Real Career Opportunities at Wal-Mart Explain Why Wal-Mart Receives 20 Applications for Every Job
Several of my co-workers had relocated from other areas, where they had worked at other Wal-Marts. They wanted more of the same. Everyone agreed that Wal-Mart was preferable to the local Target, where the hourly pay was lower and workers were said to be treated with less respect (an opinion which I was unable to verify). Most of all, my coworkers wanted to avoid those “mom-and-pop” stores beloved by social commentators where, I was told, employees had to deal with quixotic management policies, while lacking the opportunities for promotion that exist in a large corporation.
~From Charles Platt's blog post "Life at Wal-Mart"
More than three-quarters of store management started at Wal-Mart in hourly positions, demonstrating the real career opportunities available in the company.
~From Wal-Mart's Economic Opportunities Fact Sheet
MP: That potential for career advancement probably explains why Wal-Mart typically has about 25-75 applicants per available job, and an acceptance rate of only 1-4%.
And yet we hear statements like this: "Jobs at Wal-Mart are a dead-end cycle that keeps people in poverty, " from Wendell Chin, coalition director for the Central Labor Council of Alameda County in California.
17 Comments:
Yes, that is the reason they have over 50% labor turn over each and every year.
Yes, that is the reason they have over 50% labor turn over each and every year.
50% of the country are liberals, and everyone knows how worthless they are. A month is long term employment where they're concerned.
Far from the truth.
If they want quixotic management policy, Wal-Mart has it. Just try to form a labor union. Never mind that the conditions there breed that >50% churn.
Low wages, low quality, low respect for human life - Wal-Mart.
Less than 8% of today's private-sector workers are unionized. So why is the lack of unionization at Walmart such a big deal when they are paying higher wages and benefits than their competitors?
If Walmart sells only cheap chinese junk like I keep hearing on this blog, how is it that they are the largest, most successful retailer in the U.S.?
Not one commenter seems to even work for Walmart so why is this such a huge issue? Pardon me for mentioning it but one observes lots of issues that have far more direct bearing on our lives, like a global financial crisis, for example than the vagaries of Walmart.
@sethstorm,
It's not like no one here has seen a Wal-Mart or doesn't know people who work there. Given that, your rants against Wal-Mart are rather transparent nonsense.
My son is an assistant manager at WalMart, but he is working on an Masters in Healthcare Administration.
WalMart treats him reasonably well, but he wants to leave the retail sector because of its crazy hours and frantic pace.
WalMart, being open virtually all the time, requires staffing around the clock, even on the one day of the year they are closed (Christmas). Management staff has to check the facilities, coolers, freezers plumbing and security even when shut down.
A lot of the difficulty working at WalMart (and other low-end, always open discounters) has nothing to do with the company - it has everything to do with with the clientele, especially the low lifes that turn their kids loose in the store to play in the sporting goods and toys departments (yes, even at 2AM), or attempt shoplifting from the store and scream abuse/discrimination when caught, or bring in sick kids that throw up on the floor and don't tell anyone about the mess, or smash into your staff with carts.
I've told him he ought to write a book of true stories.
Not sure of the veracity of the 50% turnover figure, but that's probably typical of retailing, especially in the WalMart/Target/K-Mart type of stores.
50% of the country are liberals, and everyone knows how worthless they are. A month is long term employment where they're concerned.
The term liberal, in its Greek meaning, refers to the free man, as opposed to the slave. If you keep trying to lower the Liberals self esteem we might consider two weeks work long term.
Anon.,
It is often very frustrating working with the public. I can certainly see why your son would find the extended hours and soul sucking customers a bit much.
Such experiences are not isolated to Walmart. When I worked for a public library, I encountered a patron who gave me the 3rd degree because the library was closed on Christmas Day. When I asked him if his workplace was open on Christmas, he had to admit that it was not but somehow, that was different.
Good luck to your son in his studies.
t jefferson,
Does trash talk really merit your attention? Don't rise to the bait like a trout in spring.
Empty cans usually make the most noise.
Right jefferson, we should send the liberals to self esteem camp. Meanwhile, the current misuse of liberal bears no relation to its original meaning.
QT
You just woke me up talking about trout. I can't wait to wade in the creeks again this spring. Just call me a dumb Brook trout for taking the bait. lol
Heh, "tjefferson" you don't have to worry about Wal-Mart, the Obamessiah has provided for liberals in the "stimulus" bill. He's repealed welfare reform and incentivized the states to get as many freeloaders as possible onto the roles.
For the first time since 1996, the federal government would begin paying states bonuses to increase their welfare caseloads. Indeed, the new welfare system created by the stimulus bills is actually worse than the old AFDC program because it rewards the states more heavily to increase their caseloads. Under the stimulus bills, the federal government will pay 80 percent of cost for each new family that a state enrolls in welfare; this matching rate is far higher than it was under AFDC.
link
Dependent voters are reliable voters.
"If they want quixotic management policy, Wal-Mart has it. Just try to form a labor union. Never mind that the conditions there breed that >50% churn"...
Is this from your experiences sethstorm or are you just parroting the whinings of others?
"The term liberal, in its Greek meaning, refers to the free man, as opposed to the slave"...
Isn't that particular form of liberal, the 'classical liberal' and not the modern day liberal?
tjefferson,
nice image. we all take the bait occassionally.
Like the image of a tennis game; if you don't hit the ball back, there isn't a game, is there?
It's easy to forget why we come here...to read different opinions, debate, and have fun.
I'm off to do some oil painting. Have a great day. :)
QT said:
Less than 8% of today's private-
sector workers are unionized. So why is the lack of unionization at Walmart such a big deal when they are paying higher wages and benefits than their competitors?
It wasn't a big deal when Sam ran it. When the Benedict Arnold successors came in to run it, then they made it a big deal. They wouldn't go to the extent of investing in having a private jet and hotline on standby to quickly dispatch PR representatives and/or unionbusters. They wouldn't make it a point of killing off Jonquiere and Colorado while taking a large hit for it in cash and PR.
1 said:
Is this from your experiences sethstorm or are you just parroting the whinings of others?
It is from my own experiences. I remember when their campaigns of being proud to sell "Made in the USA" products. Now they're known for being a large customer of PRC-made products.
At that time of that campaign, (the union-tolerant and still profitable) Meijer got criticized for building too large of a store in my area. Now, that criticism has all but faded from memory. One example of a big-box store that went the other way and succeeded.
O.K. sethstorm what is quixotic about management that orients policies to what the consumer wants?
What is quixotic about management that orients policies to what the consumer wants?
What they think they want is something quite different from their actual request(even if it is reasonable).
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