Avantages
For the store associates, it is very easy to get hired and use for a temporary job; maybe for the summer when your out of school. I did meet my wife when we both worked for the Richland Center store. This is a cakewalk of a job. If you are looking to have a job that requires no skill and a lot of lounging around, then being a store associate is the job for you. If you're looking for something that actually requires brains or skill, then this may not be your job. My average paycheck (which was bi-weekly) was only about $500. If you want to work for the distribution centers, then the job does pay well. If you do over your 100%, then you do get an incentive bonus. My average paycheck (which was bi-weekly) was around $1500.
Inconvénients
1. Management only cares about the work. There is no room for family life if it conflicts with your schedule (even on holidays). 2. There is virtually no benefits for the first two years of employment. Sure, they give you a "temporary" package for basic insurance for the two years, but it's deductible was well over $1000 dollars, and they will only covered 80% of the total costs past that. 3. Wages are, of course, horrible if you are a store associate. If you don't work at the store, then wages are decent. For employees at distribution centers, they do get decent wages, but they break their backs to make them. 4. They make you do the Wal-Mart cheer. If your job isn't degrading enough, you have to cheer and dance about how Wal-Mart is the best company ever! If you choose not to do this (as I did), you get belittled by management as not being not a team player. 5. Management is hypocritical. When I worked as a store associate in Richland Center, WI, the store manager had an affair with a store employee. Instead of being fired, he was transferred to another branch of the corporation. When working for the distribution center in Tomah, WI, it is emphasized how we were all a team and a "family." As soon as I had severe carpal tunnel in my wrist, I was put on janitorial duties to do the jobs no one else would: cleaning grime, spills, painting, sweeping outside truck loading areas during the winter, etc. This also alienated me from other order fillers, and I received a lot of bad comments from co-workers on how I was "faking it," etc, and management never said a word when I brought this to their attention. 6. The hours. When I was a store associate, I was only part time. However, I was working 50 hours a week, and when my department manager was off his shift, I was acting manager (unofficially). When I wanted a raise, they didn't care about any of this, and they told me no. When my review came up, I only got a 35 cent raise (which put me a little over $7 per hour at the time) When you work overtime, you get yelled at by management. When you don't have enough time to get the work done, you get yelled at by management. I got "talked to" every week because I averaged 10 hours of overtime each week. When working at the distribution center, we worked until all the orders were complete. I started at 4:30am, and sometimes we didn't get done until 7-8pm. All orders are timed, and even though these were long shifts, they still expected you to make that time at the end of the day. I can tell you, after working 14 hours or so, this is an impossible task.
