Walmart Invests $1 Billion On Upskilling, Creating New Hiring Strategy

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College degrees used to be the minimum ticket for a role at America’s largest employers. Now, many companies focus on a person’s skill set versus their GPA from a university. Tech giants and fast-growing startups made headlines over the past five years by dropping degree requirements for job positions.

In boardrooms and on shop floors, a new reality is taking hold: what matters most isn’t pedigree, but potential. Intelligent reported that 55% of companies eliminated bachelor’s degree requirements in 2023, and 45% of companies planned to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements for some positions in 2024.

Walmart, a company with 2.1 million U.S. associates, designed a hiring system that other companies could use to scale internally; it has taken eliminating college degrees for some positions to a new level. The retailer’s decision to remove college degree requirements for more than 75% of its jobs is about creating a new blueprint for career mobility.

Lorraine “Lo” Stomski, Walmart’s chief talent officer, commented, “We evolved our strategy around getting our associates in a more accelerated pathway so that they could be ready to step into those [higher]

jobs.”

Around 2018, organizations began to notice that many four-year college degrees failed to adequately prepare graduates for the corporate world. There was more to just under-prepared college graduates. Approximately 18 to 22% of the U.S. workforce are family caregivers. This means that roughly one in five to one in six working Americans are also providing unpaid care for a family member, with a large portion of these caregivers employed full-time.

Walmart took notice and also recognized that full-time workers earning a bachelor’s degree could take as long as eight years.

Once the pandemic hit, it allowed companies to restructure their in-house hiring processes and make training available online, making the barrier of entry easier.

“What we started to realize was that, in essence, what people want if they’re going to invest in education, they’d like to see a connected outcome,” Stomski said.

Building Pathways From Within

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 40% of workers in the skilled trades sector are over the age of 45. With nearly half of tradespeople approaching retirement age, there is an urgent need for a pipeline of new skilled workers entering the industry.

Understanding this statistic, leadership pivoted its entire workforce strategy, identifying more than 30 in-demand roles at Walmart, then focusing sharply on the ten most critical. Rather than depend on the external labor market to fill technician and driver shortages, Walmart went inward.

“If there’s such a need, why don’t we create the learning inside?” Stromski stated. The Walmart Academy came to fruition. The retailer pledged $1 billion investment in career-driven training and education by 2026.

The results are compelling. Walmart’s “associate to technician” and “associate to driver” pilot programs turn hourly workers into skilled specialists, sometimes doubling or tripling their income. The Academy had its first graduating class for this specific program last December. Out of those 108 graduates, 108 have secured new roles.

Hundreds more are in the pipeline. Across the business, more than 100,000 roles have been mapped to new, accessible career paths.

Designing for Real Barriers, Not Theoretical Ones

A skills-first approach only works if it’s rooted in real associate needs. Walmart eliminated even the token $1-per-day education fee when it became clear it was a barrier for frontline workers. “We have been very much focused on taking away any kind of barrier so that they can participate,” Stomski explained. Eligibility for upskilling begins on day one, regardless of status or schedule.

What’s different is the specificity. “We listened to our associates,” she continued, “and what they wanted. We got very specific in what we decided to offer.”

The program aims to accelerate hourly associates’ careers and transition them into facilities maintenance, refrigeration, reliability and automation technician roles. The company announced the expansion of the Associate to Technician program to Vincennes, IN, and Jacksonville, FL. This expansion will help advance the career mobility of Walmart technician roles by enhancing the skills of approximately 4,000 associates over the next five years. Higher-skilled technician careers that can pay an average of $32/hour (a range of $19 to $45/hour).

For Walmart associate Taneisha Edwards, the Live Better U program (an Academy division) became a catalyst for personal and professional transformation. Driven by a desire to build a better future for herself and her children, Edwards pursued multiple certifications through LBU, earning credentials from institutions including Spelman College, Cornell University, University of California Irvine and Rutgers University, all aligned with her passion for leadership and business.

“This experience has been truly transformative,” Edwards said with pride. “It gave me the knowledge, confidence andstrategic thinking skills needed to excel in my role.”

The opportunity not only elevated her career prospects but also deepened her commitment to the company, showing how accessible education can unlock both ambition and loyalty.

How To Start An In-House Academy

Stomski’s advice to companies considering a move toward skills-based hiring is practical and straightforward:

• Start with business needs, not HR trends—Identify the roles most critical to your company’s future. “We mapped out—what are the jobs that will power Walmart over the next five years?” she shared. The focus is on getting precise: prioritize jobs that drive your business, then build learning pathways for those roles.
• Listen to your employees—Stomski stresses designing programs for the real barriers and aspirations of your workforce.
• Make it accessible from day one. It’s essential to inform employees of their eligibility for this company-wide benefit during the interview process.
• Build with speed and flexibility—Move with urgency and be ready to adapt your approach as business needs shift, accelerating learning pathways so employees can step into critical roles quickly.

“I am super passionate as a leader, because when we first started LBU, it served everyone,” Stomski concluded. “At the end of the day, I look at my job, and every single job that we have in corporate. We are in service to our frontline associates. They are, and will be, continue to be, the heart and center of our business.”

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