Last year, Walmart employed 1,400 truck drivers more to its existing driver team. Starting February, the company intends to hire another 900 truck drivers to boost its nationwide delivery service. This will bring Walmart’s total driver population to about 8,000. The company is also increasing the salary of truck drivers to $87,500. Special benefits and perks are equally reserved for new drivers on their first day at work.
According to Lori Furnell, Walmart’s director of driver talent acquisition, the company will be training and mentoring new truck drivers on how to excel at their work. New drivers will be assessed, mentored and onboarded in a fast-tracked hiring process that reflects Walmart’s new way of doing things. The company’s reinvented truck driver orientation will help new drivers succeed at their new career with the organization.
From the first interview session to the compulsory driving test, the time to making a hire is now halved. Experienced company drivers are on hand to help applicants and new hires succeed at every step of the way. This is essentially to make new employees do things the “Walmart way.”
“We’re leaning heavily on the expertise of our Walmart road team and our certified driver trainers to grow our skilled fleet of professional drivers,” Furnell said.
Vinny Faller, a 16-year Walmart fleet driver and assessor said new drivers must imbibe and excel at three cardinal principles to work at Walmart. Safety consciousness, courtesy to other drivers on the road, and complete professionalism at all times are non-negotiable to work at the company. Assessors demonstrate these principles to candidates during the one-week training period, and they must be perfectedly mastered before candidates can be allowed to drive and work for the company.
Before an applicant can be considered a truck driver candidate at Walmart, they must possess 30 months of driving experience within the past three years and possess clean safety records among other basic requirements.
“Walmart’s fleet has a reputation for high standards and that can be intimidating,” Faller said.