallowell, Bowen and Knoop 2016). Each of the approach is
crafted in way that it effectively addressees the qualities that are put in the highest priority level
in the different positions in the company. The approaches are:
1. the program designs that are result oriented
2. The program designs that are process oriented.
The main approach that the company uses is the result oriented training design that aims
primarily at the satisfaction in the gaining of the required knowledge in performing the daily task
in the job. This approach is specially designed for the sales position in the company stores as
well as the jobs in the ware houses. The process oriented trainings in the organisation is designed
to address the issue of maintain the standard of the procedures (Capuano 2018). This kind of
trainings are imparted to the employees involved in the supply chain management or inventory
management.
The delivery of these trainings are dependent on the job positions and responsibilities of
the employees involved. The main process of deliveries by the organisation are:
1. Discussions

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2. On job training
3. Coaching.
Coaching is identified as one of the most effective training delivery method. The managers or the
supervisors of the company are responsible to train the newly promoted managers or supervisors
through the coaching process to orient them in the positions they are newly appointed in. The
main insight behind this coaching mode is the passing on of the personal insights as well as the
knowledge from the coaches to the trainees. The on job training is another essential delivery
method that focuses on the delivery of the first hand experiences in the performance of the task
specifics that are required to be carried on in the job (Hayat 2014.). This on job training does not
only helps in gaining the practical experiences while under supervision, but also helps them to be
aware of what solutions they will be taking on what occasion.
Compensation or Pay Structure in Wal-Mart:
The human resource management of the Wal-Mart aimed their compensation
programmes to meet their strategic aim of minimising costs. Thus, it aims at minimising the
compensation that are given to the employees. However, still it does not minimise it to the extent
where productivity or the employee engagement are hampered negatively. The company has also
the aim of minimising the turnovers in the organisation, since it not only affects the image of the
company, but also requires a great amount of expenditure on the recruitment process. The
company has an ill reputation regarding the low wages, though it has earned the preferences of
the customers for their low prices (KATIUSCIA MORENO GALHERA and VEIGA 2018)
. There has been a considerable amount of criticism for the low wages as it has been argued that
low wages causes the inadequacy of meeting the needs of the employees. At present, the

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minimum wage given by the company per hour is 7.25 dollars which has been argued to be
significantly below the national average of 9.93 dollars. In the present scenario, however, the
human resource management has been trying to reform their practices regarding the
compensation and are deciding to make the wage at 10 dollars at an hourly rate (Brea‐Solís,
Casadesus‐Masanell and Grifell‐Tatjé 2015). The expectation of the human resource
management of the company is that the increased wage will reflect positively in the employee
engagement and productivity.
However, the list of benefits given out by Walmart is quite long and luring. These
include:
1. “Company- matched 401 (K0 contributions up tp 6 percent salary
2. Associate stock purchase plan with company match
3. Associate discounts
4. Comprehensive health insurance plans.” (Wal-Mart website)
The motivations towards work are maintained by the company through these benefits. The
health insurance plans as laid out by the company are vision plan, dental plan, accidental
deaths, life insurance or the dismemberment insurance (Lawless 2014.). These plans are
basically aimed at the retention of the employees.
In addition to the benefits and the basic salary pays, the company has also a widespread
incentive plans in order to motivate the workers. For example, Walmert recognises the high
performance employees. The APU credits that are given to the employees are also formulated
in order to motivate the employees to improve their knowledge, abilities and skills. The

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employees can develop themselves and plan a long term career if he chooses to continue his
education through the APU.
Learning and development of employees:
The learning and development program for the employees in walmart are aimed at the
attainment of their strategy of minimum expenditure and effective savings in order to generate
the maximum amount of revenue. In order to transform the idea into reality, the company has
created a micro learning program that keeps in priority the issue of safety. The learning program
as created by Walmart took a form of a game and is made available in over 150 distribution
centres and over 75,000 people have access to it. An employee, even in his shift time, has the
privilege of logging into the portal and spends some time playing a game that includes the
questions and answers of some safety questions (Meslin 2018.). The system can track the
answers given by the employees and give feedbacks accordingly. In this process, the employees
get to know in which field they are strong enough and exactly where they need to improve. The
company has witnessed a voluntary participation of the employees in this system and as a result
employee safety has increased to a great extent.
The company holds the managers to be the pivotal employees. Thus, in their learning and
development programs, walmart has incorporated flexible and self driven trainings where they
will learn the art of managing the employees (.KATIUSCIA MORENO GALHERA and VEIGA
2018)
The company has also focused upon education as the means of company development
and enhance the effectiveness of the employees. Their learning program offers access to the
online degree programs through the University of Florid, Bellevue, Brandman etc, in 2017 the

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company has also opened the 100th training centre. A large number of employees in the last three
years have actually committed themselves in the learning programs by paying only 1 dollar per
day. Apart from the educational leanings, the company also provides scopes for the technical and
practical learning through training sessions (Zhang and Iles 2014). The sales personnel are taught
the way of dealing with the customers and the managers are taught to guide and lead their
employees. These processes are not always carried on in the formal training sessions but also in
the practical grounds.
Recommendation and Conclusion:
The selection process that the company undertsakes is basic to the retail industry in the
global sector. However, the company makes some changes based on the specifications of job and
the locations in order to align their strategic objectives with the human resource management. In
the training and development of the employees, the company can make use of job rotation or
recognitions for the employees in order to boost up their low morals and self confidences. The
tardiness can be reduced by the incorporation of rules such as the fixation of the maximum
number of tardy days per workdays. In the compensation strategy, the company can introduce the
equal emphasis on the increase of incentives of employees at different levels. An effective
incentive plan for low ranking employees will motivate them effectively.
To conclude it can be said that, the HR managements and practices of Walmart are
aligned with their objectives and corporate strategies which have yielded out in a positive result.
However, the company must focus on the fact that in their mission of maximising the revenue,
they are not neglecting the basic needs of the employees as this will cu down a competitive edge
for Wal-Mart.

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Quantifying W almart's Sources of Advantage. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 9(1), pp.12-
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human resource practices in China and their impact on industrial relations (1996–2016). Human
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Walton, S., 22 Case 6: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., June 2012.

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Martinson, B. and De Leon, J., 2018. Testing horizontal and vertical alignment of HR practices
designed to achieve strategic organizational goals. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness:
People and Performance
KATIUSCIA MORENO GALHERA, S.B. and VEIGA, J.P.C., 2018. WALMART IN BRAZIL:
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EMBEDDEDNESS. Walmart in the Global South: Workplace Culture, Labor Politics, and
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