Thread regarding Walmart layoffs

In our area, they are HOUNDING the merchants to get dotcom sales up.

Walmart had two problems.

They’re understaffed in merchandising. They don’t want to face facts that they need a separate dotcom team to get the website under control. Store merchants already couldn’t keep up with the work they had. Now dotcom got dumped on them and everyone is leaving because the work is impossible.

Walmart has a brand problem.
The have two million associates that should be brand ambassadors that they treat like cr-p. Wonder what those folks tell the public about what Walmart is REALLY like as a company?

Also Walmart has a reputation for cheap cr---y merchandise. It’s products cost less. But they aren’t quality.

And everyone knows why the middle class is disappearing in America. It’s because companies like Walmart purchase most of their cr-p overseas.

Walmart likes to think of themselves as the good guys. Mr mcmillions once tried to compare Walmart to the rebel alliance in one of his speeches. The irony is the Walmart spark logo looks just like the imperial symbol from Star Wars. Customers aren’t stupid. They know that Walmart equals the empire. And nobody roots for the bad guys.

I don’t know a single merchant that isn’t trying to get out or that isn’t formulating a backup plan.

I know a few DMM’s trying to jet, too.

Merchandising is a dumpster fire. Churn and burn ‘em, baby.

You’ve got kids out of college in charge of a half billion dollars worth of business who wouldn’t know what ROI is if it bit them on the backside.

But hey. The big bosses think they look cute in a skirt and they’re working on an MBA, so that counts for something, right?

Ok. So merchandising at home office is broken. IT is broken. Lord knows the stores are broken.

What on earth is going on?

The current Walmart US CEO has been an unmitigated disaster. He’s driven home office to a headcount number and now we are just burning through people as there are not enough people to do the work.

Meantime the tech division that’s supposed to be creating tools to help is super toxic. One half of the division barely works at all and the other half is busy sending everything to India so that they can code more broken systems for us. All while convincing leadership they’re saving money and doing what all the other tech giants do.

The reality is India is MILKING Walmart for money and we have some of the worst technology in the industry.

Then there’s the rank and yank system, which is a joke these days. Who you going to yank? Your turnover is so high, people are leaving before leadership gets the choice of who to force a rating on and fire. That really is ironic if you think about it.

And the folks trying to be leaders these days? They literally don’t care about Walmart or northwest Arkansas. They are there to get the title and as much money as they can milk from Walmart. Then they plan to go somewhere else. And this isn’t a guess. I both know several people in the running to be VP’s and they’ve said this and I know recent VP’s who have left. This is the choice of leaders who are allowing the toxic culture.

If you destroy the stores where we sell stuff, the organization that buys the stuff we sell, and the technology department that is supposed to enable both groups, what is left?

Great job, Mr McMillions. Brilliant strategy. Yup. We’re a technology company now. But how much of our sales are still ACTUALLY generated out of Walmart US stores?….despite your best efforts to squash them..

Ok, sorry. I see you were talking about merchandising, so I guess this is off topic. But, I feel compelled to jump in about IT.

If there’s any IT folks out there, if you can forward a link to this to others, I’d like to read more opinions.

I came to Walmart IT many years ago as a manager. My previous company was a large tech and I was a manager there, too. I came to Walmart with 30 years of experience and generally considered an expert in my field. At the time, I was excited about IT at Walmart because there seemed to be so much going on, so many projects, so many pilot tests, etc.

Over a period of time, I moved into positions where I was able to see more of how things were done. I saw gross mismanagement on many levels, favoritism, stupid decisions and things that made me shake my head.

Finally, the things that forced me to start my job search was the arrival of KAT, the obvious failure of Harvest, and the move toward the rank & yank.

I did my job search in the background, quietly over time. I remember sitting through calibration meetings where we had to have a certain number of low performers and no one was going home until we hit that number. I sat in a meeting where a VP sorted the calibration spreadsheet and personally changed ratings given my managers. He hand picked some to go up, some down and then highlighted a line and said, anyone below this point is low. End of discussion.

I saw way too many things, how promotions were allowed or not allowed, how decisions were made to involve contractors and grow offshore presence.

Eventually, it just made me sick. I was having daily conversations with myself about my own integrity and my own values.

I made the mistake of speaking to someone above me I thought might have some advice or suggestions or supportive comments, but they ratted me out and before I knew it, my hand was forced.

I left. I’ve never been happier. So my question is, how many others have experienced total shock and dismay with what Walmart IT has become?

As it relates to IT, the little India post caught my eye. All you have to do is go back to Harvest to see how that $hit show started. There was a time IT at Walmart was awesome and positive. Now, it’s just a dismal grind. I understand why the older guys stay, they’re invested now. But, new tech guys- right out of school or under 25: stay away from Walmart tech. It’s not healthy, the environment favors offshore and this is not a place where you want to settle into a career. I was able to get out, you can too. I’m making more, working less and I love my new job. And no contractors. I can make decisions on my own and don’t need a director’s approval for anything. Believe me, Walmart tech is the perfect example of what you don’t want.

I believe Furner definitely doesn’t care.

Who knows with Doug. More and more I believe he’s a yes man for the board.

@2rph This is Doug. I am aware and just don't care. All that matters to me is that I meet my own goals so I can continue to get my yearly incentive and stock options. F*** the rest of you. /s

Sincerely,

Doug

Meanwhile Merchants are expected to be their own pricing manager, mod manager, planner, merch specialist, and order specialist. Plus they took over dotcom responsibilities. And when they tell leadership the new systems aren’t helpful, leadership gives them a bad par score and puts them in the bucket of people that can’t upskill.

The tech teams and these consultants have brain washed Senior Merchant leadership into thinking bad Merchants are holding us back to cover up the fact that the tools they’ve built don’t function as intended.

So now, instead of speaking up, Merchants are burning out and quitting one by one.

The culture is toxic. I know three people on the “leadership track” trying to grab that VP title. One person has basically told their peers either they get it in the next 2 years or they’re going to Amazon. And the only reason they want to be a VP is so they can quit and go be a broker and live it up. This is common now.

No loyalty to the employees and this rank and yank culture has caused employees to look at the company and either want to extract what they can from it or view it as not worth the money and impact to physical and mental health.

I wonder if Doug knows what’s going on. Or does he care. Lord knows the lengths people go to in order to hide stuff from him.

This has to be in reference to Walmart IT. It makes a train wreck look organized. Mile long red tape processes, no two areas pulling the same direction, clueless management driving their pet projects while ignoring what keeps the business running. Contractors constantly turning over and the few badged associates left are trying to keep it all together. About time for the next departure of the current seagull leadership.

All business decisions from the Home Office are solely based on profits. Period. It doesn't matter if quality if affected, it's all about the profits. That's why the company is slowly going the way of the dodo. That's why the associates are getting bent over and getting raw dogged. That's why Walmart is the last resort job of the desperate.

I am hearing the Home Office has become Little India. I spent 10 years there before realizing that riots are better organized than the HO.

Every company manipulates their stock prices for short term gains. Companies no longer have 3, 5 or 10 year plans. They look quarter to quarter which lets me know they have no plan.

Yeah my stores on it's 4th store manager in the past few years. I'm tired of helping this store barely scrape by functioning. Updating that resume and looking elsewhere. Guess the design is to get people to not stay long term!

27 years as a department manager then claims supervisor , zone manager back to department manager to the worse decision ever made the team lead. I never seen it so bad in the stores. The stock price does not reflect what's going on within Walmart. We are going through aphase with new leadership that has no idea what got Walmart to this spot and completely ruined the culture.

I don't understand why they pushed this out if everything I read test stores hated it.

I’m talking about merchandising and merchandising support.

Are you talking about home office? I’ve heard this kind of talk on the IT side. It’s pretty messed up. I think we all know what happened over there. We’re going to see more and more of that Indian influence permeate the rest of the company, too. Sam’s is going to be affected especially hard.