Walmart is revising its Live Better U (LBU) education benefit to help associates hone their skills for key roles within the company.
Launched in 2018, the program was designed to provide associates with higher learning opportunities from reputable academic institutions such as the University of Arkansas, Purdue Global and Spelman College. Learning opportunities were initially available for $1 a day, but that fee was dropped in 2021 to make the program more accessible.
To date, LBU has helped more than 126,000 associates receive higher education. Walmart’s new goal is to help Walmart and Sam’s Club associates train to fill approximately 100,000 “critical” jobs over the next three years, including salaried management roles as well as supervisor roles across the retailer’s stores, clubs and supply chain facilities.
To that end, the retailer is adjusting the degrees it offers to be more targeted to specific skills and jobs, according to a company blog. For example, it offers business-related degrees from the University of Arkansas, Purdue Global, Bellevue University and Southern New Hampshire as well as degrees in supply chain, transportation and logistics management.
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“We want associates to have ultimate flexibility and control over their career, so we’re making it easy for them to earn college credit simply by attending training,” said Lorraine Stomski, SVP of Associate Learning and Leadership at Walmart in a statement. “We hope over the next five years that more employers take these big steps. It’s good for business, life-changing for associates and true to Walmart’s longstanding culture of growing our own, promoting from within and preparing them for the future of work.”
Lowering the Barrier to Education
Walmart also has more than doubled the number of short-form certificates and courses it provides to help associates move into new roles within the company. Some of the certificates offered include:
- Frontline manager leadership;
- People and business leadership;
- Data science;
- Software development; and
- Project management.
Walmart also is producing a series of its own certificates, including a supply chain operations course created with the University of Arkansas.
Now with more than 50 certificate options, Walmart is giving employees the power to complete these training courses in an average of four months so that they can learn new skills and progress within the organization effectively.
With this expansion, Walmart will be able to focus more on skills-based hiring, especially as the business removes college degree requirements for the majority of roles.
