Why people work at Wal-Mart

In a few "field trips" this past week, I wanted to see just who the people a Wal-Mart appear to be. Are they teenagers out int he job force for the first time? Retirees? Former inmates? Citizens with mental challenges? It's an absurd notion to judge a book by its cover, so I talked to a few employees -- and each one at a different store. The overall reaction I received? Employees like working at Wal-Mart (at least in my area).

It's true that almost every opinion has some level of subjectivity these days, which leaves on reaching for the facts and the unvarnished truth in many cases. I gathered by my studies here that Wal-Mart is a challenging (often frustrating) place to work for some, but the company is like any other retailer: there are unruly bosses, meetings that serve no purpose and employee strategies that leave many scratching their heads. Still, both employees I spoke to gave off a tone of being happy to be employed, and I sensed some pride in their answers as well.

An overall sense of working for a winner

The first employee I spoke with (we'll call her "Ann") seemed cheerful and was eager to speak with me for a few minutes about her experiences as a Wal-Mart employee as long as I did not mention her name. Ann was probably in her early 30s and relayed to me that she had two small children. She was a full-time worker at Wal-Mart and used her flexible spending account to pay for partial-day daycare for her kids (her parents handled the rest of the day). Ann had no formal college education, had worked for several fast-food chains in her twenties, and seemed overall pleased in working for Wal-Mart. Her biggest gripe? Customers who made messes in the store and could not control their children (who ended up making messes). Ann relayed to me that she sees families every day who have no respect for the property of others (as in, Wal-Mart stores).No gripes about Wal-Mart here -- it was all about the customer.

Was Ann a satisfied employee? She seemed fine when asked about the health insurance she had (although she did not know much about her coverage) and thought that the news she hears about Wal-Mart not having good health insurance was not really accurate. She did mention that although the cost to her was quite high, "health insurance everywhere is high." This is true from people I've talked to recently -- ask any employee (especially employees from small businesses).

The not-so-glowing employee review

The next employee I spoke with (we'll call him "Sam") seemed a little more distressed in working for Wal-Mart and told me that he's almost been fired a few times for taking off early to attend to a sick child. While I didn't hear the exact specifics of Sam's situation here, he did say that his work schedule was so inflexible that he had thought many times of just quitting and working somewhere else. His pay was a respectable $9.50 an hour, and he seemed to talk like he would not leave Wal-Mart for another company unless shown the door. In other words, he wasn't proactive about searching for what he considered a better job.

Sam seemed to act "the victim" a bit to me, in that he blamed Wal-Mart for his lot in life (so far) and for being paid so low compared to his friends. Sam, from my estimate, was probably in his late 20s or so and also -- like Ann -- had no formal college education. He was working in the lawn and garden area outside, where I started up a conversation (free of being inside the store) where I thought he may be more honest. Because, let's face it -- would you disparage your employer inside its walls with people listening (and even watching)? Sam did say that he could live on his pay but could not really afford the newer car he wanted and he had to skip on things that he knew other people had (he mentioned a flat-screen TV).

My impressions on a few Wal-Mart employees

After talking to Ann and Sam, I was left with the impression that both were simply trying to get by in life (for now) and were using Wal-Mart's employment to enable them to live to the fullest extent possible. What I did see here was that these were both hard-working individuals with a sense of pride in how they lived their lives, but without the "killer instinct" to put forth the effort to "move up the ladder" and better themselves. Let me be clear: that was just my impression and like anyone, I reserve the right to be completely wrong here.

But, in my dealings with these two employees, the things I did not hear included: 1) how bad Wal-Mart's health insurance is, 2) how awful it is working at Wal-Mart regardless of reason, 3) that these employees weren't keeping their heads above water based on low pay and 4) that Wal-Mart was the "only" job choice they had. Both seemed ready to move on to another employer if the opportunity was presented. In contrast to how some of the media reports that Wal-Mart employees (in general) just don't have the skill or fortitude to "escape" employment from the retailer, I found that both Ann and Sam were more than capable of finding an equal (or even slightly better) job than at Wal-Mart. Both seemed to lack the motivation to do so (from my perspective), since both appeared to be in a "comfort zone" of employment. Nobody likes change, right?

Next week, I'll most likely be in Bentonville, Arkansas covering Wal-Mart's annual stockholders meeting (one week from today), so be sure and come back next Friday for what promises to be a lively even with some hard questions and stirring answers (I hope). Until then, have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!