Human Resources – Large Employer

She is responsible for workers at Walmart – the largest private employer in the U.S., with 1,600,000 workers – (that’s 1.6 million as of 2024) – a company whose size leads to close observation of its employment practices, yielding comments ranging from praise to criticism. 

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

Donna Morris (DM) was born in Canada. She recalls her family as the biggest influence in her life:

• Mom was always learning new things and striving to be better. 
• Dad was essentially a fun-loving guy; always wanted to make people happy. He was a true ‘people person’ – all about caring for others.
• Older brother always set a high standard for himself. He influenced DM to proceed to college. DM recalls him often telling her, “Donna, you have to expect more for yourself.” 

EDUCATION

DM earned a college degree. (Details unavailable within news article basis for this career story; editor hopes to learn more in a direct discussion with DM)

FIRST MENTOR INFLUENCES HER CAREER PATH

While serving as a VP of human resources at a Canadian software company (Accelio), the CEO (chief executive officer), formerly CEO of Xerox Canada, despite his high title and strong leadership skills, would occasionally take DM aside to ask for her sincere opinions about various business issues. DM was the only female reporting to him – in contrast to modern times where there are now more women in the workplace, especially within human resources. DM felt her boss showed empathy and care and belonging before she even knew what the word “belonging” meant in a business sense. 

While working within ‘Human Resources” for a tech company (Adobe), DM managed the company’s varied types of employees (tech and non-tech) so well that she was eventually promoted to lead this department. 

DECIDING TO ACCEPT A RECRUITMENT OFFER

DM’s successful, human resources leadership at Adobe led to an executive recruitment firm targeting her to move to a larger company – indeed, the LARGEST private employer within the entire U.S.: 1,600,000 employees in its work force, spread across 4,600 Walmart stores, 600 Sam’s Club locations and soon a 350-acre campus headquarters being built in Bentonville, Arkansas. 

When a worker is not seeking to shift employment to a different company, receiving an unsolicited, outside offer creates an opportunity to consider in depth the advantages and disadvantages of staying or leaving. For DM, she had moved up in responsibilities as far as possible at Adobe so the opportunity to join Walmart to be the ‘People Officer” for the largest private workforce in the country, was a challenge she decided to accept. 

Since DM’s motivation to change companies was based on the positives of her new company rather than any negatives about her current position, she felt a sense of loyalty to her existing employment with a tech company, stating, “I love technology and could never see myself working for another tech company. That would have been like cheating, to me. But every company is now a tech company and Walmart was going through an amazing digital transformation.”

DM’s experience working with human resources within a tech company was a comforting factor in her decision to make the transition. 

CHALLENGE – BEING AN OUTSIDER

DM arrived at Walmart as an ‘outsider’ – unusual for a company that usually promotes from within its own workforce. So, DM had to quickly understand the existing Walmart culture – including loyalty among long-time employees who had earned promotions – and its ongoing priority to balance the quest for business profits with caring for the safety of its employees and the cost concerns of its customers. 

DM decided the best strategy to gain business respect was to sincerely listen to co-workers while at the same time learning the scope of her overall responsibilities and the details of necessary daily tasks. 

SCOPE OF DAILY WORK

Walmart’s workforce is widely varied in its backgrounds and responsibilities, including hourly workers without college degrees who restock store shelves, engineers who previously worked at Silicon Valley tech firms and long-term employees on the corporate promotions track. 

It’s not easy or fully accurate to prepare a one sentence summary of the responsibilities of the leader of any human resources department – especially involving 1,600,000 employees but for DM, it would be: “We want, most importantly, our associates to know that they’re valued and that we’re investing in them.” 

DM’s focus on Walmart employees (“associates”) is supported by the similar focus of Walmart’s CEO, who has been, according to DM, “front and center, focused on our associates.”

Four years into her new position, DM has overseen wage increase for workers at the Walmart’s U.S. stores, which have risen about 30% over the past five years. That’s similar to the rate of wage growth for retail workers in the U.S. overall. 

Recently, Walmart has focused particularly on retaining its store managers, increasing their annual salaries with bonus potential and annual stock grants which could add additional compensation. 

Despite these positive achievements, the company has had to settle several employment discrimination lawsuits and deal with criticisms that Walmart still doesn’t do enough to protect the safety of its workers and compensate them adequately. 

To maintain and promote her accessibility, DM frequently posts her thoughts on LinkedIn, justifying devoting some time to that practice by noting “it’s really important to me that people know that any point in time – good, bad, indifferent – they can approach me. I think the more that they get to know who I am, the more that they’re willing to do that, I’m just a real person trying to work and live my life like everybody else. So, I like to share my story so that it might help other people on whatever journey that they’re on. It’s also a great way to get feedback on certain topics. I always check my LinkedIn messages because sometimes associates find you that way. Even though you’ve got email, they’ll find you that way.”

CHALLENGE – OUTSIDERS’ PERCEPTIONS

Observes DM, “It’s fair to say that a company of our size and scale comes under scrutiny. It’s just a reality because people have perceptions of bigger companies.” 

Thus, DM accepts that part of her normal routine is to listen to both praise and criticism and then bring her experience and judgment to every decision. 

CHALLENGE – FILLING LEADERSHIP ROLES

DM described the hardest jobs for her team to fill are leadership roles. “We have a great pipeline internally but that’s always hard too, because if I give it to one person internally and not the other, there’s always those ramifications. Leadership roles are always something that we take a lot of time thinking about.”

CAREER SATISFACTION

It’s never easy keeping in mind – at the same time – company profits, fair wages with incentives, workers’ safety and customers’ satisfaction – but by listening to others and naturally caring for people, DM strives daily to well manage the million plus people with different skills under her care. 

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This career story is based on a news article written by Jordyn Holman, published by The New York Times on October 13, 2024 plus internet research.