With an enormous number of gigantic retail stores, Wal-Mart can single-handedly influence a number of factors. The company has committed to a some fairly aggressive eco-friendly initiatives as of late, which just by the expanse of the Wal-Mart enterprise, could bring a huge amount of positive change to the environment, as well as a financial savings.
Maybe the company is just interested in building a positive reputation, but its size alone makes it an industry change-maker, leading other companies to fall in line or get out of the way.
Wal-Mart’s changes in its environmental practices are followed by a change in the way it values its employees. The retailer has recently partnered with American Public University, an online school, to offer courses in retail management, logistics and other industry-related studies.
The university is rolling back their prices by 15 percent for Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees who have been full-time for one year or part-time for three years. Wal-Mart will throw in another $50 million over three years in financial assistance for employee-students.
“APU is dedicated to providing an affordable, high-quality learning experience that is designed to equip graduates for career advancement and leadership in an increasingly competitive, knowledge-based economy. We look forward to welcoming Wal-Mart associates to our university community,” said Dr. Wallace E. Boston, Jr., APUS president and CEO in the school’s news release.
Additionally, credits can be earned while on the job. Certain training sessions already in place at Wal-Mart, such as pricing, ethics and others management skills, will be counted toward the employee’s degree.
According to The New York Times, in an announcement to employees Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of US operations for Wal-Mart, said, “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.”
With 1.4 million employees stateside, if even a small percentage took advantage of the opportunity, that would be a large addition to our country’s college-educated population. The Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, received a letter from Wal-Mart, and in their article the Times quoted Leslie Dach, Wal-Mart’s executive vice president for corporate affairs and government relations as writing: “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. 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.”
Photo by Jared C. Benedict via Wikipedia Commons.