Walmart tried to put a positive spin on its disappointing earnings report Thursday, which showed declining U.S. sales. But a survey released Friday contains another bad sign for America's wealthiest company and largest employer: just 38 percent of employees think Walmart's business outlook is good.
The report from Glassdoor.com, the employment review website, looked at people's expectations for their employers for the coming six months. Walmart didn't perform significantly below average, but it got a lower score than other major U.S. brands. Forty-three percent of Target workers gave their employer a positive outlook, and a solid majority of Home Depot and Whole Foods workers (61 and 62 percent, respectively) said their companies were on the upswing.
Tech companies at the top and the bottom: The top five performers were all software or Internet companies: Google, Qualcomm, Yahoo!, SAP, and Amazon. But most of the worst performers were also in the tech space. Just 35 percent of Microsoft employees gave their company a positive outlook, as did 32 percent of workers at Hewlett-Packard, 31 percent at Intel and 22 percent at Dell.
Why Walmart workers are so pessimistic: On Glassdoor.com, Walmart employees repeat the same complaints: poor communication from upper management, low pay, no merit-based raises, and favoritism that pummels morale. Many lower-level workers strike the same note as this sales associate from Dillon, S.C.: "Not a job to make a career out of." They also frequently cite staff shortages, an issue that Bloomberg News reported on earlier this year. Customers wrote in complaining about poorly stocked shelves and missing inventory. Some said that they were driving farther to avoid their local Walmart.
