Thread regarding Walmart layoffs

20+ year IT....im still surviving but have stopped being proud of the division years ago and no long a blue blood supporter. I do my job but have no motivation to go above in beyond anymore. Harvist ki---d ISD in my opinion... The HO lost trust in ISD and went on there own to find ways to provide solutions for themselves....weve spent the past 12 years trying to clean up harvest...mostly by adding contractors to do the work we got behind on. Kat was a horrible leader and completely embarrassing in our meetings. She acted like hyperactive college kid kissing up to KT at the end. KT never knew what ISD was before Kat and he tried to make it a California culture. We lost a lot of good leader because of KT. He also drove the layoffs in Tech and created a cut throat environment where associates and mangers had to fight each other to survive inside of work with each other to get good evals. KTs influence was the final nail in the coffin of what used to be a great IT department. Today we are just pockets of teams that all are fighting to survive....no connections anymore and only a few that are actually taking care of day to day operations for HO. I appreciate what the company has provided me but it's been heartbreaking seeing it crumble around me

I was also at ISD from 2007-2017. Was given a needs development evaluation and then month later laid off. Even though the previous year I was promoted and got an exceeds expectations then all of a sudden I get a poor review. Managers were forced give out poor reviews.

Specifically to ISD, many managers are spineless do-nothings that only do what their managers want them to do, regardless of how stupid that is. There’s no mentality to make sound decisions based on data, but rather to be a fluffier to your boss, the director, the vps, etc. there’s no ability to question bad decisions, which there are plenty of. We can all pinpoint management promotions that were obviously made based on the bu-t-su---r system.

There are some (and have been some) good technical managers that learned how to be managers outside of Walmart. I fear that slowly, though, they get identified and one way or the other you give in, or, they find a way to exit you. Any manager who’s been in the calibration meetings knows exactly what I mean there.

Tech and store support is terrible, you call in and receive no support. Tickets take weeks to solve, there’s no accountability. You’re right about spineless management, everyone just wants to float through without solving or asking tough questions. Imagine if we had leadership that acted as leaders and created solutions to problems? I don’t feel walmart is dying anytime soon, but these managers, directors, vps, etc are not leaders they’re typically because of someone they know not because they create or created results. Walmart promotes more on the buddy system than they ever have.

If I recall correctly, didn't Rollin marry into the Walnut family which gave him the fast track to career success?

I also remember the sh!tastic 2% pay increases regardless of your contributions. You had to do the job level above you for at least a year before you were even considered for that promotion if you were even considered. And, if you only did your normal mandatory 45 hour work week you never got promoted. The people that got promoted were working 60-80 hours a week.

After Harvest, I brought up how the implementation of it was horrible, but tactfully, with ideas/suggestions to make improvements with it. For the next 5 years during my annual review, manglement brought up how I rebelled against change.

To the previous poster, you are spot on. At least from my limited exposure to Rollin, I thought he was a reasonable and effective leader of people. Kat was the exact opposite. No Walmart experience, no esprit de corps and just wanted to bring in outside/offshore contractors to solve problems. Then once they saw the savings they could make with offshore, they started bringing in more and more. Harvest created the environment for the offshore and contractors to get a strong foothold and then it was solid downhill after that.

What made all this worse was the spineless management who just blindly followed like little lemmings. They all knew the path they were on was horrible, but no one spoke up, and if you did, they took you in an office and straightened you out.

I was with the WM HO (ISD) from 2007-2017. I hated Armpitsas. Rollin Ford was the ?CTO? (I believe) when I joined in 2007. I can't recall specifically when Kat took over but she was horrible. Maybe 2010/11? Every year at the YBM she was guaranteed to say "we'll be doing more with less." Kat left before I did.

Bringing back memories.... Project Harvest. What a clusterphuck. That created a not-my-job mentality. That's when people started leaving the sinking ship that was ISD. Our business partner created a 'shadow ISD' by hiring their own programmers because of the red tape Harvest created.

A few years after Harvest is when WM manglement realized Amazon was kicking their @$$. That's when the RIFs (layoffs) started happening. By the 100's. It started by laying off people with the most seniority - 30+ years. Then 25, then 20 and so on.

If you survived the layoffs, then they started giving out poor performance reviews. This was because they no longer wanted to give out severance. Your career was over with a bad review.

Because WM was unable to compete, they started buying up companies. Jet.com is the most memorable one. I remember the uproar when the HO found out all these companies were getting preferential treatment and were not immediately folded into blue Kool-Aid cult.