Essay on "Human Resource Practices: Wal-Mart"

Essay 3 pages (1211 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

International Job Search

With over 2.2 million employees scattered across 27 countries, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, provides a sound basis for this context, which seeks to evaluate the company's human practices against its own plan of 'becoming a leader in employment practices.' In advertising its open positions, the company makes use of four main avenues including internships, job fairs, college recruiting, and its corporate website. These open positions are either salaried or hourly. The former are the majority, especially in positions of management, giving the impression that the company is committed to retaining its quality employees. Besides career advancement opportunities, competitive pay packages, and flexible scheduling, these positions attract financial and wellness benefits including 401(k) retirement plans, employee discounts, life insurance and employee assistance programs, as well as an array of medical options. Those that involve international assignments outline such significant benefits as overseas premiums, tax equalization, cost-of-living, and housing allowances. They do not, however, mention performance-based evaluations, which would be crucial in increasing the economic attractiveness of international assignments, and consequently, in fostering global mobility.

Recruitment Strategies

Wal-Mart would not be the successful Fortune 500 Company it is today if it did not hire and retain quality employees (Carlson, 2004). The company's human resource practices, the most significant of which include their open employee recruitment and employee personal development, have stood out and driven the company to achieving consummation time and time again (Wal-Mart, 2014). The company "has sought out new ways to attract employees to compensate for their further expansion" (Carlson, 2004).

With regard to employee recruitment, Wal-Mart makes use of four major strategies; website advertising, college recruitment, internships, and job fairs (Haile, 2002).

College Recruitment and Internships: Wal-Mart fans out over 100 college campuses because college populations are largely diverse and their settings bring together people from different genders, races, backgrounds, and cultures (Carlson, 2002). When these diversities are brought together in one Wal-Mart family, they give an outward image of a company with an open recruitment process; one that takes the needs of minority groups into consideration (Carson, 2002). In this way, more people are attracted "to seek employment with Wal-Mart" (Carlson, 2002). Moreover, the company has teamed up with selected colleges in providing "management training for college students so they are more developed and prepared upon their graduation" (Carlson, 2002).

Website Advertising: open positions are advertised in the 'careers' segment of the company's website (Wal-Mart, 2014). Applications are made online through a three-stage procedure, in which workers provide personal information, qualifications, and shift preferences by filling out an online questionnaire and completing a pre-employment assessment test (Wal-Mart, 2014).

Job Fairs: fairs such as the popular 'Hiring our Heroes' initiative, of which Wal-Mart is a national sponsor, give, in this case, military veterans the opportunity to showcase their team building and working skills, and hence be recruited into the Wal-Mart workforce (Wal-Mart, 2014).

Job Opportunity Classification

Open opportunities at Wal-Mart are classified as either salaried or hourly-based (Wal-Mart, 2014). A salary-based position offers a fixed pay, regardless of the number of hours worked. However, for an hourly-based position, an employee is only paid for hours worked, meaning that the pay is less during off-peak seasons. Most of Wal-Mart's management positions are salaried, which could imply that the company is committed to retaining its employees by ensuring job security, and reducing the temptation to seek alternative employment during off-peak seasons. This assumption is reinforced by the fact that the company's top management mainly consists of employees who began as junior hourly-based workers. This assurance of career development in a reputable company drives performance and creates employee loyalty.

Factors Considered when Deciding… READ MORE

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