Walmart making more employees full-time to retain workforce
Retailer says it plans to have two-thirds of hourly store workers full-time by the end of the year
Walmart wants to keep its employees around for longer.
On Wednesday, the retailer announced that it plans to have two-thirds of its hourly store workers in the U.S. full-time by the end of the fiscal year.
According to the Associated Press, that means 740,000 of Walmart’s 1.2 million hourly store workers will be full-time by Jan. 31, 2022.
Those new full-time employees will also have "consistent schedules from week to week," the company said.
Walmart will also be focusing on "skills training and new pathways for growth, so all jobs at Walmart can lead to careers," Drew Holler, the vice president of Walmart U.S. People Operations wrote in a company blog post.
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"We know offering more full-time opportunities along with skills, training and equipping associates with tools to make work easier will help us continue to attract and retain top talent," Holler wrote.
According to the blog post, Walmart’s focus on full-time roles in stores follows a similar approach the company took in its distribution and fulfillment centers. More than 80% of its employees in those centers are full-time.
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"Having a stable, reliable job is important," Holler wrote. "At Walmart, that starts with having a consistent, predictable schedule that makes it easy for associates to plan for all of the important things going on outside of work. That’s why we’re offering full-time associates set, consistent schedules, with the same hours on the same days each week."
Walmart is planning to make two-thirds of its hourly store workers full-time by the end of the fiscal year, the company announced Wednesday. (iStock)
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Walmart is also continuing to develop its team-based structure for employees, the company said. Between eight and 12 employees will work together on a team for all their shifts, which will allow workers to get feedback and help them "build careers with Walmart if they choose," Holler wrote.
"And all of this ultimately results in even better customer service," he added.
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According to AP, hourly Walmart store workers who are full-time will have consistent, 39 to 40-hour schedules. Previously, Walmart considered associates who worked at least 34 hours to be full-time, according to the news agency.