Presented by:Ashaf KhanAveek MukhopadhyayAvijit PaulJishnu RoychaudhuriPrasenjit Barik

IntroductionThe world's largest retailer, WalMart is beset by

allegations of discrimination, overtime-law violations and turnover that is "spiraling in the wrong direction," to the tune of some 600,000 employees a year.

Many current and former female Wal-Mart employees claim that the world’s largest private employer denied them a chance to move into management or that they received lower pay than their male counterparts.

It is also alleged that Wal-Mart pressurizes employees to work unpaid overtime.

HR PlanningProcess of systematically reviewing human resource requirements to ensure that required numbers of employees, with required skills, are available when needed.

Wal-Mart Called themselves “HR lite” – treated HR as a cost-center and did minimal investments

Huge gaps in HR planningOnly a few qualified professionals with necessary

credentials were hiredLimited in house people manager certification

program

Compensation ManagementCompensation - All rewards that individuals receive as a result of their employment

Tightly controlled labor costs – wages were lowest among the competitors as they operated at a profit margin of 3.26%

Starting hourly wages were as low as $7 to $8Differential compensation – men made more money

than women employees in almost every job categoryThe retail industry spends $2,379 for each new hire.

At that price, the tab for hiring 600,000 workers (per year) would be $1.4 billion

Recruitment & SelectionMethod of getting into management was not an open

application process. It was a tap-on-the shoulder process

Employee turnover is staggeringly high – as high as 50%

Women make up 92% of Wal-Mart’s cashiers, but only 33% of management

2/3rd of the hourly workers were females. But in the management level only 1/3rd were females

Employee & Labor relationsCompany policies highly skewed against women.Overtime violation - Women in the Oregon stores found

themselves working off the clock so frequently that they formed an "Over-40 Club"

Employees accused the company of failing to record extra hours of work, altering time records, and preventing them from taking rest breaks. A lawsuit filed by Taylor Vogue and Sally Mussmann in June 2001, on behalf of Wal-Mart employees, stated that, "Wal-Mart gives its employees work assignments impossible to complete within scheduled hours, and then pressures the workers to complete them anyway through intimidation and threats of adverse employment consequences.”

Managers were not given sufficient time to relocate, which often created problem for the female employees

Organizational structureWal-Mart follows a highly decentralized structure This

led to rogue managers in local stores to act in defiance of general company policies that created many of the problems often cited in the lawsuits.

RecommendationsMove towards centralized HR policy making The general attitude towards HR needs a change. It

should not be seen as a Cost centerRecruitment of competent and qualified HR

professionals through proper and fair channelsThe method of getting into management was not an

open application process.It should be a transparent process. No tap-on-the shoulder policy

As an immediate damage control, steps should be taken to increase female representation in management