Bryce
Feel free to file this under corporate propaganda but when I think about blessings in the past six weeks, working at Sam’s Club/Walmart is one of them.
The process of getting diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia has been terrible on my family and myself, but Walmart’s response in terms of ease of taking leave, benefits, and Associate outreach has been phenomenal. When the bloodwork from my annual physical came back with concerning anomalies (full story) and required I go to the hospital for a transfusion I immediately emailed my manager and officer to give them a heads up. Their response was perfect, “Take as long as you need. Worry about your health and don’t even think about work”. That was six weeks ago and the second to last email I sent from my work laptop.
Benefits
Being a numbers guy, when I realized the severity of my illness I started digging into my annual benefits/elections to assess the financial impact to Mary Beth and me. I was blown away by the benefits Walmart offered.
Once upon a time I opted out of short term disability because Dave Ramsey convinced me I didn’t need since we have an emergency fund. That sounds great… until you’re disabled. Fortunately, Walmart’s short term disability was free to me and pays 100% of my salary for the first 6 weeks and 75% for 19 weeks thereafter. Talk about a relief especially as Mary Beth takes unpaid FMLA to help with my recovery.
My next thought was “does Walmart’s insurance cover a bone marrow transplant?” Google “bone marrow transplant cost”…. yeah. It still too early to know what route by treatment will take but a transplant is a very real possibility. The Mayo Clinic is Walmart’s center of excellence for all things transplant related. It’s such a comfort to know that if I end up needing a transplant Walmart’s insurance will cover the cost at one of the premier facilities in the country.
People
Lastly, I’m thankful for my coworkers. From a fellow Associate offering to manage our rentals while I’m in the hospital, to random “you got this” texts/emails, and checks to see if there’s anything Mary Beth and I need. I can speak for both of us when I say we’ve never felt more taken care of by Walmart and its Associates which is why, for the first time ever, I’ll be rating ”I would recommend working at Walmart to a friend/family” a 10/10 on this year’s Annual Engagement Survey.
Metrics that Matter
- Physical feels: 8/10 – after 12 days of being attached to an IV, I’m now free
- Emotional feels: 6/10 – unknown risk profile attributes and the thought of another 11ish days in the hospital is wearing on me
- Cumulative hours of chemo: 67.33
- Butt: All good in the hood
- Re: packing list
