Wal-Mart to Offer
Its Workers a College Program
Published: June 3, 2010 - New York Times
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Now on sale at Wal-Mart:
college degrees for its employees.
The purveyor of inexpensive jeans and lawnmowers is dipping its toe into the
online-education waters, working with a Web-based university to offer its
employees in the United States affordable college degrees.
The partnership with American Public University, a for-profit school with
about 70,000 online students, will allow some Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees
to earn credits in areas like retail management and logistics for performing
their regular jobs.
The university will offer eligible employees 15 percent price reductions on
tuition, and Wal-Mart will invest $50 million over three years in other tuition
assistance for the employees who participate.
Executives at Wal-Mart, the nations’ largest retailer, said the company was
not interested in entering the online-education field in a broader way. The
point of the program, they said, was to help employees get more education and to
build a better work force.
Even so, because of its size, Wal-Mart’s internal changes often turn into
industry standards, as with its efforts involving environmental sustainability.
And with 1.4 million employees in the United States, even an employees-only
program could have widespread implications.
“If 10 to 15 percent of employees take advantage of this, that’s like
graduating three Ohio
State Universities,” said Sara Martinez Tucker, a former under secretary of
education who is now on Wal-Mart’s external advisory council. “It’s a lot of
Americans getting a college degree at a time when it’s becoming less
affordable.”
Wal-Mart estimates that about 50 percent of its employees in the United
States have a high school diploma or the equivalent but have not earned a
college degree. With the average full-time employee being paid $11.75 an hour,
it was unclear how many of them will be able to take advantage of the new
program. With the work credits and tuition discount, an associate’s degree for a
Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club cashier would cost about $11,700 and a bachelor’s degree
about $24,000.
Wal-Mart made the announcement at an early morning meeting at the Bud Walton
arena here, where about 4,000 employees were invited to attend events scheduled
around the chain’s shareholders’ meeting on Friday.
“It’s important because it reflects the kind of company we are,” Eduardo
Castro-Wright, who heads Wal-Mart’s operations in the United States, told the
employees. “A company that says, ‘Anyone who wants to learn, who wants to grow
with us, who is willing to work hard to get a college degree, can do
that.’ ”
The employees clapped and nodded as Mr. Castro-Wright explained the program
(though cheers seemed to be louder earlier, when Mr. Castro-Wright said that gas
prices finally seemed to be dropping).
Jaymes Murphy, 24, a wireless salesman in a Wal-Mart based in Victoria, Tex.,
said he had been trying to take college classes while working, but found the
scheduling difficult. But he said the program “gives me the confidence that I
can go and not have to worry about sacrificing one thing or another.”
“I can get my education,” he said, adding that he would pursue his bachelor’s
degree online. “The way the economy’s working, the way all the companies are
working, you’ve got to go bachelor’s.”
The program will initially allow about 200,000 employees in positions like
cashier, department manager and distribution center unloader to accrue credits
for training they already receive in their jobs.
For instance, a department-level manager, who receives training from Wal-Mart
in areas like pricing, inventory management and ethics, would be eligible for 24
on-the-job credits, at no charge, toward a 61-credit associates’ degree. A
cashier would be eligible for six credits toward a 61-credit associate’s degree
or a 120-credit bachelor’s degree.
“It came out of an awareness that the jobs in our stores are really good
jobs,” Tom Mars, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of
Wal-Mart U.S. said in an interview, “but if we want to make them great jobs, we
really have to do something different to distinguish those jobs and our company
from everyone else in retail.”
When asked if Wal-Mart wanted to enter the online-education industry Mr. Mars
said “no, no.”
Even so, Wal-Mart appeared to acknowledge its wide influence in a letter
about the program to the secretary of education, Arne
Duncan.
“While there is broad agreement about the need for more Americans to attain
college degrees, we recognize that there is a healthy discussion under way about
the best way to get there,” wrote Leslie Dach, Wal-Mart’s executive vice
president for corporate affairs and government relations. “One of our aims with
this program is to try some innovative approaches that seem promising, grounded
in what is already known in the field.”
He added: “We hope in this way to expand the education and employer
communities’ knowledge of what works most effectively, so that policy makers,
other companies and other stakeholders can continuously improve such offerings.”
Wal-Mart executives said it decided to work with an online university instead
of a brick-and-mortar school after surveying more than 32,000 of its employees
and learning that most of them wanted the scheduling flexibility afforded by
online classes.
American Public University, which is based in Charles Town, W.Va., is
reviewing all jobs at Wal-Mart to determine which ones will qualify under the
agreement. By January 2012, some 70 percent of United States employees will be
in jobs that have been reviewed by the university, Wal-Mart said.
To be eligible for the program, employees must have been in the job at least
one year full time, or three years part time, and must also score “on target” or
“above target” on their most recent evaluation.