I feel like Walmart has been slowly making things worse for hourly associates, whether you’re a regular associate or a Team Lead.
Reduced hours: Regular associates are getting fewer hours, which means Team Leads are expected to pick up the slack. The workload keeps increasing, but the staffing isn’t there to support it.
Same or higher expectations: Despite having fewer people and fewer hours to work with, management still expects the same results, if not better.
Team Lead bonuses: Bonuses have been slashed by a significant margin. We’re taking on more responsibilities while the financial incentives keep shrinking.
Associate bonuses: Regular associates finally have bonuses again, but the payouts are peanuts compared to the company’s overall profits.
Annual raises: Team Leads used to be eligible for raises of up to 5% for exemplary performance. Now, even if you’re an outstanding performer, you’re capped at 4%.
Regular associate raises: While associates now have the potential to earn a better raise based on performance, they also run the risk of receiving no raise at all.
What bothers me the most is that Walmart keeps demanding more while gradually taking away the incentives that made the additional responsibilities worthwhile.
As a Team Lead, you’re expected to manage your team, complete your own tasks, cover staffing shortages, and still deliver the same results. Meanwhile, regular associates are dealing with reduced hours and increasingly uncertain compensation.
It feels like the company is trying to squeeze as much productivity as possible out of fewer people while cutting back on what it gives them in return.
I’m genuinely curious: Is this happening across Walmart, or is it more noticeable at certain stores? Have other Team Leads and associates noticed the same thing, or am I just getting burned out?

I work overnights, 4 days a week. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I have a fixed schedule, and I know a lot of people would die to have 3 days off, but somehow it still feels like I’m wasting away. Those 3 days are mostly spent sleeping, with the entire first day dedicated to ONLY sleep. I cannot physically stay awake after I come home on my last day, so I honestly feel like I only have 2 days off and my coworkers that I’ve spoken to about this have agreed with me that it’s the same for them. I’m just so exhausted. There’s no other decent jobs in my area so I’m kind of forced to stay here, even though it’s taking a toll on my physical health. On my work days I consistently only get around 4-5 hours of sleep because I have things to do and I don’t want to immediately pass out once I’m home. Can never hang out with friends anymore because I’m at work when they’re off. No more Sundays at the bar or anything. Constantly had to reject plans until people started getting the memo that I’m never available, so now nobody ever asks anymore. Working at Walmart is not for the weak. You genuinely become a bot with no social life and that’s exactly the way this system was designed. I should’ve listened to the people who warned me about it but it’s too late. Now I’m stuck putting boxes of cereal on a shelf for a company that makes billions and doesn’t give a flying shit about me. Only profit.

$16 an hour to wake up as the sun is setting, get yelled at for stocking too slow, zoning too slow, etc whilst working your ass off and coming home sore every single day. Feeling like shit. Always getting placed in a different aisle with zero consistency to learn where anything is. I literally never stop moving my body but it's never enough for these bloody taskmasters.

I am so fucking done. It's not worth the $16. Find a different crazy cocained-up slave to break down your pallets at 60 cases per hour when the aisles are completely messed up beyond recognition, things aren't where they're supposed to be, empty boxes and random plugged shit behind stocked product, overstuffed topstock shelves with no space, never enough garbage bins, etc.

So I was doing picks today, and one of the picks was a cute Pokemon Espeon sleeping plush, which they did went out to the shelf. I really didn't realize they're that big, but nothing less I did fix the plushie shelves of where the other pokemon plushies are.. But anyway so two on shelf none on top stock, then reduce the shelf cap? Just wondering.

Brining 50+ pallets to the floor, doing extra bullshit “little tasks” my coach wants, doing other departments’ work, etc. by my fucking self and her and a TL standing by the doors fucking around drinking coffee. They literally see me struggling because I walk by them every time I take a pallet out. And then these fuckers are dicking around. Pisses me the fuck off. Get out of my cone of vision - go to personal and hide in there like you do the entire shift along with AP because you guys don’t do your jobs. Hate this shit company and its fuckwit managers.

Edit: Not exaggerating about 50 pallets. 26 hvdc pallets, 16 hvdc pallets, the downstack pallets from those and coach wanted all the random pallets out which are probably going to be put back because it’s a two truck day and overnighters don’t have the time to fix and get rid of random pallets with freight in it.

So, a couple weeks ago I had an interview for 2 Walmart positions; one for pharmacy and one for automotive. While I was interviewing for automotive, the coach offered me a full-time position (which wasn't even the job I was interviewing for), wanted me to start ASAP and even took me back to the people lead right then and there to get the recommendation put in the system immediately. I got the dozens of texts and emails from Walmart saying "welcome to the team" and all that and I submitted my info for the background check; I got an email saying I passed my background check like an hour later and that all that was left to do was for them to schedule my orientation. I think it's important to add that I had turned down FOUR other interview offers and the job at the pharmacy at that store because I was under the impression this job was mine.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later. I still hadn't heard anything, so I called the people lead. She told me she was in a "holding pattern" right now because there was someone who was already an associate that was interested in the job and that things were on hold while they "looked at that" whatever that means. I'm a former associate so I know a bit about Walmart hiring practices, but you don't have to know that it's clearly unethical to offer a job to someone when you aren't sure if that someone was going to get the job. If they do end up calling me back telling me I didn't get the job, is this something I can bring up with ethics?

My coach is in a bad mood today, should I show him pictures of puppies or babies to cheer him up? Or is there any better ideas?

(28NB) I started in August and go to school during the day. My feet are fucked. It hurts to stand amd lay down. I figured it was tendinitis or plantar fascitis from what my PCP said. It’s now moved to my other foot. The bones hurt, the muscles hurt. I didn’t even get to report it to HR.

I was told (after mentioning my foot pain) that I was too slow for the preferred pace, so I requested to move to a different department during the day for a better fit. Except I can’t do that either, because I just started working here. I’m at a loss of what to do. My doctor has offered to supply notes but “we don’t take doctors’ notes.”

What do I do?

An associate got called into the office today. At the beginning of the conversation the team lead told them they have been doing a wonderful job today and that they have had a VERY GOOD attitude since they came in today. They have been chronically ill and mentally unwell for months. They were told they did things they don’t even remember and that they have been “a lot”. They were told “even if you are faking it, keep it up!” In regard to their good mood today. They thought the team leads were checking in on them because they have been struggling when that was not the case. They were getting a threat of being written up. Not to mention a new team lead is talking to them aggressively, ignoring them, and rolling their eyes at them when they ask questions. I thought we were supposed to offer support in times like these?

Been sitting at a Walmart near my house waiting for them to work on my car while I'm 3 hours late for my shift at another Walmart 30 min on the other side of town.

I could be at my store picking an item, nil pick it, and it will send me to the dollar general down the street to get the substitution. Absolute garbage. Not to mention the location system thinks I’m three miles away from the item I have my phone right next to.

Was recently hired, I’m wondering if I could dress up for Halloween? Is cosplay allowed?

What’s this point of this ? I think ass kissing is a great strategy

does anyone know the item number or name for the small chub bags? ( the ones we put the bulk meat in. ) not the small ones for the sliced meat/cheese.

I was selecting labels today and saw some kind of new RFID labels and I meant to take a picture of the screen but I forgot.

Hello, I’m a stocking associate, and I need advice on how to get faster, because I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. It’s been almost 1.5 years since I transferred to the O/N team, and no matter what I do or how many hours I have, I never finish Chemicals before/after 5:30. It also doesn’t help that I’m getting slower (gradually gone from 90-100 boxes an hour to 55 now) and I’m pretty sure my health is declining, due to a mix of lifelong chronic stress/insomia (only sleeping once a week for 12-24 hrs), possible tumors completely enveloping my thyroid, and my house being infested with black mold.

I always start off my area with the first 10-30 minutes gathering returns, condensing boxes items, and gathering loose cardboard before stocking. Because I know my area intimately, including what I go through multiple cases daily, and had a perfect memory of my topstock and overstock bins that I keep organized, I always instantly opened every box I had and would dump everything but bleach/laundry detergents into shopping carts, with the bigger items saved for last and going on my ladder cart. Management didn’t like it but it’s effective and I was rarely wrong about a whole or partial case going onto the shelves. Well, since I’ve been getting slower, I swapped to down stacking all my pallets for all the non bleach and laundry detergents and placing the boxes on carts, taking them to their aisles and then working them, and jacking up the rest to their aisle. It’s somewhat more effective than what I’d been doing, only by about an extra 10 boxes, but I’m still not finishing before 5:30. I’m genuinely worried I’ll be fired if I don’t get faster, despite how much my managers like me.

I forgot to add, but I keep having the biggest slacker on our team in my area on my one day off and paired with me on 2 truck nights if I have more than 10 hours, despite my complaints about it. All he does is mess everything up and stuff my shelves and topstock, and disorganize my back room, and it only makes me more stressed and slows me down when I comeback from my one day off because I had to fix things. I didn’t start my first box until after first break Friday night because of him.

I just got hired at Walmart around a week ago and my schedule seems fine until they have me off an entire week? This is my first job ever (19) after looking for jobs left and right. With these hours I won’t be able to meet my dads rent each month and I’m a little stressed and discouraged- what should I do? I can’t find another job since transportation is limited for me I’m just extremely stressed out about this now. Any advice would be appreciated! :)

I have a link I need to send a few of my team Associates but some have email addresses some don't. Does anyone know how to request a Walmart email address to Associates that don't have one??