Executive Summary
With employment laws and workplace lawsuits in place, organizations have realized the need to become legally complaint to laws and policies that protect human resources in order to avoid lawsuits that would lead to severe penalties on the employer or closure of the business. A good example of a workplace lawsuit that would impose severe penalties on employers is discrimination of an employee in the workplace. Discrimination of a worker based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability or gender identity violates laws such as the Civil Rights Act. Victims of discrimination file a discrimination lawsuit against their employers. The employer (organization) is held culpable if the investigating authority proves that the victim was discrimination under the watch or with the knowledge of the senior executives in the company and nothing was done to address the case. Such a company risks closure or penalty depending on the damaged caused. To avoid such lawsuits, there is the need for organizations to enhance the HR function and assess compliance employment laws and regulations.
A Human Resources Audit is a comprehensive management tool that can be used by an organization to assess its performance of HR management. It involves examining or evaluating the company’s HR practices, policies, systems, procedures and strategies with an aim of identifying strengths and area for improvement. In other words, it enables the managers to know what the company is doping right and what should be done differently and more efficiently to improve the performance of the HR function. To begin with, organization managers/leaders should define the organization’s mission, vision and values in order to align the HR audit to the future goals of the company.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
This paper provides a detailed Human Resource Audit for Walmart Inc., a US-based retail company that operates grocery stores, hypermarkets and discount department stores. It begins with a brief description of the mission, vision and values of the company, followed by a detailed description of the following key areas of the company’s HR function: Organization, Hiring, Compensation and benefits, employee relations and safety, security and worker’s compensation.
About Walmart (mission, vision and goals)
Mission
A mission statement is a statement that describes the overall purpose of a company, what it does and the goals and objectives. The mission statement communicates the direction of the organization to its vendors, suppliers, employees, customers and other relevant stakeholders. The mission of Walmart Inc. is to save people money so they can live better. The company fulfills this mission by selling its food products at low prices that most customers can afford (Ferguson, 2018).
Vision
A vision statement dictates the road map of an organization, reflecting what it wants to become in the future. The purpose of a vision statement is to guide the decision making and transformational initiatives that facilitate the growth of the business. A good vision statement is inspiring, concise, future-oriented and clearly defines the prime goal and time horizon for achieving future goals and objectives. The vision of Walmart is “to be the destination for customers to save money, no matter how they want to shop” (Ferguson, 2018).
Goals and objectives
Goals are guidelines that indicate what a company intends to achieve in a certain period of time. Objectives, on the other hand, are implementation strategies for attaining the set goals. The goal of Walmart is to accommodate all customers, hence improving business flexibility. Objectives for attaining this goals include lowering food prices, maximizing profits and minimizing the cost of products (Ferguson, 2018).
Walmart’s Human Resource Audit
Organization
Walmart Inc. has a well-defined mission statement that indicates its purpose and direction to its customers. Although the mission statement is specific to increasing financial savings for the customers, it needs improvement because it is not all-inclusive. It does not incorporate other important details such as target markets, business self-concept and target customers (Ferguson, 2018). Similarly, the company’s vision statement is concise, clear, future-oriented and motivating in terms of the beneficial challenges it has towards the workers. This vision statement, however, need improvement to encompass information concerning the employees and other relevant stakeholders (Ferguson, 2018).
Currently, Walmart has a total number of 5358 stores in the United States. This includes 400 discount stores, 3561 supercenters, 800 neighborhood markets and 597 Sam’s Club warehouse membership clubs (Starkey, 2018). Today, the company operates more than 11, 200 retail unit stores under 55 banners in 27 nations and eCommerce websites in 10 countries worldwide. The organization employs about 2.3 million associate works worldwide and 1.5 million employees in the US alone (Starkey, 2018). A full-time schedule at Walmart consists of 34 hours per week and a part-time schedule consists of 20 hours per week. The executive management of Walmart Inc. includes one overall president and Chief Executive Officer, Doug McMillon. It executive management also includes Greg Foran, Judith McKenna, John Furner and Marc Lore who are presidents and CEOs of Walmart US, Walmart International, Sam’s Club and Walmart eCommerce US respectively. The company also has 40 executive and senior vice presidents who are in charge of various functional areas. The company’s board of directors has 11 members, with Gregory Penner being the chairman of the board.
Hiring
The process of hiring at Walmart begins with application which is only done through the online company website. Job applicants are supposed to fill in their details depending on the job under consideration. Because of the large retail market that Walmart serves, they consider people in different departments and therefore applicants who are flexible enough in different departments stands a higher chance of getting hired. After the application stage, successful candidates move to the next step of doing an assessment test that the company has designed to gauge how the potential employees are able to handle some job situations regarding customers, co-workers and general operations. The assessment stage of hiring is meant to grill applicants to ascertain their suitability for the applied job and the level of resilience that they have (Buckley, Wheeler & Halbesleben, 2018). After the assessment test, people who qualify go to the next recruitment stage which is a series of interviews mostly two to determine the most suitable candidate for hire.
Most of the salaried jobs by Walmart are advertised in the stores career page. They place their advertisements based on titles, locations and descriptions giving full details of the requirements for the job. A part from the salaried jobs, Walmart also hires hourly workers on contract basis. For this category of employees, people are supposed to register through the Online Hiring Center so that they can be notified of available chances. Walmart does the background check up to 20 years to determine if the person has a criminal record or not. It is also a requirement for one to submit a drug test for an employee’s suitability to be determined.
Current employees for Walmart acts as a recruitment source particularly for managerial and supervisory positions. The biggest internal source of employment for Walmart are existing employees. For instance more than 70 percent of managers in Walmart began as hourly sales employees before they were promoted to fill the managerial positions. The on job trainees also offer Walmart an internal source of recruitment in sales and marketing positions (Abrams, 2016). This approach adopted by the company gives it a competitive advantage in terms of recruitment costs reduction.
Walmart uses two main methods of recruitment depending on their source. The two are direct and indirect recruitment. In direct recruitment, the organization through a direct contact, seeks prospective employees. An example is campus recruitment where students are informed of the available job openings so that they can place their applications. This recruitment approach speeds up the hiring process. The company has a standardized code of ethics across its stores in the world which is aimed at exemplifying integrity not only to its employees but also their business partners. The employee code of ethics is meant to help employees comply with laws of the country while supporting the company’s vision.
Compensation and Benefits
Walmart offers a variety of benefits to its employees and associates ranging from good monthly pay packages, health insurance cover to employee discounts as a way of ensuring maximum staff retention while reducing employee turnover. Even though the company offers competitive pay packages, its main focus is cost reduction. The minimum hourly wage for Walmart has been $7.25 for quite some time which is below the national average of $9.93. However, Walmart announced that it will be increasing its minimum hourly wage to $11 dollars following the tax overhaul (Shilling, 2018). The Company reviews compensation regularly with an aim of rewarding hardworking employees while at the same time promoting them to senior positions (Abrams, 2016). The company began a program of giving a one-time bonus to eligible full-time and part-time hourly employees.
The Company further announced an expansion in maternity and parental leave where associates will receive six weeks of parental leave and 10 weeks of maternity leave and both of them are paid for. The benefit extends to salaried associates too who will be entitled to a six weeks parental leave. The company further offers an adoption services benefits with up to a total of $5,000 to be paid per child (Shilling, 2018). Other benefits include the 401(k) contributions that may rise up 6% of an employee’s salary and associate stock purchase plan (Shilling, 2018). Furthermore, there are incentives offered by Walmart in form of optional APU credits for best performing employees which gives them a chance to improve their skills.
Walmart has child protection labor policies aimed at ensuring that workers of the Company are not underage. The company believes that everybody deserves a better and safe life with good working conditions. Because of the working risks and the need to support workers, Walmart support supply chain with responsible sourcing (Shilling, 2018). The company has set high standards for its employees and child labor protection policy. However, Walmart has been accused of child labor abuse where children protection agencies filed a legal suit against the Company regarding use of children in some of their stores.
Employee Relations
Walmart carries out performance evaluation for its employees regularly to determine employees who are supposed to be promoted to supervisory or managerial level. The company carries out employee assessment in two major categories: for affiliates and supervisors every year. The evaluation is categorized into four levels namely: outstanding, standards, above standard and below standard (In Buckley et al. 2018). Outstanding employees get compensated for their good work through bonuses and discounts.
Walmart has an elaborate disciplinary system for its employees and before any action is taken against an individual, management gives an employee a chance to reform through a process called coaching. When an employee does not perform as per the company’s prescribed standards of operation, he or she is taken though coaching to remind them of what the company expects of them. Depending on the severity of the mistake committed an employee may be given several chances to reform and conform to the policies (In Buckley et al. 2018). If employees fail to reform, the supervisor in conjunction with other top managers may terminate the employment contract with the employee.
Despite Walmart being the largest retail operator with a great global presence, the company has been performing dismally when it comes to compliance with the anti-discrimination laws based on gender, race and class. The company’s code of ethics dictates that employees are not supposed to be discriminated against by either management or peer staff members. The basic rights of Walmart employees are enshrined in the Company’s code of ethics but there is a gap when it comes to enforcement because numerous lawsuits have been filed against the company (Abrams, 2016). This is an indication that the company code of ethics does not protect women and minority employees forcing them to seek redress from the justice system.
Walmart has a poor reputation when it comes to whistle blowers protection. Various employees for instance in 2005, filed lawsuits against the company on the basis that they were fired by management after they revealed some ongoing unethical practices. The company needs to improve the ways in which whistle blowers are handled.
Safety, Security and Worker’s Compensation
Just like in any other organization, workers at Walmart are exposed to workplace hazards such as accidents, near misses, injuries and illnesses that may affect their performance and productivity at the workplace. Today, many organizations have put in place safety measures to reduce exposure of the employees to potential workplace hazards. Many companies have also implemented training programs to educate the employees on how they can identify and report potential hazards in the workplace. Most importantly, many companies have implemented compensation programs for work-related injuries and accident claims. Walmart Inc. is not an exception as it has put in place compensation for the injured workers.
There are different job positions in every Walmart store and each position has a unique job description. This means that the employees at the company are exposed to different workplace hazards and risks of injuries. Common injuries that most Walmart workers suffer include knew injury, back pain, falls, shoulder injury, carpal tunnel syndrome, strains and sprains among others. The company has put in place certain procedures that should be followed when reporting an accident in order to obtain compensation. According to the company’s social security policies, an injured employee should first seek medical then file a worker’s compensation claim which should be submitted to his or her supervisor. The claim should include a brief description of the accident and the injuries caused. The employees is then supposed to contact a worker’s compensation and injury lawyer in the jurisdiction before submitting the recorded statement to the company’s insurance claims adjuster. Currently, Walmart has a Workers’ Compensation Policy that compensates injured workers for the medical expenses and lost wages. Types of compensation benefits available for injured Walmart workers include Temporary total disability, permanent particle disability, life-time medical benefits, lump sum compensation settlements and vocational rehabilitation benefits.
References
Abrams, R. (2016). Retailers like H&M and Walmart fall short of pledges to overseas workers. New York Times.
Buckley, M. R., Wheeler, A. R., & Halbesleben, J. R. B. (2018). Research in personnel and human resources management: Volume 36.
Ferguson, E. (2018, August 22). Walmart’s Mission Statement & Vision Statement, Generic & Intensive Strategies. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/walmart-vision-mission- statement-intensive-generic-strategies
Shilling, D. A. N. A. (2018). Complete Guide To Human Resources And The Law 2019 . S.L.: Kluwer Law Intl.
Starkey, T. (2018, September 6). Facts you didn't know about Walmart . Retrieved from https://www.newsday.com/business/walmart-facts-first-store-in-u-s-sam-walton-yearly- sales-smiley-and-more-1.13811374
