As Walmart-colored blue and yellow balloons cascaded down onto their like-colored caps and gowns, the retailer on Tuesday graduated the inaugural class at its newest employee training facility in Orland Hills.
It's Walmart's fourth such center in Illinois and 169th nationwide, with Walmart planning to have 200 open by year's end.
Attached to the company's Orland Hills store, the training academy will serve more than two-dozen stores in the south and southwest suburbs and northwest Indiana, according to the company.
Walmart added about 2,500 square feet of space to the store for the training center, but plans to build an additional 2,500 to 3,000 square feet of classroom space, according to the company.
The facility can accommodate up to 90 employees a week, and both new and current Walmart employees will undergo training, according to Denise Hopman, regional human resources director for the retailer.
As graduates sat on chairs set up in the store's lawn and garden department for the ceremony, Hopman told the 54 employees that for Walmart to grow and compete in a rapidly changing retail landscape, "we are investing in all of you."
Training facilities such as the one in Orland Hills will "provide associates the skills they need to succeed and advance in their career" as well as create a "stronger talent pipeline" for Walmart overall, she said.
According to the company, once all of the training centers nationwide are operating, about 140,000 Walmart employees annually will go through the two-week program, called Pathways. Walmart said that an advantage to having the training academies at a store rather than at a remote location means employees can return home each day rather than being away for two weeks.
Dawn Darling, of Oak Forest, has worked for Walmart for 13 years, all of them at the Orland Hills store, and was among the employees in the first graduating class. She said the training was beneficial and "hones your skills."
Jags Brar, manager of the Orland Hills store, gestured toward the graduates near the end of Tuesday's ceremony, telling them "the future of this company is in your hands."
As part of the event, Walmart officials presented a check for $2,000 to the Bridge Teen Center in Orland Park, and a check for $6,800 to the South Suburban Emergency Response Team.
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