The Walmart cheers program is one of Walmart’s rich varied traditions where the spelling of the word Walmart is chanted by the employees proclaiming their customers’ ownership and value. This Walmart tradition can be said to encourage associates to stand up for their values. Additionally, Walmart’s shift change and weekly assemblies begin and end with the Walmart cheers.
What does it mean?
As earlier mentioned in the previous sub-heading, Walmart cheers are the tradition where the Walmart word is chanted by the employees and associates as an encouragement to stand up for their values. The chants are made before and after the morning procedures to ensure that there exists a positive atmosphere for customer service.
The chant involves a Walmart lead associate shouting out the WALMART name including little jiggles between the letters L and M. For the practice to be kept lively and a tradition to be remembered daily, the cheer program is included in nearly all of Walmart’s meetings, commencing and adjourning meetings with the chant.
What is the origin of Walmart’s cheer program?
The cheer program is traced back to 1975 when it was first introduced by Walmart’s founder Sam Walton. The idea originated from a visit to a Korean tennis ball manufacturing factory where Walton found that the company employees started their routines with the company cheer. Being impressed by the idea, Walton borrowed the idea and introduced it to his company to be practiced in every associate’s meeting. With an open-hearted reception of the idea, the employees are currently proud of the chant.
Why Walmart cheer?
Most companies become successful not because of their CEOs, amount of wealth, or the number of shareholders but because of the hard work that is put up by the employees. It is the employees who make sure that the customers are happy and ensure that the products and services live up to their quality. Without the employees’ hard work, companies such as Subway, Casey’s, or Jimmy John’s would not have risen to their prominence.
In the same way, when Walton visited the Korean tennis ball factory and realized that the chant boosted the workers’ morale and would lead to better customer service delivery, he borrowed the concept to try it out at his company. The cheer idea was a great way to begin meetings and end the routines. Today the tradition is deeply rooted in the company’s history and has even been included in Walmart’s policy.
Is it mandatory for every associate to join in the Walmart chant (cheer)?
Companies’ traditions and cultures are always motivations to bring together the employees and associates, to encourage teamwork and a working environment that includes everyone and every worker can view the company as a family. Deeply rooted in Walmart’s history and becoming part of the company’s policy, every associate must be part of the cheer both at the beginning and the end of a shift program and routines.
Because the cheer program is meant to encourage and boost the associate’s morale before shifts, it makes sense why the practice is more common in the morning than in the afternoons. In some cases, the managers would request the associate to make the chants only in the morning hours depending on the needs of the store and store where one works in.
Do Walmart workers in different countries chant the cheer in English or their native languages?
Because it is a chant meant to motivate and boost morale, there would be no better language that would make it sound perfect than the native languages. Depending on the locality of the store, Walmart’s chant can be translated into different language dialects. Walmart has different stores located all around the world and therefore non-English speaking associates may find it difficult to chant the cheer in English and therefore are allowed to make the chant in their native languages. Stores located in Mexico are allowed to make the chants in Spanish while a store located in France will probably do the chant in French.
Conclusion
The Walmart cheer program is a reminder of Walmart’s associates of the teamwork spirit, the role they play in the company, and the excellent customer service provision. To ensure that the associates’ morale is boosted, the chant would be done before and after the shifts.
