Essay Example on Human Resource Environment at Walmart: Employee Engagement, Technology, Talent Management & CSR

Introduction

Human resource is the most critical aspect of a business. Organizations need to invest in this area to attract and maintain the best talents required to have a competitive advantage. By investing in human resources, they enjoy high productivity and customer satisfaction. This paper discusses the current human resource environment at Walmart, the top retailer worldwide. The author focuses on employee engagement, technology use, global talent management, corporate social responsibility, human capital challenges, emerging trends, human rights, and best practices.

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Employee Engagement Strategies

Walmart has made significant milestones in promoting employee engagement. The company introduced a mobile application called Even that helps workers manage and plan their finances well. This tool allows on-demand access to salaries. With the Instapay feature, workers have been able to access their earned wages in advance to take care of unexpected expenses. The application allows employees to plan for their savings goals and bills ahead. According to Anjum et al. (2018), workers tend to be more committed to the company if they are financially comfortable. Walmart has taken charge of taking care of its employee’s financial wellbeing, which is critical for businesses. It provides stability in their lives to allow them to be committed in their work thoroughly.

Also, the retailer has a competitive recognition and remuneration policy that attracts employees. It provides training and career development opportunities, including education benefits, to support learning. Walmart (2019) reported that the retailer would put millions of workers through training by 2025 to improve their skills. As a result, employee engagement increases leading to productivity is high, and turnover is low. Engaged employees are optimistic, team-oriented, solution-oriented, and selfless. They also go beyond their job requirements for the sake of the company and have a passion for learning. Moreover, this kind of workforce accepts responsibility for its action and passes credits where it is due.

Global Talent Management

Being an international company operating around the globe, Walmart supports global talent. It has about 11,500 retail stores in 27 nations in every continent and eCommerce websites in 10 countries. The Number One Fortune Company creates job opportunities for locals in communities in these locations. Currently, the total number of its associates around the world is about 2.2 million, with 50% being in the US alone (Wlamart, 2019). The majority of its management teams began as hourly associates, indicating that Walmart supports and rewards excellent talents. The company boasts of non-discriminatory and fair treatment of its workforce around the world. Between 2013 and 2023, Walmart hopes to spend 250 billion to support American jobs (Wlamart, 2019).

Walmart and the Walmart foundation committed 100 million dollars in philanthropy to help their associates gain new skills (Wlamart, 2019). The two encourage and support career development and educational advancement among their employees all over the world. There are nearly 200 Walmart Academies in the United States, where more than 800 thousand associates had undergone training by 2019 (Wlamart, 2019). In addition, Walmart Pathways had trained more than 850000 employees. The result is an educated and skilled workforce that provides high-quality services and contributes innovative ideas that keep the company at the top. Walmart also brings together stakeholders, including governments, civil societies, international organizations, and industries, to promote the dignity of workers.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Walmart prides itself as a socially responsible corporation. One of its ambitions is to use its resources to transform society and enhance sustainability. As a result, it established a foundation to spearhead its corporate social responsibility projects. The company committed to providing healthier and safer food and other products by founding the Global Food Safety Initiative. According to its 2019 report, it dedicated to finance projects worth 25 million dollars to improve food safety in china from 2016 to 2021. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation committed to making nutrition education available to four million people between 2014 and 2020. From 2014 to 2019, the two bodies provided grants to needy people to purchase four billion meals. Walmart also donated food through its stores and various distribution centers. It also hosts four wellness events every year in the US. According to the 2019 report, it provided approximately 3.3 million free health checks to people across America.

Walmart associates engage in community activities and collaborate with local organizations all over the world. They give to charities and host events to promote cohesion and development in their localities. These people offer their expertise, time, and money to support a wide range of causes they are passionate about, including disaster and hunger relief. According to the Walmart 2019 report, more than 47 thousand associates in the US alone spent more than 776,500 hours volunteering in the Volunteerism Always Pays program. This effort raised more than 7.6 million dollars in donations. The company’s stores and clubs gave local grants worth more than 42 million dollars in the United States (Walmart, 2019). The purpose of the money is to address the needs and empower the communities in which they operate.

Walmart also engages in activities that conserve the environment and tackle the problem of climate change. It participates in coalitions and advocacy that promote healthier atmospheric conditions, such as the Global Forest Watch Pro and Consumer Goods Forum. The company is the first retailer to comply with the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gases through science-based methods. In 2017, it achieved a 6.1% decline in these harmful gases (Walmart, 2019). The retailer also practices and advocates for the recycling of plastics and diversion of wastes from landfills. Engaging in these activities gives the company a positive image and name, which earns loyalty from customers that keep Walmart’s sales above every other company’s.

Human Resource Technology

Technology is revolutionizing the field of human resources. Today, companies use a wide variety of software to recruit, manage, and support their workforce. Technological advancement has streamlined the process of hiring, monitoring performance, as well as collecting feedback and reviews. In Walmart, human resource managers recruit new staff with the help of technology. The company receives millions of job applications since it is the world’s biggest retailer. When candidates send their applications through the internet, go through artificial intelligence screeners to filter a few qualified people from the pool.

Since 2017, Walmart has been using Virtual Reality to train its employees. This technology has provided better ways of assessing the skills of workers to determine the most suitable position. As a result, performance has improved as the company assigns roles depending on one’s capability. Virtual reality has also improved employee experience and engagement in the workplace. With this technology, it has been possible to create simulated scenarios to equip and prepare workers on how to respond to them in case they occur in the future (Upadhyay & Khandelwal, 2018). Commotions during black Fridays have reduced as the staff is better prepared to handle the big swarms of customers that flood the stores during those days.

Walmart also uses technology through gamification to train employees and engage customers. Using games such as Park City creates a more stimulating work environment that improves enthusiasm about the job (Upadhyay & Khandelwal, 2018). It is fun and exciting for training store associates through these technological tools. As a result, employees have become more knowledgeable, thus providing high-quality services to customers. Technology has enabled the company to deliver scalable, relatable, and realistic content to its associates within a short time. It has also promoted better retention of the knowledge, which has improved the kind of services delivered to customers and other stakeholders.

Employment Law and Human Rights Issues

The founder of Walmart, Sam Walton, pointed out the need to take care of the associates. In its 2019 report, the company reaffirmed its commitment to respect the human rights of its employees, suppliers, customers, and the surrounding community. The core values include respecting all individuals, service to the customer, acting with integrity, and striving for excellence. Walmart has made a significant effort to uphold salient human rights issues. As a result, it enjoys fewer complaints and legal actions due to alleged violations.

One of the company’s policy is to treat workers with respect by compensating them fairly, providing them with meaningful avenues for expression, and allowing the freedom of association. Walmart (2019) also reported that the retailer promotes healthy and safe workplaces by providing physical safety and security, healthy environments, and freedom from abuse. Further, it ensures inclusivity and fairness through diversity and inclusion, prevention from harassment and discrimination as well as gender equity. The company also combats underage and forced labor, including human trafficking and debt bondage through responsible recruitment. These provisions have resulted in increased job satisfaction and employee engagement, leading to improved performance.

Emerging Trends in Human Resource Management

Walmart has been trying to compete with Amazon by delivering packages to customers. The retail giant has been trying to find ways to get its employees to take up this role. Associates can only do deliveries voluntarily after regular working hours on their way home. With this tactic, online orders have increased, thus increasing sales. Walmart can now compete with Amazon in the latter’s comfort zone. Employees who sign up for package deliveries earn extra money, which improves their financial stability leading to more job satisfaction and engagement. With this new initiative, one has the choice to limit the weight and size of items. FedEx and UPS would step in whenever no enough employees are willing to deliver packages bought remotely. This scheme adheres to labor policies of communicating new initiatives, training, mileage reimbursement, and overtime pay.

Other than using employees to make deliveries, Walmart has been using technology. The company has been testing self-driving vehicles’ capabilities to deliver groceries. It also has an invention called Alphabot that assembles and delivers orders to employees. These technological advancements have resulted in increased efficiency, speed, and accuracy among associates while processing orders. At the same time, Walmart has been rolling out automated assistants to relieve associates some tasks. For instance, Auto-C cleans floors, while Auto-S scans items on shelves to ensure accuracy in price and location. FAST unloaders autonomously scan and sort unloaded items based on department and priority (Walmart). As a result, stores run more smoothly, and employees have more time to do essential tasks to satisfy clients’ needs.

Human Capital Challenges in the 21st century

A survey by SHRM (2015) reported that the most pressing human capital challenge is maintaining high levels of engagement among employees. Walmart has been facing this problem for some time. Despite coming up with measures to encourage associates to engage with their job more, some still go to work just for the money.