Walmart's Poor Employee Engagement: Causes, Effects, Solutions

This essay examines the issue of poor employee engagement at Walmart, the world's largest company by revenue. It highlights criticisms against the company, including the use of foreign labor, neglect of pregnant workers, underpayment of women, discrimination against elderly and disabled employees, wage theft, and unsafe work environments. The essay cites examples such as the 2012 fire in Bangladesh and lawsuits regarding unpaid wages and mistreatment of pregnant workers. Despite Walmart's size and reputation, the essay argues that these criticisms overshadow its positive aspects. It suggests implementing employee engagement policies that meet labor law standards, collaborating with labor unions, enforcing human relation policies, and establishing efficient reporting processes for employee issues. The goal is to address these problems promptly and improve Walmart's employee relations.

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Walmart’s Poor Employee Engagement
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Walmart’s Poor Employee Engagement
Walmart is an American retailer that operates several hypermarkets, discount and grocery
stores. It is the world’s largest company by revenue. The company has approximately 2.1
million employees. However, Walmart is one of the most criticized companies both by
employees and groups. Some of the accusations are that it uses foreign labor even child
workers, neglect of needs of pregnant workers and underpays women. Furthermore, the
company is accused of discriminating elderly employees and those with disability, wage
theft, and provision of unsafe work environment.
Over 50% of Walmart goods are from overseas suppliers. The company has been accused of
using this strategy to pay off workers in foreign companies where costs of production are low
and also to keep most of its secrets undercover. The working condition in the foreign
companies where the corporation manufactures its products is unsafe. For instance, a 2012
fire break out in one of such foreign companies in Bangladesh resulted in the death of 111
workers. Reports also show that most of the workers at Walmart’s foreign companies are
underage (Bajaj, 2012).
Women account for approximately 57% of Walmart’s the US labor force, and yet they are
paid $1.16 less per hour. There are many lawsuits against the company of instances where
pregnant women are overworked, exposed to unsafe work conditions, and dismissed while
pregnant. An example is a case in Walmart vs. Duke (Ford, 2011). The corporation has also
been accused of mistreating marginalized groups like the elderly and disabled. In 2001
thirteen lawsuits were registered against Walmart by different disabled workers out of which
the company spent $6 million to settle the cases (Wexler, 2011).
The company is also accused of providing unsafe work conditions for its employees. Despite
the hazardous work conditions in its foreign companies, it has been notorious for the “lock-

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ins” practice where night shift employees are locked in at the workplace in most of its outlets
as a strategy of ensuring that the workers stayed at their jobs (Koca-Helvaci, 2015). Gordon
et al. (2012) assert that the Company has also been accused of literally stealing money from
its workers. An instance is when the Pennsylvania workers sued the company for compelling
them to work for unpaid breaks, meal times, and in some cases when they were expected to
be off duty. In 2002 Walmart had to reward its workers with $51 million in addition to
attorney fees of $33.8 after losing to a suit filed by one of its worker for unpaid wages.
Irrespective of the reputation of the company as the world’s third largest employer, the
criticisms of poor employee engagement overrides its good reputation. Therefore, rapid
strategies should be imposed to correct these issues. The company should institute employee
engagement policies that meet the standard of labor laws in each country or state. It should
also work together with the labor unions in each respective country to foster the protection of
employee rights. Furthermore, there should be strict enforcement of the established human
relation policies at the workplace to ensure safety at work. It should also provide an efficient
and effective process of reporting employee issues so that they are addressed promptly
without having to be battled out in the law courts.

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References
Bajaj, V., 2012. Fatal fire in Bangladesh highlights the dangers facing garment workers. New
York Times, 25, p.5.
Ford, R.T., 2011. Beyond Good and Evil in Civil Rights Law: The Case of Wal-Mart v.
Dukes. Berkeley J. Emp. & Lab. L., 32, p.513.
Gordon, C., Glasson, M., Sherer, J. and Clark-Bennett, R., 2012. Wage Theft in Iowa. The
Iowa Policy Project. Department of History and Labor Center, University of Iowa.
Hornblower, S., 2004. Is WalMart good for America. Public Broadcasting Service,
(November 23).
Koca-Helvaci, Z.C., 2015. Walmart and its employee relations: organizational stance-taking
and legitimacy. On the Horizon, 23(4), pp.374-386.
Wexler, L., 2011. Wal-Mart Matters. Wake Forest L. Rev., 46, p.95.