About Walmart & Sams Club Careers
Wal-Mart and Sam's Club are excellent places to launch your career. Wal-Mart Inc. owns Sam's Club, the first of which opened in 1983. The majority of jobs in these stores are hourly positions, but the stores also employ thousands of people in salaried positions. Employees are eligible for benefits and for a variety of training programs.
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Benefits
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The Wal-Mart company offers three primary benefits to employees of both Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. Eligible employees can purchase healthcare benefits from a menu of 50 options. Employees also receive discounts on merchandise in the store and access to an employees-only website with additional discounts from other retailers. Wal-Mart Inc. has a 401(k) plan for full-time employees, allowing these employees to put money toward their futures.
Promotions
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Both Wal-Mart and Sam's Club have systems for promoting employees. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club attempt to promote from within the company, and many store managers began their careers as stock personnel or cashiers. Industrious employees who fit the company mold can find promotion opportunities at either store. At each step along the way, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club has training programs to help move employees into the next level of their careers.
Training
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Wal-Mart and Sam's Club associates begin with a new hire orientation which covers the basic benefits of the company. Cashiers also have access to CST, or cashier simulated training, which allows them to access terminals to learn how to work the cash register. Sam's Club also offers a Fresh Food Academy to train about areas within the store where fresh foods are available. Wal-Mart offers on-the-job training to food service employees. Other training programs include a 12-week management training program and leadership courses at both Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, designed to assist employees who want to move up in the corporation.
Corporate Culture
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The corporate headquarters for Wal-Mart and Sam's Club is in Bentonville, Arkansas. Corporate jobs are located there. Corporate careers include people responsible for running all facets of the organization from planning store locations to making purchasing decisions. The corporate culture operates on what Wal-Mart Inc. calls the "Three Basic Beliefs." These beliefs are "Respect for the Individual, Service to Our Customers and Striving for Excellence." Because low cost is vital to Wal-Mart's business, much of the company's corporate culture is geared toward ways to save the customer money.
Warning
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Though full-time employees at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club receive decent benefits, claims leveled against the company center around the treatment of employees. Many lawsuits have been filed against Wal-Mart for various labor law violations, according to the New York Times. As reported by CBS News, a Pennsylvania court eventually fined the company for violations of state labor laws. In 2006, a group of employees in a Florida Wal-Mart scheduled a walk-out because of changes to the hours of full-time employees and a requirement that employees be available for any shift.
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