Walmart’s Poor Employee Engagement Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Walmarts Poor Employee Engagement. Answer: Walmarts Poor Employee Engagement Walmart is an American retailer that operates several hypermarkets, discount and grocery stores. It is the worlds largest company by revenue. The company has approximately 2.1 million employees. However, Walmart is one of the most criticized companies both by employees and groups. Some of the accusations are that it uses foreign labor even child workers, neglect of needs of pregnant workers and underpays women. Furthermore, the company is accused of discriminating elderly employees and those with disability, wage theft, and provision of unsafe work environment. Over 50% of Walmart goods are from overseas suppliers. The company has been accused of using this strategy to pay off workers in foreign companies where costs of production are low and also to keep most of its secrets undercover. The working condition in the foreign companies where the corporation manufactures its products is unsafe. For instance, a 2012 fire break out in one of such foreign companies in Bangladesh resulted in the death of 111 workers. Reports also show that most of the workers at Walmarts foreign companies are underage (Bajaj, 2012). Women account for approximately 57% of Walmarts the US labor force, and yet they are paid $1.16 less per hour. There are many lawsuits against the company of instances where pregnant women are overworked, exposed to unsafe work conditions, and dismissed while pregnant. An example is a case in Walmart vs. Duke (Ford, 2011). The corporation has also been accused of mistreating marginalized groups like the elderly and disabled. In 2001 thirteen lawsuits were registered against Walmart by different disabled workers out of which the company spent $6 million to settle the cases (Wexler, 2011). The company is also accused of providing unsafe work conditions for its employees. Despite the hazardous work conditions in its foreign companies, it has been notorious for the lock-ins practice where night shift employees are locked in at the workplace in most of its outlets as a strategy of ensuring that the workers stayed at their jobs (Koca-Helvaci, 2015). Gordon et al. (2012) assert that the Company has also been accused of literally stealing money from its workers. An instance is when the Pennsylvania workers sued the company for compelling them to work for unpaid breaks, meal times, and in some cases when they were expected to be off duty. In 2002 Walmart had to reward its workers with $51 million in addition to attorney fees of $33.8 after losing to a suit filed by one of its worker for unpaid wages. Irrespective of the reputation of the company as the worlds third largest employer, the criticisms of poor employee engagement overrides its good reputation. Therefore, rapid strategies should be imposed to correct these issues. The company should institute employee engagement policies that meet the standard of labor laws in each country or state. It should also work together with the labor unions in each respective country to foster the protection of employee rights. Furthermore, there should be strict enforcement of the established human relation policies at the workplace to ensure safety at work. It should also provide an efficient and effective process of reporting employee issues so that they are addressed promptly without having to be battled out in the law courts. References Bajaj, V., 2012. Fatal fire in Bangladesh highlights the dangers facing garment workers.New York Times,25, p.5. Ford, R.T., 2011. Beyond Good and Evil in Civil Rights Law: The Case of Wal-Mart v. Dukes.Berkeley J. Emp. Lab. L.,32, p.513. Gordon, C., Glasson, M., Sherer, J. and Clark-Bennett, R., 2012. Wage Theft in Iowa.The Iowa Policy Project. Department of History and Labor Center, University of Iowa. Hornblower, S., 2004. Is WalMart good for America.Public Broadcasting Service, (November 23). Koca-Helvaci, Z.C., 2015. Walmart and its employee relations: organizational stance-taking and legitimacy.On the Horizon,23(4), pp.374-386. Wexler, L., 2011. Wal-Mart Matters.Wake Forest L. Rev.,46, p.95.