Walmart.com Reviews

Pros

Director level management tries to hold to "respect for the individual" mantra. The company's still seems open to allow good employees to move around without any barriers. Great location on Sierra point right on Bay water, beautiful views.

Cons

I really used to love working for this company, Unfortunately over the last 3 yrs the "Respect for the individual" mantra is no longer being practiced 100% from the Sr manager level down, cronyism and even signs of ethnic favoritism were starting to been seen within my group. Recently there has been a wave of departures of great employees most had been with the company 5 yrs or more. High turnaround of mid director level personnel played a role in the detriment of the workplace.

Advice to Senior Management

I think it is too late to make this a great place. Don't give up on the "respect for the individual" mantra. It was really being practiced 4 years back. Flemming, Carter and Raul were great leaders.
too bad they are gone now.

Pros

Great work life balance, great, friendly people and relaxed environment; opportunity to work on *big* projects that really make a difference, large budgets, tons of exposure to senior execs and senior partners at suppliers

Cons

Quite political - not clear how / why promotions happen, and performance sometimes seems second to peoples' ability to work the system.

Pros

Surrounded by innovation - within e-commerce, retail, social media & social commerce
Team members have a lot of responsibility & autonomy to manage large pieces of the business
Ability to partner with some of the best brands in the world

Cons

Highly matrixed environment can make it difficult to get things done
Too many re-orgs results in wasted resources when the company changes direction yet again
Career development is inconsistent across groups
Can get stuck in the "retail trap" of being too reactive & not strategic enough

Advice to Senior Management

Set a strategy, get alignment with key stakeholders & commit to that strategy for 3-5 years
Ensure communication flows consistently from Sr. Leadership to all levels in the company
Ensure incentive structures are aligned to ensure clarity of goals & mission
Invest more in innovation & learning about the customer

Pros

1. very understanding of balancing work with other responsibilities
2. flexible about time off

Cons

1. No real opportunity to create impact
2. management is unclear about strategy
3. Unfair treatment of people

Advice to Senior Management

1. Have a clear business strategy
2. Recruit action-oriented people vs politically oriented people who will only manage
3. Promote carefully and for the right reasons

Pros

Above average compensation/benefits.
Convenient location for commuting.
Easygoing and smart people at the individual contributor level (if you are lucky enough to be on a team that has them).
Good job security.
Contractors are somewhat insulated from internal BS policies.
Ultra-cheap vending machines.

Cons

WAY too many people are getting WAY too little done. Processes everywhere, endless meetings are an everyday thing, nobody seems willing to make decisions without coordinating with fifteen other teams. Obsolete technologies, multiple redundant tiers of management, dubious hiring trends (if you know what I mean), painfully slow progress on straightforward projects.

Advice to Senior Management

- focus on innovation, rather than kicking the can down the road (site support).
- streamline the orgchart: cut out excess fat, flatten management, get rid of scores of useless "go-between" people roaming the hallways.
- find and train capable support personnel.
- buy larger monitors for employees (hint: no self-respecting engineers should have to use 19" screens anymore, this is 2011).
- stop cramming people into office space like cattle.

Pros

Best reason is the people that work here. Some of the best that I have known.

Cons

Some obstacles that are difficult to overcome.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to what others have to say.

Pros

The "associates" at the IC level, in most cases, are stellar. They have a way of hiring talented managers that can be inspiring (but cannot retain them longer than 2 years). Professional Development Opportunities for those that actually have the time.

Cons

Lack of backfilling resources once they leave. Unrealistic expectations that work can actually get done with the remaining staff. There are those that feel they are somehow entitled to doing less work due to their educational status or their seniority at the company. Favoritism and blacklisting at the leadership level is the worst that I have ever witnessed. Leadership should have a full understanding of building and managing a "real" ecommerce site.

Advice to Senior Management

Make the CQ and AOS anonymous! Trust middle management to lead (that's what you hired them for). Bring back the previous GM. The current leadership is MIA in a time when he is needed the most. Really look into why AOS scores are so low and accept and react to the feedback - like you all expect your managers to do.

Pros

Smart, eager people. The company is involved in several diverse areas inside and outside of the retail sector.
Opportunities to be a part of the online arm of the world's most identifiable, most populous and highest revenue generating company.

Cons

Dissent from individual contributors is often not tolerated and disagreements frequently lead to "coaching out" of lower-level associates through the interpretable performance evaluation process.
The Associate Opinion Surveys are not confidential. Managers at the Director level and above can identify individuals who rate their supervisor or department with a lower score and retaliate against those individuals.
Expectations among management is often ambiguous and executive management levels are altogether absent on the business side of the Walmart.com U.S.division.
The culture of the company is squarely aligning with that of the Bentonville, Arkansas home office. Skilled Engineers and business professional are required to "badge in" their hours just as it would be done by any non-management associate in a Wal-Mart store.
The Walmart.com U.S. side of the business appears to be communicating that it is condensing by hiring more contractors as a percentage of the associate base and divesting in projects that support the growth of U.S. division. .

Advice to Senior Management

Restore confidence in the AOS by making it confidential across all levels of the management hierarchy and install safeguards against retaliation for lower scores.
Provide opportunities for associates to move within the company if they are not happy; Rather than consistently resorting to "coaching out" associates who might express concerns with their current position.
Eliminate the badge-in procedure for associates working in the E-commerce area. It's off-culture for a company in the Bay Area to have such a policy.

Pros

There are a lot of smart people around and its a high energy, positive atmosphere.
The operations group is all about collaboration so you get exposed to many different teams and concepts.

Cons

Upper management flip flops on the company vision and goals change very abruptly with little communication to associates.
Laptops are reserved for executives. Everyone else uses old dell desktops and you would be lucky to get a duo processor. If you are really unlucky, they assign you a virtual machine.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate the company's vision and goals to all employees.

Do not alienate your temps by labeling their email addresses with "-Temporary."

Plan hardware requirements for employees based on their processing needs. Some teams need better hardware than others to work efficiently.

Pros

Large company. Instant customer base for newly launched products.

Cons

Culture has been watered down by large number of contractors and consultants. Poor innovation environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Make stronger investments.