Walmart reviews

I've been working at Walmart eCommerce for almost a year as a Category Specialist. When I was first hired, I was truly excited for the direction the company was going in to compete with Amazon. Aside from a smooth, yet misleading interview process, my entire experience thus far has been very unsatisfactory and has me looking to get out ASAP. Pay & Benefits-- For starters, if you apply to a Category Management role in the SF Bay Area, you will not be compensated for your market worth and will definitely be underpaid. The recruiters make it seem like the 10k bonus (or rather 6k bonus, after taxes) is a selling point-- don't let that fool you. In addition, you would think the benefits would help offset the lower salary, but that is definitely not the case. I know this may sound arrogant and a bit entitled, but when you're a company that makes millions in hours and you're also competing for top talent with Amazon, let alone in the Bay Area, you've got to step your game up. Culture-- Aside from mediocre pay and benefits, the office culture reeks of bureaucracy, politics, rigidness, and saps one of any energy and drive. It seems like most people are content and just going through the motions, while others are trying to turn Walmart into something its not-- an actually innovative and forward thinking company. Walmart's biggest selling point is that you get the experience of both a start up and big company-- but from my experience, any attempt at innovating, challenging the status quo, or simply lobbying to get projects worked on (because everything has to be approved by a director, director's director, VP, and so forth) makes it extremely difficult "to move with speed", "agility", or "change the way we work"-- nothing but fictional words and phrases used to create the allure of a company that wants to be considered in the same league as its competitors. Management- During my time with the company, I've reported to 3 different managers- some better than others, but for the most part, management seems to lack the emotional intelligence/people skills required to develop and retain employees. I've never been in such a hierarchical-based company. At other companies I've worked for, even directors and leaders that your manager reports to would make time to hear your perspective and develop you. At Walmart, your manager is the only person who really gets to communicate to leadership about your progress, thus if you don't agree with everything your manager says, you are seen as being defiant or "not performing well".

Walmart relatively recently embarked on a program to hire “category specialists” from top schools around the country, promising “full ownership of a category” and a job filled with business negotiations and entrepreneurship-type experiences. What they didn’t mention is that in reality, all the decisions are made by people higher up in the company, who often graduated from bottom tier schools like the University of Phoenix. The day to day of a category specialist can be summed up with one phrase: digital shelf stocking. It is literally like stocking shelves in a Walmart store, except online. You set up new items online by filling out extensive forms (tickets), remove items from the site, change out photos, and categorize items. It is as boring as it gets. To top it all off, many teams are very understaffed, with one category specialist doing the work of 10 category specialists. Despite all this heavy lifting, management is very hesitant to give out “exceeds expectations” reviews. I know many people who work hard and long hours and only “meet expectations” on their evaluations. Most importantly, there is virtually no structured training for the job. They give you a mere two weeks of training, where literally none of the dozens of outdated systems are taught to the new hires. Category specialists are thrown head first into the work environment, in which most low level managers don’t even know how to use the systems. New hires are expected to learn quickly from fellow employees, who often themselves don’t know what to do and are drowning in work.