story by Kim Souza, photos courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
ksouza@thecitywire.com
Rule No. 6 of legendary retailer Sam Walton was “celebrate your successes." But more than half of Walton’s list of “10 rules for building a business” dealt with engaging and appreciating “associates” or company employees, according to his son Rob Walton.
“Dad knew that building a business was about building up the people,” said Rob Walton, chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., as he addressed more than 14,000 at the retailer’s annual meeting in Fayetteville on Friday (June 7).
The Wal-Mart “associate," was the key focus of the entire week leading up to Friday’s meeting which showcased some of the retailer’s brightest stars including Jahmene Douglas, with ASDA until recently. ASDA is the retailer’s grocery business in the United Kingdom. Michael Lundberg, a high school senior who works in a Texas Sam’s Club, was also called into spotlight.
Douglas, the X-Factor runner-up, wowed the crowd with his riveting vocal performances and he gave ASDA the credit for giving him the confidence to enter the competition.
Lundberg was tagged a “hero” by CEO Mike Duke, for continued volunteer efforts to help his fellow residents in West, Texas. On April 17, Lundberg was eating dinner at home when a fertilizer plant exploded and leveled the surrounding area. He immediately jumped in his truck and headed to the scene, Duke said.
At a nursing home next to the plant, he helped triage the injured and then went inside to pull people from the rubble. Once first responders arrived, he went to a nearby apartment building and evacuated another injured man to safety. Duke said he is still volunteering in that community and he graduates from high school tonight before he joins the Marines later next month.
“Michael when you get back from serving our country, I’ve got a job waiting for you,” Duke said.
Tributes like that were played all week and the retailer recently launched a media campaign with a similar message of opportunities and possibilities within the massive corporate giant’s family. With some 2.2 million employees around the globe, Wal-Mart is also the world’s largest private employer.
While Wal-Mart claims every shareholder week in the past has been about celebrating its employees, it is clear the retailer went to great lengths this year as Simon granted two promotions onstage during Friday’s shareholder meeting. Simon called Mary Lou Singleton from Pleasanton, Calif., and Kari Grissom from Cave Creek, Ariz., to the stage.
“She (Singleton) is very dedicated to her customers, and her manager has called her ‘the backbone’ of her store. Kari Grissam is very positive and supportive of her team. And her market manager says she has the best in-stock in her market,” Simon on told the crowd.
“They've both recently applied for assistant manager positions, but they didn’t know if they’d gotten them until right now. Congratulations, you're both being promoted,” he said.
He gave them their new management badges and told them these jobs come with a raise. Then he simply asked, "Who’s next?”
“More so this year than any other, we are focused on our people, Duke told analysts in their Friday afternoon meeting. “Our people make the difference and I continue to be amazed at who we are recruiting, we have the best merchant talent we have ever had, the best anywhere in the world,” he said.
More than 5,000 store workers, hourly and management, made their way to Bentonville for this year’s meetings and dozens of them were proudly displayed for the media at multiple events ahead of Friday’s meeting.
During lunch and dinner meetings with the media on Thursday (June 6) several Wal-Mart employees shared their experiences.
Natasha Ter-Markarova, an immigrant from Azerbaijan was a classically trained pianist who studied at a Russian music conservatory before she escaped her war torn country in the early 1990s. She spoke little to no English and had resolved herself to cleaning houses after she moved to Hermitage, Tenn.
Ter-Markarova said everything she knows about America and its culture she learned at Wal-Mart.
“I came to America in 1992 as a refugee. My sponsors brought me to Store 710, and I started as a sales person in softlines. I learned English working in Wal-Mart. I learned American culture working in Wal-Mart and I have adapted to the culture. It’s been a very good school for me,” she said.
Today Natasha is a zone manager in her local Walmart Store and said she is grateful for the life she has been able to build while helping to support her family in her job at Wal-Mart.
It’s no secret that other groups with union interests continue to protest Wal-Mart throughout the week, despite a restraining order granted by the local courts on Monday. The order prohibited the groups from picketing and displaying disruptive behavior on the retailer’s private property.
Janet Sparks identified herself as a “10-year Wal-Mart associate." She works in Louisiana and spoke on behalf of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at Friday’s meeting. Delivering a shareholder proposal she took a jab at management for the milions of dollars in bonuses they were paid last year. She told the group that store bonuses where she works totaled an average of $26.17 and there were few prospects of them going up as bonuses are tied to store profitability, which is being hindered because staff cutbacks.