Linking performance to training – Walmart is the organization

Focus on the performance issues that could be resolved through effective training. Describe your suggestions for using the most effective training that is available to answer the unique performance issues at Walmart.

 ANSWER

Vital Drivers of Performance

Turnover Rate Issues

Introduction

Over the years, Walmart has been one of the largest retailers in the world, with about 2.3 million workers. The company has been one of the biggest in terms of business value, organizational size, and financial performance. However, the company has failed to address some of the HR needs that affect potential growth and the company’s performance. Relatively, this has influenced the continued development of its managerial practices as well as the workforce. The company has been publicly criticized for its high turnover rate due to poor working conditions and mistreatment of workers. Walmart employees have stated that they experience dangerous working conditions which have influenced their performance, and productivity as well as morale within the company. This paper will focus on turnover rate issues at Walmart, the existing deficiencies, and how the organization will benefit from a worker development program to improve the working environment and reduce the turnover rate.

Turnover Rate Issues

The business practices at Walmart have faced criticism from different stakeholders. Walmart has become a symbol of employee mistreatment with documentaries all over mass media, highlighting how specifically Walmart mistreats its employees. Considerably, the mistreatment of workers has led to poor working conditions, low employee motivation, and morale, which has contributed to a high turnover rate. Walmart has encountered turnover rate problems since the employees feel that they are being mistreated. With such an issue at hand, Walmart has faced reduced productivity and financial performance over the years.

The turnover rate of employees has been a significant concern at Walmart, with the primary causes being poor treatment of workers such as unequal pay, low wages, lack of rewards, and ineffective company policies that have negatively influenced the efforts of employees (Hicks and Wilburn, 2007). For instance, motivation has a direct influence on employee productivity and performance. Unmotivated employees tend to underperform and turnover faster. Low employee morale leads to employee dissatisfaction as well as disengaged employees leading to illness, absenteeism, and mental health problems.

Motivations have a direct impact on employee productivity since there is a lack of reward, which results in low employee productivity (McMann, 2019). In the past few years, Walmart has been facing different lawsuits that are related to off the clock issues. The company has paid back millions of wages due to the violation of overtime rules. Walmart workers have also complained of issues such as being denied the state-mandated breaks where Walmart fails to offer lunchtimes and breaks. This has reduced employee productivity as well as cause low morale, which, in the long term, has influenced the organizational performance.

Workers performance development program

Improving the working condition entails understanding the employee’s needs. To reduce the turnover rate, Walmart needs to focus on a workers’ performance development program that will increase the engagement and involvement of employees within the organization. Performance development programs include personal and professional development where the organization allows the staff to develop their skills and function effectively (Ndulue, 2012). Walmart needs to improve its poor working condition through development programs that will change the perceptions of the employees.

Workers’ performance development programs will play a significant role in recruiting and retaining the best people at Walmart. Considerably, the performance development program is an essential element that helps in understanding how best senior management can contribute to the contribution of goals as well as enabling employees to feel supported and valued while performing their jobs. The workers’ performance development program allows the managers and employees to work collaboratively through setting performance and discussing progress over time. The program will be useful in improving the working environment at Walmart since the management will offer opportunities for recognition, support, and development.

Ideally, the program will offer a shared partnership between the managers and employees in the creation, assessment, and achievement of goals. The development programs should include the development and training strategies, which are of critical relevance in ensuring that the workers are sufficient in supporting the company’s goals. This will reduce the complaints of poor working conditions as well as minimize turnover by improving the level of sufficiency between the employees and their responsibilities.  For instance, changes in the workforce minimum pay and benefits will improve the productivity and retention of employees at Walmart.

Development programs relate to career development, performance review recognition, and compensation. These play an essential role in improving the performance of employees as well as changing the working environment. Ideally, workers tend to feel more value within an organization when they learn that their work is being valued. A development program will indicate to the employees that the employers are interested in their professional development. Therefore, employees get motivated and valued, which improves their productivity at work. Well trained and compensated employees feel motivated, skilled, and efficient for the job practices. The worker’s performance development program will assess the performance deficiencies as well as the reasons for reduced productivity and performance. Therefore, this will be utilized in addressing the failures of the company to ensure that the company meets the specific job objectives.

Conclusion

Turnover rates at Walmart have been linked to poor working conditions and mistreatment of workers. High turnovers have greatly influenced the performance, productivity as well as the morale of employees at Walmart. Considerably, increased turnover influences the operations of the company due to reduced employee satisfaction, low morale, and low productivity. However, through workers’ performance development programs, Walmart will improve the working conditions through the development of employees, thus making them feel more valuable and motivated to work. Therefore, this will reduce the rate of turnover within the company as well as boost the productivity of employees to improve organizational performance.

References

McMann, S. (2019). Turnover Rate: Walmart. Available at: https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1367&context=acadfest

Hicks, M. J., & Wilburn, K. (2007). Job turnover and wages in the retail sector: the influence of Walmart. Journal of Private Enterprise, 22(2), 137-159.

Ndulue, T. I. (2012, September). Impact of training and development on workers performance in an organization. In Book of Proceedings, Proceedings of International Congress on Business and Economic Research (ICBER2012), International Association for Teaching and Learning, Granada (Vol. 1, pp. 135-148).