In most cases, everyone lives close to a Walmart.
Even those in rural areas tend to live only 20 to 30 minutes away from a Walmart.
Because of that and its size, Walmart is a huge employer.
Although retail jobs often don’t pay much and standing on your feet all day is exhausting, you may wonder if working at Walmart is worth it.
Here are 10 reasons Walmart is a good place to work.
Is Walmart A Good Place To Work? (10 Reasons It Is)
1. Easy Commute
One of the problems that some workers run into is the difficulty in actually traveling to their place of employment.
It may be too long a commute or their workplace might be in a congested area.
One of the good things about working at Walmart is that it’s usually easy to reach.
Walmart tends to be in high-traffic areas, but they have large parking lots to accommodate all their customers.
Because of that, each store needs a lot of space.
That means sometimes Walmart will sit off the main road a bit.
That makes reaching the store a bit easier.
More importantly, the distance to Walmart from any one place is usually not that far.
Unless you live deep in the woods or in the countryside, chances are your work commute is only 10 to 20 minutes.
That’s ideal for people who are conscious of how much gas they use or how much time they spend on the road.
Another perk about being close to Walmart is that it means if something happens to your car, you can likely get public transportation to the store.
Most public transportation lines end up connecting to Walmart in some way.
Not only is it often a place where people can carpool together, but it’s a place where a lot of residents need to go.
Because of that, bus lines tend to have a line or two that end up at Walmart.
This ensures that even if your car breaks down, you can get on a bus and still make it to work with ease.
That’s ideal in situations where you suddenly find yourself unable to go to work because your car broke down.
Thanks to Walmart’s popularity, you can get public transport to your store.
Walmart is a good place to work because it’s close by and you can rely on public transportation.
2. Career Opportunities
Although many might think of Walmart as a summer job or as a temporary job, you can actually build a decent career for yourself at Walmart.
That’s because Walmart prefers to hire and promote within the company.
They like to reward employees who show dedication and loyalty to the company.
That means that you can start as a cashier and work your way up the management chain.
You may end up managing an entire store in a few years.
With higher salaries and benefits as you go, working at Walmart is an ideal option for those looking to make a career out of it.
A problem that some employees find with their own careers is that there isn’t any growth.
Whether one is working at a desk job or another retail job, there may not be that many opportunities for advancement.
Walmart is always opening new stores and shuffling its staff around between them.
As such, there are always new openings for managers and operators.
Walmart is a good place to work because you can advance your career through the store instead of being stuck at the same job.
3. Low Barrier Of Entry
Another reason that Walmart is a good place to work is that it has a low barrier of entry.
That means it takes a chance on most people that other businesses pass over.
One example is past criminals with a record.
It can be extremely hard for former criminals to integrate back into society because few businesses are willing to employ them.
That only encourages the criminal to return to a life of crime to make ends meet.
Walmart wants to give them a chance.
As such, they hire past criminals and others who may have a blemish on their background checks.
Besides criminals, they also hire workers with little to no experience.
No matter if the worker is a teenager or an adult, Walmart doesn’t care if you haven’t entered the workforce yet.
They want to give you that experience.
As such, Walmart is often a great place for people to get their first jobs.
It allows them to start building up their resume and make the connections they need to either advance through Walmart or in another field.
Walmart is a good place to work because they give chances to almost everyone.
4. They Accept Displaced Workers
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers chose to fire their employees instead of waiting out the pandemic.
Displaced workers suddenly found themselves without a way to support their families.
Few other businesses were hiring since almost everyone was trying to save money to make it through the pandemic.
One employer that kept hiring workers was Walmart.
Even where other retailers were limiting how many workers they hired, Walmart was accepting almost everyone.
They hired more than 500,000 displaced workers during the pandemic and ensured they were able to keep feeding their families.
While former employers turned their backs on their employees, Walmart was there, taking on new workers and helping people get through the pandemic.
It’s telling of the type of employer that Walmart is.
They do their best to stand with their employees instead of taking the easy way out like many other businesses.
Walmart is a good place to work because it welcomes displaced workers.
5. Increased Hourly Pay
For a long time, Walmart had a reputation for underpaying its workers.
It was part of an effort to keep operation costs low.
With low operation costs, Walmart is able to offer low prices and still generate a profit.
They kept their pay so low that Walmart often trended below other retailers and grocery stores in terms of pay.
That changed when there was a push for workers to earn a livable wage.
Walmart ended up taking the lead among its competitors in ensuring that its employees received fair pay.
They use a new wage structure that varies across market rates.
Those market races are then associated with certain roles.
The average hourly pay for their workers in 2021 was $16.40 an hour.
Considering that many other grocery stores and retailers only pay minimum wage, that’s a substantial increase.
Due to their structured pay system, the higher someone’s role is in the store, the higher their pay.
This gives workers an incentive to work hard and do their best to put themselves forward for advancement.
While Walmart may have used to underpay its workers, it has since changed its way.
Taking care of its employees has allowed the retail giant to grow in popularity among its workers.
This further attracts more workers to Walmart and makes people passionate about working there.
Walmart is a good place to work because of its revamped structured pay system.
6. Find A Future Program
Walmart takes its veteran support seriously.
They want to foster a close relationship with the veteran community.
As such, they started the Find a Future program in 2013.
The program includes offering a job to honorably discharged veterans who qualify.
Veterans can find the transition back into civilian life difficult.
As of now, the military doesn’t have a boot camp that helps soldiers shed their training and reform into a civilian.
Because of that, former soldiers can find it difficult to transition back into a peaceful life where they aren’t constantly under threat.
That difficulty can make it hard for them to find jobs.
They might not even be sure where to go after leaving the army.
Some might have plans to pursue an education, but they’ll still need money to support themselves and their families while they’re at school.
Walmart wanted to help.
They wanted to provide structure and routine to veterans to help them transition back into civilian life.
Not only does it give the veteran a chance to make money while they figure out the rest of their lives, but they have that instant commitment that they can hold onto while they decompress from war.
Having a set schedule of work can help them since it’s something they’re used to.
Walmart offers other resources to veterans, too, like education and training for the type of field that they have an interest in.
Whether that’s in logistics, technology, corporate, or even just as an hourly retail worker, Walmart is ready to help veterans succeed.
That makes the retailer a good place to work.
Where other stores might give veterans discounts, Walmart is extending a helping hand to help them start new lives as a civilian.
7. Paid Student Internships
Whether you’re a high school graduate, a student in college, or a holder of an MBA, you know how annoying internships can be.
Many businesses treat internships like free labor.
You get experience as payment.
However, due to the costs of living and tuition prices, students can’t afford an internship like that anymore.
Walmart recognizes this which is why it offers paid student internships to graduates, students, and MBA graduates.
At Walmart, students can work in the field that interests them.
They offer several different internships for different departments.
Some of them include:
- Merchandising
- Supply Chain & Operations
- Finance
- Marketing
- Data Science
- Software Engineering
- Product Management
Students are able to get real experience working in the type of field that they have an interest in.
Even better, they get paid while they’re learning.
Besides pay, Walmart is also able to help students make connections and network with people that can help them form their careers.
Their experiences also look great on a resume.
It’s not uncommon for Walmart to offer jobs to students after they’ve completed an internship, too.
If the student seems like a great fit with the company, then Walmart might extend an invitation to join as a full or part-time worker.
This is great for students since it ensures that they have a place of work after they graduate.
Walmart is a good place to work because its student internships are paid and help them start their careers.
8. Stable Scheduling
One of the annoying aspects of working in retail is that you never know what your schedule is going to be.
This can make it difficult to plan life events.
Walmart changes that by offering stable scheduling for its full-time employees.
As a full-time employee, you have consistent schedules.
You always know what days you work and what days you have off.
This allows you to make plans and actually live your life outside of work.
Walmart also publishes its schedules two weeks in advance.
This ensures that you can plan things out ahead of time to make the most of both your work and your social life.
Walmart also created a program that allows its employees to easily change shifts with other employees as needed.
Employees can take on more shifts through the program, ask for time off, and even switch their schedules with other employees.
While there’s always some oversight, scheduling is customizable to a degree for the associates if they communicate with one another.
Finally, Walmart also offers paid time off for its full-time employees.
Whether you want to take a vacation, fall ill, or find yourself with a flat tire, you don’t have to worry about losing pay since you can use your paid days off.
Walmart wants its employees to have time to relax and recover without losing pay for it.
That makes the retailer an ideal place to work for those who are looking for a full-time position.
Walmart is a good place to work because it has a flexible scheduling system and offers consistent schedules.
It also offers paid time off for its full-time employees.
9. Store Discounts
One of the best perks of working at Walmart is the store discount.
Employees get a 10% discount on general merchandise, fruits, and vegetables.
It basically means that you get a built-in coupon for almost anything at the store.
While the 10% may not seem like you’re saving much, you’re actually saving a lot of money every year.
As you continue to work at Walmart and use your discount through the years, the amount of money you’ve saved grows and grows.
The best part is no one else has access to the 10% discount.
Walmart is already a cheap place to shop at.
With your 10% discount, you make shopping there even more affordable.
You’re also part of the Associate Discount Center.
The Discount Center grants you discounts on things like travel, cell phone services, entertainment, and other goods and services.
Just by working at Walmart, you can save money on the things that you would normally buy anyway.
It helps make your paycheck extend a little further.
Walmart is a good place to work because of all the discounts that you gain.
10. Early Access To Wages
A final reason why Walmart is a good place to work is that you can get early access to your wages in cases of emergencies.
Walmart uses the Even app which allows its employees to access the wages that they have earned already.
They allow their employees to pull their funds out before payday in the event of an emergency.
For example, if you suddenly need to pay for a car repair or someone had a medical emergency, you may not be able to wait until payday to get your funds.
Walmart wants to make sure that you have the money that you need to handle those emergencies.
The Even app makes it possible.
The best thing is that you’re not borrowing money to cover the emergency.
You can only access money that you’ve already earned.
As such, when payday does arrive, your paycheck will be smaller since you already took some money out of it.
However, the benefit is that you didn’t have to borrow money elsewhere and fall into debt as a result.
Walmart supports its employees and life’s emergencies by allowing its employees to take out their money early through the Even app.
Walmart is a good place to work because it lets its employees support themselves financially in the event of an emergency.
Conclusion
Walmart has changed a lot over the years.
It has started to invest more and more into its employees and has seen an increase in employee loyalty as a result.
If you’re thinking about working at Walmart, then the reasons and benefits listed above might help you determine whether it’s a good place to work or not.
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