Nova Southeastern University Wayne Huizenga Graduate School Of Business & Entrepreneurship Course: Assignment for Course: HRM 5340 Group Project Submitted to: Roslyn Vargas Submitted by: Desiree Gannaway N01793384 Date of Submission: 11/30/17 Title of Assignment: Group Project: Strategic Response Group Paper CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: We certify that we are the authors of this paper and that any assistance we received in its preparation is fully acknowledge and disclosed in the paper. We have also cited any sources from which we used data, ideas of words, whether quoted directly or paraphrased. We also certify that this paper was prepared by us specifically for this course. Student Signature: Strategic Response to HR Issues at Walmart Lois Brown, Donald Davis, Desiree Gannaway, Alan Lopez, Priyesh Patel and Melissa Young Nova Southeastern University Abstract Table of Contents Abstract (Priyesh Patel)...............................................................................................................p. Introduction to Walmart and their HR Practices (Alan Lopez)....................................................p. HR Issues at Walmart (Desiree Gannaway)...................................................................................p. Data Collection Methods (Melissa Young)...................................................................................p. Interview with Walmart Manager (Melissa Young)......................................................................p. Additional Data (Melissa Young)..................................................................................................p. Reducing Employee Turnover Program Response (Desiree Gannaway)......................................p. Evaluation Plan (Desiree Gannaway)............................................................................................p. Program Implementation (Donald Davis).....................................................................................p. ROI and Program Benefits (Lois Brown)......................................................................................p. Conclusion (Priyesh Patel)............................................................................................................p. Appendix A (Melissa Young)..........................................................................................................p. Appendix B (Desiree Gannaway)....................................................................................................p. Appendix C (Desiree Gannaway)....................................................................................................p. Appendix D (Desiree Gannaway)....................................................................................................p. Introduction Walmart and their HR Practices Walmart is the famous multinational retailing corporation distinguished by high financial corporation, business value, and organizational size. The company pays particular attention to human resources and ensures that the staff gets relevant support, satisfies client expectations, and business demands. Walmart’s upper management believes that the smoothness of internal organizational processes will guarantee the personnel’s adequate work. For example, if the multinational corporation properly addresses issues related to the job design and human resource planning, it will be able to motivate/stimulate employees, thereby contributing to their highly productive performance. In order to succeed, Walmart should improve the way it manages human resources considering such critical factors as the organizational structure, career development, compensation, performance management, training, selection, recruitment, and retention as they significantly contribute to the workers’ productivity and corporation’s prosperity. The optimization of Walmart’s human resources has become a critical task, and managers will be able to address criticism and other pressing problems through various initiatives. The organization’s current HRM program highlights the importance of workers’ retention, selection, and recruitment. Walmart’s managers try to meet recruitment demands through the utilization of various helpful methods and sources suited to the corporation’s different positions. When conducting selection, the upper management also widely applies the specific criteria of retail industry taking into account current trends (Guest, 2011). In order to optimize workers’ retention, the corporation has included a compensation program focusing on career development and employees’ relationship in its comprehensive strategy. Managers utilize various external and internal sources for staff recruitment. The application of internal ones means that workers fill new and open positions. Transfers, trainees, and current staff are the crucial internal resources that the corporation widely employs. Walmart’s managers recruit human resources for various positions, including managerial and supervisory ones. For example, according to the current HR program, the corporation’s upper management promotes hourly sales workers to the managerial positions. The corporation uses its current personnel as the biggest source of internal recruitment and also employs on-the-job trainees. Nowadays, only a few of them work in such positions as marketing and sales. Walmart, like any other company, puts the trainees in positions for which they have received relevant training. This approach brings benefits, helps avoid additional expenses, and guarantees adequate person-job fit. Walmart employs transfers to temporarily fill the necessary positions and meet short-term needs (Guest, 2011). Through this effective approach to recruitment, the upper management may transfer some workers to other positions and locations to fill the gap in the workforce. In addition to using various internal recruitment sources, Walmart’s current HR management program requires utilizing the external ones as well. They include previous applicants, campuses, and respondents to job advertisements, which are regarded as the greatest source of external recruitment that the corporation currently uses. Walmart’s corporate website is the main HR portal for recruiting professional staff. The company regularly posts interesting job openings for talented, creative, and hardworking applicants. This recruitment source is beneficial due to its ability to minimize costs and immediately reach applicants. In recent years, the corporation’s upper management has started using a campus as a great external recruitment source (Bloom & Van Reenen, 2011). The main objective that the company pursues when utilizing this source is to increase the financial effectiveness of recruitment process. Walmart has precisely evaluated previous applicants, but did not hire them. Other cause is that these individuals did not pursue to become a part of Walmart’s big team. Therefore, using the information of previous applicants as an external source, the corporation will not perform the extensive evaluation of these people. Instead, all efforts will be directed towards the maximization of cost-effectiveness of HR management. Another aspect mentioned in Walmart’s current program is recruitment methods. Based on the external and internal sources that the corporation widely refers to when meeting staff’s demands and realizing the set goals, the upper management utilizes direct and indirect methods in their professional practice. The application of direct methods is based on the direct contact between the company’s managers and employees. Walmart often recruits staff through campuses. The corporation’s upper management contacts students, who are willing to work for retailers. This method is beneficial as it helps the company to accelerate recruitment instead of waiting for applicants and apply specific selection criteria (Robbins & Coulter, 2013). The utilization of indirect methods helps Walmart reach a large number of employees through the advertisements on corporate website and mass/social media. Indirect methods help to recruit and retain most of the employees. In fact, advertisements have a global reach, and, therefore, they provide significant support for the corporation’s needs. Another aspect mentioned in Walmart’s current program is the selection criteria that depend on the job position. It includes training, education, and background checks. For the hourly sales position, the corporation utilizes workers’ skills and knowledge retention. These aspects are essential for Walmart’s current managerial and supervisory positions due to the direct communication between clients and sales personnel. Human resource managers also utilize problem-solving and analytical skills for these particular positions. Managers and supervisors not only solve problems, but also analyze them as well. They are also responsible for resolving various conflicts in the workplace. The last important aspect mentioned in the program is methods and techniques. Managers conduct interviews and evaluate employees’ job knowledge for most of the positions in the corporation. Walmart’s upper management conducts interviews to determine various details, including expectations and perspectives. This information will help the company to determine whether or not employees fit the job and organization in general. Walmart also offers the new employees to pass situation judgment and personality tests for managerial positions and those related to finance and management of human resources (Berg & Roberts, 2012). Personality test helps to determine whether or not the applicant can properly work following the corporation’s principles, business nature, and culture. Through the situational judgment test, Walmart determines workers’ abilities in resolving pressing issues and providing analytical judgment. The use of different types of tests reflects the effective and comprehensive approach towards addressing human resource management and worker selection issues. Walmart’s current program not only helps to retain valuable employees, but also reduce turnover. The retention of workers is a critical concern for the multinational corporation as in recent years, it has suffered from high turnover among hourly sales workers. In order to resolve this issue, Wal Mart's managers specify the next crucial aspects in their retention strategies, such as promotions, development, training, bonuses, and recognition. Through the combination of strategies and approaches, the HR managers seek to improve workers’ motivation and morale, as well as address issues related to such processes as the retention, selection, and recruitment. Through current effective program, Walmart properly maintains its staff, supports current retail operations, and plans further expansion. The utilization of indirect methods, including job advertisements provided in the main corporate website can also help the company save unnecessary expenses, improve the work of human resource managers, and accelerate the recruitment process. To conclude, in order to succeed, Walmart will improve human resource management through addressing selection, recruitment, retention, organizational structure, career development, compensation, performance management, and training as they significantly increase workers’ productivity and corporation’s prosperity. The corporation recognizes excellent and top-performing employees, and gives them solid bonuses taking into account their business performance. The corporation’s current program highlights these aspects and provides good job opportunities for those, who hold managerial and supervisory positions. Other issues that managers cover are development, training, and promotions to support needs and improve morale. The agreement with the campuses provides significant academic credit for gaining valuable working experience in Walmart. Moreover, its long-term retention strategy is designed not only to retain qualified specialists, but also help them pursue career and climb the corporate ladder. HR Issues at Walmart Wal-Mart is no stranger to making headlines, and the past few years they have made headlines at an incredible rate. Most of which revolved around poor employee relations and employment practices. Low employee wages, little to no benefits, irregular scheduling, and unreliable hours are a few of the issues employees are accusing of the multinational corporation. There are several HR issues that plague Wal-Mart, high turnover rate, low wages, and understaffing are the top issue that keep popping up in headlines year after year. Under Staffing. One of the most frustrating issues at Walmart is understaffing. Understaffing results in un-stocked shelves, longer checkout lines, and more frustrated customers and employees. Without enough people, customer service, store cleanliness, and productive rapidly decline. Corporate has overall say on how many hours each employee are allowed to be scheduled each week, and how many employees can be hired to fill positions (Pendola, 2014). Implementing a better staffing forecasting system could improve Walmart’s understaffing issue. Forecasting systems pull data from areas like sales, to generate optimal scheduling (Callahan, 2017). Low Wages. Despite being the world's largest private retailer, Walmart is notorious for the low wages it pays workers. The largest concern for employee is that they are not earning a living wage. In the past, despite workers protesting efforts for higher wages and better working conditions, Walmart has stood behind their business model, stating it is just not feasible (Perkins, 2015). However, in the face of recent protest, Walmart has begun to waiver, announcing a plan to raise workers’ wages to a minimum of $9.00; $1.75 above the current federal minimum wages (Perkins, 2015). High-Turnover. Retail hourly store employees have one of the highest turnover rates in the industry. According to an article in the New York Times, Walmart’s turnover rate is approximately 50% (Abrams, 2016). High turnover can negatively affect the company in many ways, but for HR, high turnover results in the need to constantly hire and train new employees. This practice can lead to lower productivity, low employee morale, and a decline in customer service. There are several areas of opportunity companies can explore in an effort to reduce employee turnover. Implementing adequate training programs, recognition programs, communication strategies, and competitive compensation initiatives can positively impact company retention rates (Cascio & Boudreau, 2011). We have chosen to focus our project on reducing turnover. We will center our efforts on improving Walmart’s communication strategy by (a) collecting and analyzing data provided by conducting exit interview to determine areas of opportunity, (b) foster open communication (giving employees a voice) by implementing skip level meetings, and (c) improving the onboarding process by implementing 30-60-90 day checkup meetings. Data Collection Methods There are several reasons why employees quit their jobs, but most of the time it is because of job dissatisfaction. Some of the things that can contribute to job dissatisfaction are: not having a good relationship with their boss, poor training, lack of autonomy, not having up to date technology, having people work in jobs that they do not like, among other things (Allen, Bryant, 2012, pp. 21). However, we would not know for certain what the cause of turnover is unless we use some sort of method to collect the data. There are several methods companies can use to collect data from their employees and learn why the company has high turnover, some examples are; focus groups, interviews, employee surveys, or simply by observing the employee's’ behaviors. The Human Resource Information System also plays a big role in collecting data, because this system is used to store and track human resource information. Since one of our team members works for Walmart, we decided to use him as a resource and get a better insight on how turnover affects the store he works at. Besides interviewing our team member, we also collected information from books and the internet, including Nova’s library. Interview with Walmart’s Manager On Tuesday November 7th, we interviewed our team member who would like to remain anonymous, and is currently a Customer Service Manager/Zone Supervisor at a Walmart in West Palm Beach, Florida. We decided to perform this interview because we did not want to rely solely on data found online, and Walmart is such a big company that it would be very complicated to interview or send a survey to all their employees. For that reason, we decided to gather additional information from one of the stores and compare it to the information we found for the entire company. We started the interview by asking him some questions about himself and we finished the interview with more specific questions about the store. We learned that he has been with the company for ten years, and has had multiple positions within the same company. When asked if he has worked in any other positions besides Customer Service Manager/Zone Supervisor, he said; that he started as a sales associate, then became a stocker, moved to back room supervisor, then became a cashier and finally a department manager before moving to his current position. Based on this information, we believe that he is a great asset to the team because he has experience in a great variety of jobs, and has been exposed to many different departments within the company, which makes his feedback very valuable. Once we finished asking questions about him, we started asking questions about the store and we learned that the store is located in West Palm Beach, Florida. We asked him if he knew what the average cost is to replace an employee at his store, and he said that the average cost per employee is $3,000. He also shared with us that this cost includes; time spent selecting new candidates, the onboarding process, the background check, the drug test, training, among other things. Finally, we asked if his store is implementing any initiatives to try to reduce turnover, and if yes, what are some of the initiatives. He said that the store manager has to speak to all the associates who want to leave and find out why they want to leave before they quit. (See Appendix A for the interview questions and answers.) Additional Data According to the book, “the average annual quit rate for the retail trade industry in 2009 was 25 percent” (Cascio, Boudreau, 2011, pp.79) and based on Walmart’s website, they currently employ 2.3 million people (Walmart, 2017), which means that every year about 575,000 employees leave the company. During our interview with the manager, we learned that the cost to replace an employee is roughly $3,000. By multiplying this cost by the amount of people that leave the company every year, we can infer that Walmart’s annual turnover cost is about $1.7 billion dollars. After comparing all the data, we concluded that Walmart’s turnover is very high, and even though the turnover cost for Walmart is not high compared to their profits, managers should still work on reducing it because they could save the company millions of dollars. The next step will be to find out how can the turnover be reduced and design a plan. Reducing Employee Turnover Program Response The costs related to replacing employees can have a huge impact on a company's bottom line. Recent studies conducted from The Center of American Progress, shows that the cost to replace workers who make less than $30,000 a year is approximately 16% of their salary (Boushey & Glynn, 2012). In addition, the average turnover rate for hourly, retail positions was approximately 65% in 2016 (Korn Ferry, 2016). In an effort to reduce Walmart’s high employee turnover rate, we’ve opted to implement a strategic program, to include: (a) exit interviews, (b) skip level meetings, and (c) 30-60-90-day follow-up meetings. Exit interviews. An exit interview is a final meeting between the company and an employee who is voluntarily leaving the organization. It will provide Walmart with the opportunity to solicit candid views on work related problems, and to gather information that may shed light on areas of opportunity. Employee responses during the exit interview could provide insight into improving key areas, positively impacting Walmart’s employee turnover in the future. Our objective in designing and implementing the exit interviews include (a) soliciting ideas for improvement, (b) to identify issues related to HR, (c) identifying potential training needs, and (e) to discover opportunities for enhancements (Groysberg & Spain, 2016). Our exit interviews will take place within the last two days of employment, and will be contacted, face-toface, by a member of the HR department. A member of Walmart's upper management team may conduct the interview in place of HR personnel, when necessary. However, the interview must not be conducted by the employee's direct supervisor. Though an unstructured interview may provide more unexpected responses and insights, we chose to utilize a standardized list of fourteen interview questions (as referenced in appendix B), in an effort to consolidate data more effectively when benchmarking information. Skip level meetings. The idea behind the skip-level meeting concept is to open lines of communication between all levels of employees within the organization (Wiley, 2017). Essentially, a skip level meeting is when upper manager meets directly with employees that are more than one step down from them in the chain of command (Wiley, 2017). We plan to hold 46 skip level meetings each year, in an open-forum format. Though meeting topics will be employee driven, we plan to have a list of “starter questions” to get the meeting flowing. Our starter questions are outlined in appendix C. Example questions include (a) what’s the best part of working here, (b) how do you know how you’re doing, (c) in which areas would you like more feedback, and (d) If you were in my shoes and could change one thing to make your work easier, what would that be (Hurt, 2014). After the conclusion of the meeting, the meeting notes will be typed and distributed to all employees. We anticipate the meeting will help foster an open communication culture, where employee feel comfortable approaching topics that range from policy changes, training issues, to other areas of opportunity. 30-60-90-day follow-up. Approximately half of all hourly workers leave their jobs within the first four months of employment (Bauer, n.d). How companies chose to manage the new employee’s experience is crucial to employee retention and engagement. In response to Walmart’s low retention rate, we have elected to schedule a 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day followup with new-hires. The objectives for implementing the follow-up program includes (a) determining if new-hires are assimilating well, (b) ensuring proper candidate placement, (c) identifying areas of opportunity, and (c) to gather information on improving organizational recruiting and retention (Sullivan, n.d). The follow-up meetings will be conducted by an HR representative, or another member of upper management (preferably a direct supervisor). During the follow-up meeting, management will ask the new-hire a series of eight question (as referenced in appendix D) aimed at soliciting feedback from the new hire, regarding their experience with the company thus far, and to assess how well they are integrating into their position. Evaluation Plan Creating an evaluation plan is a critical element in designing and implanting any sort of program. Evaluating data can help us determine if we are meeting the objectives of the program, helps us identify program gaps, and to determine what changes are necessary to remain effective. In conjunction with the implementation of the programs we have designed to assess and reduce turnover, we will use several human capital metrics to determine the effects our programs have on Walmart’s retention rate. This includes (a) retention and turnover rates, both overall turnover, and 90-day failure rate, (b) time until promotion rate, and (c) new-hire engagement. Retention and turnover rates. Data relating to turnover and retention will be compiled and analyzed quarterly, to determine if our programs are positively impacting our initiatives. Time until promotion. This metric will be useful in determine why our high potential employees are leaving the company. Coupled with the data collected through our exit interviews, we can determine the need to improve employee development programs to raise employee retention. New-hire engagement. Engaging employee early on will more likely result in them staying with the company. We plan to assess employee engagement early in the onboarding process though one-on-one conversation between the supervisors and the employee. Our 30-6090 day checkup meeting will provide managers with a way to assess employee’s assimilation into the company, and to address an issues/concerns that employee many have. Program Implementation Having established a strategic plan, it becomes necessary to consider the plan, review it carefully and highlight any elements that seem challenging to the desired HR process. Those items that seem unrealistic or costly in either time or money are to be identified and an alternate is on standby. “The human resource planning at Walmart is stratified in terms of the programs and solutions developed and used. Walmart is a large organization with each store having its own human resource manager who translates the general human resource plan from the corporate HR department. Thus, Walmart stores have different interpretations of the corporate human resource plan. The variations indicate that actual human resource planning occurs at different levels of Walmart’s organization.” (Thompson, 2016) As it relates, Walmart will improve human resource management through addressing selection, recruitment, retention, organizational structure, career development, compensation, performance management, and training as they significantly increase workers’ productivity and corporation’s prosperity. HRM practitioners ensure that human capital is available, effective and grows in value through brokering the services of knowledge workers. (Feng Law & Jones, 2009) Further, development, training, and promotions to support needs and improve morale will be reconsidered in an effort to effectively address all ineffective interpretations. In order to effectively implement the program, Walmart must use procedures that ensure to inform employees, develop detailed plans and apply clear criteria for its success. According to Feng Law & Jones, HRM practitioners place emphasis on learning and development, managing knowledge effectively and creating environments conducive to knowledge creation, sharing and dissemination. (2009) Inasmuch as the problem or problems have been measured, marginalized and valued, specific elements and policies are redesigned to ensure Walmart reaches strategic goals and meets long-term targets in deficient HR issues. “The influence of resource-based theory can be attributed to a number of factors. It concerns what is arguably the most central topic in the field of strategic management – why some firms outperform others. In addition, it addresses a number of other core topics, such as firm heterogeneity, growth, and diversification” (Ordóñez de Pablos & Lytras, 2008) Walmart can get support for a program from its employees through a process of consultation. First, questions are asked for input on the program content and its goals. Secondly, it is necessary to communicate the details of the program that Walmart will implement and discuss why and what the program includes and excludes with an explanation as to the program design. The program is designed to reach certain goals and explain how the included data support the process. A program plan has a section for putting the program in place and one for longer-term maintenance of the policies and procedures. Implementing the program includes a schedule, budget and managers responsible for combining the various elements. According to Feng Law & Jones, HRM practitioners focus on creating and sustaining networks and communities of practice between people. (2009) As a long-term process, Walmart will implement the work on a continuous basis and the resources necessary to keep the program going. “In forecasting, Walmart uses special software products to automate the process of analyzing changes in the workforce. For instance, the firm gets its employee or workforce data from Walmart stores. The data is then fed to the central database, and organized and processed to reveal trends in the company’s human resources. Through this forecasting system, Walmart forecasts possible future changes in the workforce, such as changes per season or per region.” (Thompson, 2016) With the plan set Walmart must follow the strategic sequence and schedule to implement the program. Through execution, the sequence and schedule are accomplished when those employees assigned carry out their responsibilities according to the plan. “In addressing the surplus or shortage of employees, Walmart uses its information system to determine which areas or aspects of the organization will face increased demand in human resources and which areas will have a surplus. The company’s HR management then implements corresponding workforce plans that stabilize the human resources. The workforce plans specify the number of employees needed and the recommended schedules for increased recruitment (Thompson, 2016)”. Once functioning, Walmart will have to ensure that the program continues to endorse its objectives by assigning those responsible for the various ongoing aspects and assigning the related resources. “Walmart’s methods in its recruitment strategy include online recruitment, direct recruitment at localities, and recruitment through academic institutions. These HR management methods in the recruitment strategy ensure a diversity of applicants (Thompson, 2016)”. Evaluation required for a program to ensure the program is a continuous process. Walmart can set milestones or even establish long-term goals with short-term targets.“A recommendation for Walmart’s recruitment strategy is to improve its recruitment process through new strategies for global competitiveness of human resources. Global competitiveness of HR should allow the firm to address changes in the global business environment. Such global competitiveness is critical because Walmart is already a global business. Emphasis must include diversity and the ability of employees to deal with diverse populations of customers (Thompson, 2016)”. Nevertheless, the foundation for the target or milestone is to recognize those things that clearly quantify progression toward the ultimate goal. When an element is not performing as planned, either by not delivering the result or by delayed progress, Walmart must be able to apply corrective measures to set the program back on track and progress further toward the overall goals. “Walmart can address low employee morale through job rotation and flexibility, incentives, and recognition for employees’ high performance. The company can address tardiness through motivation strategies and new policies, such as rules imposing a maximum percentage of tardy days per number of workdays.” (Thompson, 2016) The process varies and is dependent largely on the details established in the strategic plan. Walmart ought adapt some basic steps to assist in the process and ensure that implementation is successful and the strategic plan is effective. “Finally, as a rapid deployment specialist, HRM practitioners develop different ways to combine information, business processes and organizational design to respond to changing markets.” (Feng Law & Jones, 2009) Exit Interview. There is much information that can be gathered at the end of an employee’s time at a company. taking into consideration that level at which their position held, the duration of employment and also the terms under which they will leave. “The information collected in an exit interview can give a company a unique perspective on its performance and employee satisfaction” (Frase-Blunt, 2004). When an employee is separating from an organization, they will participate in an Exit Interview in which they will be ask a series of questions/scenarios. These questions/scenarios are intended to shed some light as to if there is any suggestion of improvement for the company. Here is where ideas or concerns will be revealed, from there the company will be able to see where they stand with employees and evaluate want changes are necessary for the overall well-being of the company. Another focus will be that satisfaction of the time employed, The interviewee will be questioned on how they were treated and their direct response to the treatment. All of this is to have full on knowledge of if the employees are happy or not and how to go about making the necessary changes. If the employees are happy here is where we would find out what makes them so happy. Find out how to maintain and/or improve such happiness. If the employees is unhappy find out what is the cause and formula a solution, this is the company’s last chance to regain the interest of the employee and (if under good reasons) try to persuade the employee to stay. Though this is only one part of the solution it should not be solely relied on. Skip Level Meetings. At a skip level meeting an employee will meet with a Manager above the one he/she normally reports to. The purpose of this meeting is to have an open line of communication and peer assessment of how things are going within the company. Though the focus is not the people, but the issues at hand. By implementing this program Walmart will have the support of the employees even more than ever this will increase employee engagement. Leading to an environment where employee can feel comfortable to share their ideas. In an organization where upper level management takes that time out to meet with employees and actually listen and provide a solution to the concerns/ suggestions of the employee/employees will facilitate the collectiveness of employees and company. This collectiveness will allow for all of the employees to be on the same page of what Walmart’s standards and visions are. The Skip level Manage needs to ensure that the meeting is conducted in a manner in which honest feedback will be the outcome. Walmart will then know all the questions, concerns, obstacles and ways how to improve productions/ operations. According to Priority Matrix, “After hearing what they have to say you can make judgment calls on what to change and what to keep the same; then you can discuss these things with their supervisors so that they can be implemented” (Skip Level Meetings, 2016). Since the employee are still currently employed it's good to compare the feedback of the skip level meetings and the exit interviews. By creating such transparent environment it can possible aid in the reduction of turnover rates. 30-60-90-day follow-up. The 30-60-90-day follows up is a great evaluation method. Not only will Walmart be able to track the progress of the recently onboarded employee, but also be able to see if he/she is great fit to the company. Information from the follow ups to be compared to those of others new hires both past, present and in the future to see the underlying concerns that are common. Other benefit of this follow up is seeing if Walmart is doing a good job of training new employees. Here an employee needs to demonstrate that the training is effective or easy to understand. Policies and procedure will be acknowledged and reiterated. “The practice of 90 day performance reviews contributes to several important organizational outcomes. The process itself contributes to employee performance and engagement, while the data collected improves talent decision making over the long term” (Caruso Ph.D., 2014), Having a follow up such as the 30-60-90- day follow up implemented Walmart will be able to tracking the rate at which employee learn appointed responsibilities for specific position, If the training and onboarding is easily understandable, Find out any discrepancies with orientation. For each follow up the benefits ranges since so much is covered, not without merit will Walmart be able to plan, do, assess, and improve. Transitioning issues that will arise need to have a course of action the monitor how new employees will do. With the 30-60-90-day follow Wal-Mart is able to gauge how the employee respond to the company and how the company will respond to the employee. This will show in the results of production. This is good for Wal-mart, as a multifunctional organization this types of program are more than essential for the overall needs of the company to continue to operate on the level in which it does. ROI and Program Benefits In 2015, Walmart made the decision of implementing the pathways program and expanding over 200 training center while also increasing wages for employees. One would think that is a lot to do all at once. But not Wal-mart, this was once again another opportunity for them to make an investment. Investing in your own people is vital. Wal-mart saw that if they gave an increase in wages that employees are less likely to go out and look another job. “Impact on revenues were immediately recorded, with a $5 billion increase in sales. Beyond that, stores saw improvement in customer surveys and decrease in employee turnover”(Kraft, 2017). This for Walmart could mean a future with lower Hiring costs and increased employee retention. Offer Face-to-Face in conjunction with elearning programs, employees are able to improve the trainings as needed. While the cost of this is much more than other corporation are willing to spend Wal-mart has seen the potential where if the employees are invested in then the increase in revenue will come shortly after. While just making mark of its two years the programs still has a long way the go. Wal-mart is constantly figuring out how to make the program better and less costly. The purpose of the Training ROI is how to invest less and train more and better. Everything in training will require maximization to the fullest. Being able to fully can track the cost associated with this problem will help companies like Walmart to be able to pinpoint how cost can be reduced. Many companies spend money on Training tools but they aren't fully suited for the company nor does it provide to monitoring. The key to success is efficiency and effectiveness. Conclusion References Abrams, R. (2016, June 03). Walmart Worker Advocates Express Skepticism Over Raises. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/business/walmart-workeradvocates-express-skepticism-over-raises.html Allen, D., & Bryant, P. (2012). Managing employee turnover: dispelling myths and fostering evidence-based retention. The Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior Collection. Retrieved from: Strategieshttp://site.ebrary.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/lib/novasoutheastgep/reade r.action?docID=10607107 Bauer, T. N., Ph.D. (n.d.). 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Retrieved from https://www.thestreet.com/story/12532764/1/ pictures-and-employee-emails-that-make-me-think-walmart-is-about-to-implode.html Dealer, O. P. (2015, February 19). Walmart workers' strikes reason for company raising wages to $10, protesters say. Retrieved from http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/02/walmart_workers_strikes_reason.h tml Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2013). Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. SHRM. (2014, August 22). Termination: Exit Interview Questions. Retrieved November 24, 2017, from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/ hr-forms/pages/1cms_015225.aspx Skip Level Meetings. (2016). [Blog] Priority Matrix. Available at: https://appfluence.com/productivity/skip-level-meetings/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017]. Thompson, P (2016) Walmart Human Resource Management. Panmore Institute Retrieved November 17, 2017 from panmore.com/walmart-human-resource-management-hrmanagement Walmart (2017). Company facts. Walmart. Retrieved from: https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/company-facts Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (2017). ‘Skip‐level’ meeting improves leadership. Board & Administrator for Administrators Only, 34(1), 4-4., DOI:10.1002/ban.30523 Appendix A Interview questions and answers: 1. What is your current job title? Customer Service Manager/Zone Supervisor 2. For how long have you been with the company? I have been with the company for ten years 3. Have you had any other positions besides your current job? Yes, I started as a sales associate, then a stocker, back room supervisor, a cashier and department manager. 4. Where is your store located? The store is located in West Palm Beach, Florida. 5. Do you know what the turnover rate is at your store for the year? 20 to 30% 6. Do you know what the average cost is to replace an employee at your store? Yes, the average cost per employee is $3,000. 7. Do you know what some of the things included in this cost are? Yes, it includes time spent selecting new candidates, onboarding, background check, drug test, training, etc. 8. Is your store currently implementing any initiatives to try to reduce turnover? Yes, 9. If yes, what are some of those initiatives? Exit interviews with store manager. Working with associates to provide them flexible scheduling, updating their part time status to full time status, lateral move or moving them up to another department with more pay. Schedule change with another associate if possible, Working with associates where they can work half a day, pick their children up from school or afterschool and come work the remaining of their shift. Appendix B Exit Interview Questions 1.) Why are you leaving? What factors contributed to your decision to leave? 2.) What might have been done to prevent you from leaving? 3.) What caused you to start looking for a new job in the first place? 4.) What did you like most about your job? And what would you change about it? 5.) How did the job match your expectations? 6.) Did you have clear goals and know what was expected of you in your job? 7.) Did you receive adequate feedback about your performance day-to-day and in the performance development planning process? 8.) Did you feel you were kept up to date on new developments and company policies? 9.) Did you have the tools and resources you needed to effectively do your job? 10.) What are your views about management and leadership, in general, in the company? 11.) Were you comfortable talking to your manager about work problems? 12.) What is your experience of employee morale and motivation in the company? 13.) What could we have done better? What would you recommend to help us create a better workplace? 14.) Are there any other unresolved issues or additional comments? (Heathfield, 2017;SHRM, 2014) Appendix C Skip Level Meetings Starter Questions • What’s the best part of working here? • How do you know how you’re doing? • In which areas would you like more feedback? • Do you feel you’re getting enough feedback from your manager? Why/Why not? • If you were in my shoes and could change one thing to make your work easier, what would that be? What do you need more of to be successful in your current role? • What do you need less of to be successful in your current role? • Do you feel we properly recognize people here? Why / why not? • If we had budget to get you any one thing for you to make you better at your job, what would you want? • What’s the biggest bottleneck or blockers that affects you and your team doing their jobs well? • What’s one thing your team should stop doing? Why that? • What is a recent situation you wish your manager handled differently? (Hurt, 2014;getlighthouse.com, n,d). Appendix D 30/60/90 Day Check-in Questions 30-Day Check-In 1.) So far, is the job what you expected it to be? 2.) Do you feel you have the information, tools, and resources you need to do your job successfully? 3.) Are you feeling welcomed by other unit staff? 4.) Are you experiencing any challenges in particular that I can assist you with? 5.) Are you feeling comfortable within the organization in general? 6.) Do you feel like you have a good understanding of your role within the organization? 7.) Do you feel you are able to be productive and effective in your position? 8.) Is there any specific training that you feel you need to be successful? 60-Day and 90-Day Check-In 1.) What areas/tasks/projects are you enjoying the most within your position? 2.) What are some elements of the position you are not enjoying as much? 3.) Is this because you have not been given the proper tools or training to be successful? 4.) Are you feeling challenged by the position? 5.) How is your onboarding going? 6.) Are there any areas where you feel you could benefit from additional support or training? 7.) So far, what part of the onboarding process has been most effective/beneficial? 8.) Are you experiencing any challenges in particular that I can assist you with? (SHRM,2014:Forbes Communications Council, 2016) Criterion Does not meet basic criterion Meets basic criterion Proficient Outstanding Provides overview of company Does not provide overview of company (0) Provides a general idea about the company (1.67) Provides sufficient information about the company to provide context for the analysis (3.34) Provides detailed information about the company and why it was chosen (5) Discusses issues or problems facing the company and why the specific HR program should be implemented Does not discuss problems facing the company and why the specific HR program should be implemented. (0) Describes 1 issue, and why the specific HR program should be implemented (1.67) Describes 2 issues, and why the specific HR program should be implemented (3.34) Describes 3 issues, and why the specific HR program should be implemented (5) Documents interview and data collected and describes HR program design and implementation Does not document interview and data collected and does not describe HR program design and implementation. (0) Documents interview and data collected and does not describe HR program design and implementation; or vice-versa (1.67) Provides sufficient documented interview and data collected and HR program design and implementation (3.34) Demonstrates detailed team analysis of interview and data collected and HR program design and implementation (5) Sample data, forms, ROI or other calculations, evaluation method, program benefits Does not provide any calculations, evaluation methods or program benefits. (0) Provides calculations and evaluation methods, but not program benefits or vice-versa (1.67) Provides sufficient calculations, evaluation methods, and program benefits (3.34) Provides detailed calculations, evaluation methods, and program benefits (5) Coherent, logical and appropriate references Poorly written, incoherent sentences, poor spelling, unacceptable grammar (0) Numerous errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, but coherent, logical discussion or vice versa (1.67) Very few errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling. Coherent, logical discussion. (3.34) Virtually no errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, completely coherent and logical (5)
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