Part-time workers account for half of Walmart’s workforce, up from 20 percent in 2005, according to Reuters.
Over 7,000 Walmart hourly employees participated in the survey by Organization United for Respect (OUR). The responses were collected online from 87 percent of them, or 6,176 current employees, the report says. OUR says it is a network of over 150,000 people working in low wage retail jobs and its largest support base is within Walmart.
The retailer’s spokesman, Kory Lundberg, says the company has a majority full-time hourly workforce, without giving numbers. “We have more full-time jobs than any private business in America and we have seen that percentage go up over the last few years,” Lundberg Claims. Lundberg says the company converts about 150,000 workers from part time to full time annually.
Many workers prefer part-time work because one can easier combine that with other chores in life, typically looking after your family. The problem however is that part-time employees receive fewer benefits, earn less pay for the same work as full-time associates and often find it hard to climb the ranks within the company.
Walmart Inc. is engaged in the operation of retail, wholesale and other units in various formats around the world. The Company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices (EDLP). The Company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam's Club.
The Walmart U.S. segment does business in various strategic merchandise units across several store formats, including supercenters, discount stores, Neighborhood Markets and other small store formats, as well as walmart.com. The Walmart U.S. segment also offers fuel, and financial services and related products, including money orders, prepaid cards, wire transfers, money transfers, and check cashing and bill payment.
The Walmart International segment includes various formats divided into three categories: retail, wholesale and other. These categories consist of various formats, including supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and warehouse clubs, including Sam's Clubs, cash and carry, home improvement, specialty electronics, apparel stores, drug stores and convenience stores, as well as digital retail.
The Company operates approximately 11,600 stores under 59 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce Websites in 11 countries. Market Cap (mil) is 243,461.40 at time of writing. (Reuters)
Walmart employs around 1.5 million people in the United States and is the largest private employer in the country. The company raised its minimum wage for hourly employees to $11 (NOK 88) an hour in January, its third minimum wage increase since 2005, after benefiting from Trumps corporate tax cut plan.
80% of part-time employees who participated in the survey described themselves as “involuntary part-time” employees. In other words, they would prefer to work full-time.
About 60 percent of the part-time workers surveyed also said their hours declined after Walmart launched a new scheduling system in 2016. Arianna Smith, a Walmart employee in Barstow, California, says her hours has been cut. “I went from working more than 40 hours a week at $11 an hour to being scheduled for only 16-24 hours each week.”
Guirlene Mazarin, who works at Walmart’s store in Miami Gardens, Florida, says her part-time schedule is random. “Even though I am available to work additional hours, I’m only scheduled for approximately 30 hours every week
Fifty-five percent of part-time employees also said they did not have enough food to meet their basic needs. Walmart employees are among the largest groups on food stamp subsidies, according to labor experts, writes Nandita Bos, New York.
Walmart’s share of part-time workers is well above the industry average of around 30 percent.
