Manager Trainee Program

Walmart is very proud of the fact that they promote so many of their managers from within the company.They make sure to mention it at every opportunity they can. They have it on posters in the back halls, signs in the offices, it's even in the break rooms. It looks great on paper. But take a closer look. If you walk through any of the stores and take a look at the hard workers there, in a few years they will still be there. Who are these people that are in the management program? Many, many of them are associates who are in college and join the happy Walmart program while in school. A few are regular associates who want to go further with the company. They are in training to be salaried managers and are pampered and cossetted as such. They do not have a real clue what it is like to work in a store in real circumstances, and they never will. Every moment of their well constructed day is overseen by another member of the Walmart management team. At no time are they ever left unattended or unobserved. From the time that they start, until the time that they go home,they are supervised and babysat. Perhaps there is a better way to train them. Here is another idea: any person who wishes to be a manager in the happiest retail heaven on earth should be required to work for two years in a store. Not as a designated management trainee, but as an associate. Making the money that an associate makes, and understanding what happens when your hours are cut or you have three hours of work, and two hours to finish it.Put them on the new program that accounts for every minute of your time, but doesn't factor in any time for customer service. These trainees shouldn't be singled out for any special treatment in those two years, just given work opportunities in every single department. Meet with them every week to see how they are progressing, perhaps even explain the reasons for some of the things that they are doing. Explain the reasons that management requires hours to be cut at times, but that the workload remains constant. At the end of their two year training period, there should not be a job that they cannot do. I would think that cutting keys, mixing paint, selling a fishing or hunting license, cutting fabric, or fixing a battery in a watch would be just another day at the office, so to speak. And hopefully, after two years of getting by on Walmart pay, they should have a huge empathy for any worker who clocks in everyday for the company. But I am sure that this is never going to happen.It would make way too much sense, wouldn't it? I've had many managers brag that they started out as a lowly cart pusher in the store. This may be, but somewhere along the line, they lost their way. At some point in the process of receiving( and lying about the existence of) huge bonuses- lowly associates have been dehumanized into cattle that simply do the grunt work. They have a grass roots meeting every year, try bringing this up. Let me know how that flies,okay? Don't be offended if I don't hold my breath though. If it actually works, you can thank me later.