Walmart Myths #3

(This is another in a series of articles in which I will discuss certain aspects of working at Walmart, which is the subject of so much hatred on the internet. I should point out that these are not attempts to debunk or disprove any claims made against the retail chain. I will simply relay my experience working with the company. Some of the things I state reflect the period of time from 2001 - 2006 and working in two locations in California. Some of what I say may no longer be true, may be different in other locations, or policies may have changed.)

Walmart doesn't have enough women or minorities in managerial positions.

At the two Walmart stores I worked at in California, almost every Store Manager, Assistant Store Manager, Assistant Manager and Department Manager was a female and/or minority. But this is probably more of an issue in the Midwest and Southeast parts of the country (where Walmart is KING).

Personally, I saw several efforts by Walmart to promote women and minorities into positions of authority within the company. When I first started working there, they had a program called "First in Line." Since the stores had a lot of women and minorities who were going to college, Walmart offered those who were about to graduate a chance to go into their Assistant Manager training program so that they would start making substantial money once they got out of school. (And I once saw an Assistant Manager's paycheck. It was considerably HIGHER than mine. I would have needed about 20 years' worth of raises to start making that much.)

(The bad thing about "First in Line" is that they had nothing in place for employees who came into Walmart who already had degrees. For me, it would have been great if they had a "Next in Line" program. It could have worked like this: Spend one year as an associate. After that, you would qualify to enter the training to become an Assistant Manager.)

The next thing I saw them try was to put up notices asking associates who were interested in becoming Assistant Managers apply online. If someone had been working for Walmart for at least six months in the same position, they would qualify to be interviewed for the training program. Flyers would be posted once every three months. I applied every single time, but never got called for an interview. However, everybody I know who got selected for the training was a female or a minority.

I doubt a lot of people outside Walmart complaining of the discrepancy involving women and minorities know much about the attitudes of the associates. You can go up to any employee and find out if they want to become an Assistant Manager. A lot of them will tell you they have no interest. Some employees don't want all that responsibility and consider themselves lucky to just have a job that allows them to provide for their families.

I knew one woman who had the skills. She was the Head CSM in San Jose. I asked her if she ever planned to become an Assistant Manager. She said, "No. Assistant Managers have to work 50 hours a week with 10-hour days. I don't want to do that. I want to spend more time with my family." People outside Walmart make a lot of assumptions about what the employees want.

From my experience, Walmart appeared to go out of its way to promote females and minorities. The real issue is that a lot of employees aren't looking to lead and don't see themselves as suitable for those positions.