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As many as 200 Asda workers are flying out to the US next week to attend Walmart’s shareholder conference in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The yearly event is attended by Walmart staff from across the world and is known for pulling in top-billing pop stars. This year, Elton John and Ed Sheeran are both due to perform at the event.

The 200 staff have been picked for the seven-day trip as a reward for their high levels of customer service, standards and sales performance.

They will attend workshops, team-building exercises, store visits, breakout sessions, executive Q&As and country presentations - as well as barbecues, funfairs, baseball games and concerts.

“Our in-store and depot colleagues are the heart of our business and work tirelessly week-in week-out to serve the 18 million customers that visit us,” said Asda executive people director Hayley Tatum. “Giving our colleagues the chance to visit the Walmart HQ and meet senior executives and associates from across the globe is just one of our ways of saying thank you and a great way to recognise their hard work and achievement.”

One Asda worker who will be attending is Lisa Kelly, 62, from Asda South Woodham Ferrers in Essex. She has worked at Asda for 28 years and last year raised almost £40,000 for local causes.

“It’s such an honour to be chosen to attend this year’s stakeholders conference in Arkansas,” she said. “I’m looking forward to meeting colleagues from across the globe.”

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