I’m often asked what it’s like to work at Walmart. From my vantage point, working at Walmart is an unparalleled opportunity to impact the lives of 2.3 million associates around the world at a scale only possible with our company. Our associates serve 230 million customers weekly and are key to delivering on our commitment to help save money and live better. Enabling the success of our associates is key to delivering our purpose.
We are committed to being an employer that helps associates live better lives in multiple ways, which include:
- Provide growth opportunities for everyone.
- Caring about associates’ well-being – physical, financial and emotional.
- Be an inclusive company where everyone feels a sense of belonging.
- Drive innovation and provide digital solutions to enhance the quality of jobs and improve service to our customers and members.
Growth: There’s a path of opportunity for everyone
Ask around our stores or campus offices, and you may be surprised how many leaders started jobs at Walmart – and continue to grow their careers here. We have jobs across functions and sectors, merchants, marketers, pharmacists, optometrists, software engineers, data scientists, distribution, store and club managers. We believe our focus on the growth and mobility of our associates is second to none.
We promote thousands of associates each month across our stores, clubs, supply chain facilities and campus offices. As we continued to expand our focus on the health and well-being of our customers and their families, we hired 5,500 pharmacists/pharmacy managers in 2021, the highest number in a one-year period, and more than 13,000 pharmacy technicians. Our private fleet is one of the largest in the U.S. and continues to grow, as we hired nearly 4,500 truck drivers last year, a company record.
As we are in our first quarter, we plan to hire more than 50,000 U.S. associates in our stores, clubs, campuses and supply chain facilities. And we’re hiring thousands into our Global Tech organization while adding new hubs in Toronto and Atlanta, driving innovation for our customers, members and associates.
Approximately 75% of our U.S. store, club and field management started their careers as hourly associates. We provide unparalleled opportunities to advance from entry-level associates to positions of greater responsibility and higher pay, on average within seven months.
Our Live Better U (LBU) education program offerings and academic partners have expanded, including three Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We have had a 44% increase in the number of U.S. field-based associate participants in LBU since we announced we would pay 100% of college tuition and books in July 2021. Our educational offerings are linked directly to internal growth areas including Technology, Health and Wellness and Supply Chain. LBU participants are promoted at twice the rate of other associates. We are continuing to innovate to provide opportunities for growth for LBU participants, including a new program to bring associates from the stores, clubs and supply chain facilities who recently graduated into our Home Office for an immersive, eight-week experience.
Well-being: physical, emotional and financial
The physical health of our associates and their families is more important than ever. Walmart offers medical coverage as low as $31.40 per pay period in most locations and offers a telehealth option that allows associates to chat with a doctor anytime, anywhere with Doctor on Demand. It’s quick, simple and offered at no cost for associates on most medical plans. All our associates also have access to thousands of fitness locations nationwide starting at $9 per paycheck.
We’re partnering with world-class health centers including the Mayo Clinic, Geisinger Medical Center and Cleveland Clinic through our Centers of Excellence program to provide quality treatment such as spine surgery, cancer evaluation, joint replacement and organ transplants. We know these are life-altering conditions for our associates, and we’re proud to help them access leading expert care in those areas.
Emotional well-being is equally important. We offer 24/7 confidential counseling services with licensed therapists at no cost to all U.S. associates and their family members. We provide well-being resources via Thrive Global, a company focused on ending the stress and burnout epidemic, to support our people in ways that matter most. We have a partnership with Supportiv and offer free peer support chats 24/7 with trained moderators. Associates will continue to have access to well-being article suggestions, videos, podcasts and services that are tailored to their unique needs.
We continue to invest in financial well-being, starting with wages. Walmart’s average hourly rate is $16.40 an hour and our starting wage goes up to $30 an hour in select roles and markets. Associates have access to a 401k on day one at Walmart with a dollar-for-dollar company match on contributions up to 6% after one year.
Inclusion: a place where everyone feels they belong
We’re committed to building a work environment striving for all associates to feel heard and that they belong. We are standing up new ways to seek timely associate feedback and ideas. We know diversity is a key piece of the puzzle in creating that environment. That’s why we’ve embraced inclusive recruitment practices and diverse hiring to ensure our promotional, pay and hiring processes are fair and equitable. We also believe in transparency and publish our workforce data and progress every six months.
In June 2020, we established four Shared Value Networks (SVNs) as part of a broader commitment to racial equity with a specific emphasis on developing strategies and investing resources to help increase fairness, equity and justice across society. The SVNs are focused on the social systems of criminal justice, education, financial and health. Each SVN team is charged with studying national systems and defining the business strategies Walmart can deploy to help shape these systems toward more equitable outcomes.
Digital: improving the experience on the job
As we continue to transform to meet the needs of our customers and members, we are ensuring our associates are equipped with the technology they need for success. We’ve provided more than 740,000 Samsung smartphones for U.S. store associates in select roles to use at work (and at home if they choose), with plans to accelerate digital in the hands of our associates. We have built a Me@Walmart app that includes features designed to simplify tasks and support associates’ success.
And we’re making it easier to join Walmart, by reducing our frontline hiring process to 24 hours, and in the year ahead, we’re focused on simplifying even more People processes.
Growth. Well-being. Inclusion. Digital. It’s truly an exciting time to be a Walmart associate.
If you’d like to become an associate, go to careers.walmart.com to learn more and join our team.
