Pros
Walmart offers their associates affordable health insurance with a wide option of plans. When you sign up for benefits you are given an option on a healthcare credit based on which deductible you choose. Along with healthcare benefits you also have an option to invest in stock and get your 401k started. During my time at wal-mart, management has never given me any problem granting me a day off as long as it was requested off in advance. The company is a wonderful place for college students to work as they are very flexible with scheduling and love to hire part timers.
Cons
When i was being interviewed for my postition at walmart I was given a list of duties i would have to perform in order to be hired on in that postion. I signed the paper work and was hired. Since i've been hired, not only do i complete those task that are required for my position, i also do the job of cashiers, door greeters, buggie pushers, and all surrounding departments. Had i wanted to be a cashier or door greeter, that would have been the position i would have applied for! Not only do floor associates do these extra jobs, not one has recieved a single pay raise for doing other associates jobs. Cashiers get paid more than floor associates, but floor associates who run register are not being compensated for the time they perform that task. Wal-mart now has a new operation which they call code smiley. Code smiley is called over the pa system when the registers start to get busy. When you hear this called on the pa everyone in the store not assisting a customer is required to go to the front end and run a register or bag for a cashier. If you refuse to run a register or door greet then you are faced with disciplinary action. Cashiers are being shorted hours and most having to find a second job. Not a day goes by without cashiers complaining about being full time but only recieving 20-25 hours a week. Why make your floor associates run a cash register when you have many cashiers who need hours just to get a decent paycheck? If thats not enough, walmart has developed a new attendence policy. They now have a 1-800 number you must call when you are going to be absent or tardy. You are then asked to choose why you won't be showing up and the only two excused absences are bad weather, as in hurricanes, tornado,etc.., or bereavement. So to sum it up either your house has to be flooded or someone has to die in order to have a excused absence. Wow. After you call the 1-800 number you must then call management and let them know you won't be making it in. If you miss 3 days you recieve a coaching, 4 days a write up and 5 days will be a d-day. Whats a d-day? Decision day is when you are given a day off with pay to think about why you want to be with walmart. You must then write a small essay on why the company should keep you as an associate then management decides whether or not you still have your job. You have people who fly under the radar because of the years they have put in at walmart. As for communication, walmart management isn't to clear on what they want to get done, they say one thing and do another. So far there has been empty promises left and right. This isn't a horrible company to work for, but they have seriously lost that Sam Walton feel to the company.