Wal-Mart To Change Worker Scheduling Policy

Yea this may be good for customers but I fear we are going to loose many good employees to this.  I am scheduled 32 hours a week.  But with this new schedule I still have 32 hours but it is spread out more..For instance instead of working 4 days 8 hours a day I am working 5 days 5.5 hours a day with no lunch break not even 1/2 hour.  or 5 Days 6 hours with the 1/2 hour.  That does not include drive time because I live out of town so instead of driving my original 4 days I now have to drive 5 days which means more spent on gas.  Yes I could get another job but this schedule also makes that hard to do.  Is walmart going to be flexable enough to allow its employees to take other jobs with the new attendance policy will we get dinged for being 10 minutes late from another job?  I do not know at this moment but it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out for the employer and employee.

Tami,

“ But with this new schedule I still have 32 hours but it is spread out more..For instance instead of working 4 days 8 hours a day I am working 5 days 5.5 hours a day with no lunch break not even 1/2 hour.  or 5 Days 6 hours with the 1/2 hour. “

According to my math, 5 days at 5.5 hours a day, equals only 27.5 hours, not 32.

Now Bob don’t confuse Tami with facts these liberal socialist don’t care about facts only how they “feel” about the ‘supposed’ problem.  What really upsets me is if Wal-Mart is such a terrible employer why don’t these people go work for someone else?  Does Wal-Mart have guns to these people’s heads forcing them to work? A job is a contract between both the worker and the employer if one does not agree with the contract they get out.  I work for an employer with a similar policy that Wal-Mart is implementing and it has worked successfully for decades. The issue to these people is not the policy itself but the “big bad employer” known as Wal-Mart.  My advice for all who support this Watch Wal-Mart site is get a life and realize we operate in a capitalist economy and if you don’t like it move to France.

Basically, what you’re reading here, is a complete slam against the family values that Wal-Mart has touted over the years.

I had an offer to work at the Bentonville offices about 12 years ago. I was informed at that time, that a 50 hour workweek was standard and that I would be required to work a halfday on Saturday, unless I opted to use vacation time to offset the Saturday work.

Standby to see the average worker’s years of service to be cut down to 1-3 years as opposed to 5-10+ years.
It’s a half-A-- way of making the people with families, family obligations, and personal lives to be cut out of the picture by their own hands. Nice way of eliminating the 30+ yr old workers, earning $10 plus dollars an hour, and, replacing them with the 18-25 yr olds with the starting wage of $6.75 an hour.

Next time you need something, consider another store, let them know how you feel, move your dollars to another store.

The same argument holds true here as in other issues with Walmart.  Basic economic principles of supply and demand will affect not only the customer experience but the employee experience as well.  While it’s great as a consumer to find the help when you need it and I’m all for greater employee scheduling when needed to help the consumer, this takes the concept of “retail employment” to a new level. 

Retail jobs by nature can generally stink because of the work hours during the day, evening and weekends.  If Walmart’s associates need to be even more flexible on when they can work it may end up pushing more associates to find another job because they have their own personal lives that they need to schedule, child care being a HUGE one.  If Walmart finds that they don’t have enough associates to meet their “optimized computer schedule” then they will have to do what it takes to find additional associates via better wages and benefits.  And YES Dave… this is yet another PERFECT example of the “market taking care of itself”.

It’s the classic story of Supply and Demand meets Operations Research.  Let’s see how it turns out over the next 12 months.

-Richard K

I’ve had my hours cut twice in the past year & a half.

Several other associates in my store have not only
had their hours cut, but also had their working hours
changed from day to day, and their days off changed
from week to week.

One female associate stated that, given a choice
between Wal-Mart and her two very young children,
her children come first.

We’ve had another female associate leave work
early to take care of her young daughter.

The worst part is the on call bull crap. How in the world can you excpect a Wal-Mart empolyee to be on call. Let’s see, I am not gettting paid but I have to sit here at home and wait to see if Wal-Mart calls me in, oh and while I wait I have to pay that baby siter because she has to sit at home and wait to see if they call me in. CRAZY

You all seem to be harping on the same premise that being: Wal-Mart is a terrible employer and I nor no one else should work there!  There is a simplistic solution to your constant bickering: don’t work there and don’t shop there! The sad thing is you won’t stop shopping there and you won’t stop working there either.  The reason being you can not get cheaper prices and you can not find a mom and pop shop that will provide you with benefits comparable to Wal-Mart’s.  What Hipocracy!

Andy said the following:
A job is a contract between both the worker and the employer if one does not agree with the contract they get out. 

His idea of a contract is an open contract that Walmart controls. If you want a real contract, get in touch with a union in your area that is interested in the retail sector.

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C

In the above it mentioned kmart, sears, payless and others that are doing this new scheduling, not just walmart.

I started in retail in 1959 and we always had to schedule workers according to the business, thats the way retail works.(its never the same month to month)
In the event you dont like retail work, get another job, i did after 15 years.

When you go shopping would you like to stand in line 20 or 30 minutes, i dout it, so think about what you are complaining about.

When anyone complains about working weekends or holidays, and then goes out shoping and buying gas or goes to eat and the movies.
And what if you need to go to the hospital or call the police, or fly across the country, or any of a number of things.
Be thankful there are people that work at that time.

When i go out to eat or shopping on holidays, i try to be nice to the people working and give a better tip if possible.

So just think about the workers the next time you go out on the weekend or holidays, be nice and thank them......

There are many jobs worse than retail, i have done some of those jobs in my 50 years of working.

People from all over the world want to come to the US for the jobs and living conditions, someone will be happy to take that retail job if you dont want it.

BE THANKFUL FOR THE JOB YOU HAVE, AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT, GO OUT AND FIND ANOTHER ONE, AND BE THANKFUL YOU HAVE THAT GREAT FREEDOM.

HAVE A GREAT 2007 AND THANK OUR TROOPS FOR THE FREEDOM WE ENJOY.

bry inthe job you have do you have consistant hours?
wm workers do not want to be dragged about 24 hrs a day at wms beckon call just like a slave . and everyone who says go get a job somewhere else ,well easy to say harder to do
and that three week thing is a joke ,hardly ever is it posted
at that far in advance , only when big wigs visit is is made sure it is posted

bry how come wm went 44 years without coming up with this.
the only reason is for more profits at the expence of the worker. this is why wm is going down in history as the worst place on earth to work, they will be worse than km
it has already started years ago getting ride of people just for money , THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.
FACT!!!!!

Richard,

I think you hit the nail on the head, and drove it home in your blog.

“Basic economic principles of supply and demand will affect not only the customer experience but the employee experience as well.”

The question remains will this form of scheduling be a good business decision.
Of late, making good business decisions has not been Wal*Mart’s forte.

Yes they managed to pull out some December sales above prediction, and the stock took a bounce, yet they gave away tons of profits through price slashing, and the last I looked at their balance sheet their current ratio was negative, not a good sign.

‘Preferred Scheduling’ as it is called, I have seen tested in our store, and I can say it has been an absolute flop so far.
A flop because it has left managers scrambling to cover gaps inherent in a system that cannot predict ultimately the vagaries of customer flows.
A flop because morale plummeted, and interferes with the value-chain to the customer.

To try and ‘crystal ball’ retail labor requisitions through computer analysis, will probably be the economists’ joke of the decade.
All the while I am sure the software providers are loving the income, while any decent economist will be laughing his ass off.

‘Preferred Scheduling’ is an immense system basing flows over 15 minute intervals over a rolling 4 week period based on a combination of last years results and current weeks activity.
What an absolute bunch of hogwash.

Even the Pentagon Computers would be hard pressed to account for the variances, such as weather, traffic problems, school, paydays, average sick days, vacations, tax refunds, power outages, local elections, parades, competitor event sales, Barney at the Mall!
And so much more, to numerous to equate.

Sure, any idiot would know you need more people in a retail store say on weekends, and holidays.
But to ‘crystal ball’ schedules over thousands of stores in various markets and geography?
Somebody has paid big money again, for something really stupid.

Finally Richard, you mentioned a key indicator.
The impact on labor, and their either acceptance, or rejection of such an employment relationship.
Considering Wal*Mart’s already high turnover, and those concomitant costs,
I cannot see anything but those costs going up as labor rejects a see-saw lifestyle.

“It’s the classic story of Supply and Demand meets Operations Research.  Let’s see how it turns out over the next 12 months.”

Cazar, at least on this subject we pretty much see “eye to eye” but I do take an exception to your thoughts on predictability models for scheduling. 

I worked for a transportation logistics company for several years and one of my primary areas was to create predictiblity models for loads between points over a period of time… all based on historical models and present day factors.  Absolutely it was not a perfect science and often off target based not on history but on present day inputs, but none the less it was the heart and soul for our effeciences.  It was the Walmart supply side model at its best. 

The commercial airlines have also been using models like this for years to assist them in seat booking/overbooking and they taken it to an extreme level.  If you’re in to O.R. and enjoy mathematics it’s quite fascinating.  The only part about what they are trying to do here is take it down to 15 minute intervals… even for me that’s way to granular to be accurate or much use.... stick to periods of HOURS and days of weeks over specific weeks.

The toughest part about this is the toll on the employees and just another reason Walmart management may be shooting themselves in the foot (again).  We aren’t talking about moving packages but peoples lives.  I would be hard pressed not to see them have to better wages and benefits in order to attract and retain employees.  Let’s see how it plays out over the next 12 months.

-Richard K

Here is what worries me about this whole thing.

I work AM shift at WM. My wife works PM. We have two children that we each take care of while the other is working.

Is WM going to change up my hours and just expect me to put my kids into daycare as needed?

I know some of you say leave and work elsewhere. I have almost ten years in at WM. I am making a wage that I can’t go out and replace just anywhere. I have also built up the benefits that go with staying at a job for a long time.

What will happen? I am stuck waiting ti find out.

Yet another example of a company using software to cover up internal waste… and in this case they’re beating up on a source of experience and creativity.  See

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2007/01/walmart_worhips.html

Yes, let’s just give our lives over to a computer system and it’s software. Who was that on the phone honey? “The Wal-Mart computer just called, you have to report to work in an hour, they’re probably slammed or people are calling in sick.  You know how it is on friday nights”. Did you punch the pound sign to verify I got the message and that I’d be there? “Yes, honey”.  “Hey alan, sorry that darn computer called you in again. Those kids came in late, and the system automatically called you in. I’m sorry about that, but it’s not my fault. I would like to throw that scheduling software in the trash, except Wal-Mart paid a kazillion dollars for it and the Bentonville Managers think it’s the best thing since sliced bread.  Sure wish I could tell them what a burden the system is putting on our associates, but I want to be an District Manager some day. We really don’t need you now, so you can go on home or work the optional two hours ‘cause you were called in. By the way, how close are you to overtime? Do you know I’ll get coached if you get overtime”?

I used Kronos 15 yrs ago.  It has alot of override options and there is always the pencil too, BUT, to be a manager
at WMT is not to think but to do what Bentonville says and Bentonville can control and track all of this, which they do.  I doubt the WMT managers will even be told of the override options.

I could plug in days off, shift time of day and length of shift to protect my long time employees.

Current and former Wal-Mart associates’ message boards and blogs have been kicking around the topic of computerized scheduling for months now. Basically the arguments break down into two possibilities.

The first is that it is just as Bentonville says, merely an effeciency designed to balance customer load with manpower.  Sorry if it’s an inconvenience but it’s just business.

The second possibility is that computerized scheduling, along with the “open availability” requirement, is specifically designed to drive associates with families out as part of the implementation of the Chambers memo.

From what I’ve read a substantial number of stores have already made the switch and yet the number one complaint on customer feedback sites is still long lines, too few registers open, and a general lack of customer service, but then a lot of tenured employees have left.

A huge part of the problem is that payroll is the first expense to be cut when sales are bad. Every morning meeting goes over sales and payroll for the day before. If sales are up 4% compared to the same day last year, GREAT, good job everybody.  If sales are down, OH NO, quick send some people home.
I believe this is done because it is the easy thing to do and it is an instant fix for the bottom line. What it has caused is fewer emloyees on the payroll at each store and fewer in a store at any given time of day.

Hey WM, You want to save money?
Try running the company better. Stop the stupid expenses. Stop the remodel of 5 year old stores. Stop putting new stores up every 5 miles. Do we really need 4 or 5 stores in a 15 mile radius? You are spreading like a virus. Stop buying so much crap people don’t want, stuffing it into the stores and then selling it all below cost three and four months later. No store has more clearance junk than you, including BigLots.
Most of all though, Stop messing with your “associates” lives by making them work shifts and conditions that you wouldn’t want for yourself.

Scott

If Wal-Mart or any other employer wanted you to have a family, they would give you one. Sorry but it’s true. If families can’t make child care arrangements, too bad. Don’t have children. This sounds harsh but how can a business with 5,000 US stores and 1.4 million employees work around the employees’ schedules? There are too many variables. Given that turnover is 30%-40% per year, this model would have to be constantly updated to account for the scheduling difficulties of new employees. Your employer is in business to make money. It does this by giving customers what they want. Customers want to get through the checkout line in less than 20 minutes. Without optimal scheduling, this may not happen. Then the store would lose business and people would lose their jobs.

What will happen is this: Wal-Mart will find out that it cannot attract and retain talented employees based on the combination of scheduling/compensation. It will not change the scheduling. Therefore, it will have to offer higher wages and benefits to attract and retain qualified individuals. As stated by previous posters, this is the true free market at work. No government intervention, etc. Just an employer offering as much as it takes to get good workers. I think it’s beautiful.

By the way, Payroll is the first thing cut because it is the expense you can adjust almost immediately. You can’t cut merchandise because customers demand it. You can’t raise prices because customers will shop elsewhere. Your capital costs and utilities are somewhat fixed. Your insurance is fixed. The only real variable that you can adjust, short-term, is payroll.

Target also uses a scheduling system such as the one being implemented at Wal-Mart. If you are going to attack Wal-Mart, be sure to include Target and every other retailer and large grocer as well.

Whether this is a good or bad thing remains to be seen. But I can tell you it will DEFINATELY do one thing. It will take employee morale and flush it down the tubes. In retail one must remember that it is the employee who touches the customers. When was the last time someome from big time management in Bentonville actually went into a Wal-Mart and spend time waiting on customers? Anyone want to venture a guess? I didn’t think so.
A few years ago I saw a flyer that was based on a study done on why people STOPPED shopping a particular retail store. I don’t remember how long ago this study was done, but I do remember their findings. The smaller percentages of why people stopped shoping had to do with 1) the customer died 2) the customer moved or 3) the customer no longer had a need or desire for the product sold in that store.
But do you know what the biggest percentage was and the reason for it?
According to this study 68% of customers STOPPED shoping at a particular store because they had a BAD EXPERIENCE. The customer had a bad experience with either a store clerk, management, etc. And rather than complain this customer SIMPLY TOOK THEIR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE.
It is the employee who touches the customers. If the employees are unhappy about where they work, don’t you think that will eventually translate into how they deal with customers? And don’t you think that EVENTUALLY this will show up in the bottom line of profits?
I realize that this is being done to cut expenses. But if employee morale goes down the tubes because of it, was it really worth it? Wal-Mart already has an image problem. I don’t image this is going to help them at all.

By the way Scott in OH has it right. Wal-Mart should try running the company better. And why are they putting up all those stores? One of the reasons is because they want it all, and the only way to do that is to have a Wal-Mart on every street corner in America. The other reason is because it is the only way they can continue to show a profit. If you read Charles Fishman’s book titled The Wal-Mart Effect you learn something about same store sales. (That’s stores that have been open for more than 1 year.) Wal-Mart’s same store sales have stagnated. The only way Wal-Mart can CONTINUE to show a profit it to keep building more stores. They can also continue to show a profit by taking customers from other businesses like Target. They are trying that, but it has NOT been working for them.

Retailers need to remember one thing...your business is only as good as the employees your have.
A employee with an ‘attitude’ will drive customers away faster than high prices.

I wonder if Sam was still alive Walmart would be so money grubbing and indifferent to employees.

Is anyone surprised by this anti-worker attitude?  Once again it’s profits over people.  However, we don’t care about that, right?  It’s all about the sacred market (sic) and not violating the freedom of the rich and powerful to do what they please (we can’t interfere with that now can we?).  Who gives a crap about workers?  No one is forcing people to work at Wal-Mart or any other retail job.  If you don’t like it, just quit.  It’s that simple.  No complaint is legitimate no matter how outrageous and unfair the policy because you have the right to quit.  Only France has silly ideas like workers rights we don’t care about that in the good ole’ US of A - we only care about the freedom of shareholders to pursue their greed.  If you don’t like your retail job (or whatever it is) just be a Doctor or be rich and anyone left over deserves to suffer because they’re not worth as much as people who make more money.  Right Andy?  Remember, for some reason the freedoms associated with the market should be absolute (even though no other freedom is) with no restrictions on it - just ask Adam Smith.  Errr, wait, that’s not what Adam Smith advocated.  Oh well.  Anyway, Target has similar policies and it looks like Wal-Mart is emulating those anti-worker ideas.  I thought that Wal-Mart was making an effort to clean itself up and I was backing off of them but not when they do crap like this.  They deserve to be attacked for this as it’s a step backwards.

I wonder, too, if Walmart would be so greedy and cynical if old Sam was still alive.  Years ago it seemed like he was on to a good thing.  Now when - if - I go to WM it is no longer carrying what I had bought there for years, everything is more expensive and more imported and there are fewer selections - except in the high-priced electronics department.
If they are catering to a well-heeled clientel around here, they are barking up the wrong tree.  They drove out the mom and pop shoe stores, craft and fabric stores, etc. and now they leave us with nothing.  I haved known a number of WM employees over the years.  They used to praise WM, bless them for their pay and benefits.  Now they grumble and quit.  I think there will be more grumbling and quitting until WM wises up and gets ethical.

Andy N said:
The sad thing is you won’t stop shopping there and you won’t stop working there either.  The reason being you can not get cheaper prices and you can not find a mom and pop shop that will provide you with benefits comparable to Wal-Mart’s.

Why not?  I worked for Wal-Mart (in high school) when Sam was alive.  It was a good place to work.  After I left I got tired of the walmart shopping “experience”.  I havent bought so much as a roll of TP from them since 2001. 

I get very good pricing from Target and Costco with a much
better shopping “experience”

Hey Richard, I have gummie bears, jelly beans, hershey’s kisses, snickers bars, and a crow bar. When are you ginig to come and try to take my candy? You are better off laying low for a while. HA HA HA HA!

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

“The only part about what they are trying to do here is take it down to 15 minute intervals…”

Richard,

The POS system polls data in 15 minute increments to analyze customer flows and Item Per Hour scan productivity, these metrics are in fact aggregated to produce larger blocks of data on average cashier productivity and customer counts over longer periods of time, usually hour(s). Labor requisitions are not fine tuned to 15 minutes.
Sorry if I was misleading.

I do not mean to trash predictive modeling as a whole, as you say it is invaluable in inbound/outbound modeling, transportation, and even retailing with a caveat.
For retail the model should be broad and deep, and not microscopic, more telescopic.

But the system I have seen tested depends far too much on labor ‘stretch’, so that in the event of sickness or ‘call-off’ you get a dysfunctional result with just a few absences.
This is why (in my opinion) you see the recent crackdown on attendance policy.
The system is trying to streamline labor cost, and is doing it (again in my opinion) too ‘thinly’.

Combine the stinginess of the labor requisitions with the unpredictable (tardy, absences, up-ticks in customer flows) and you get long queues, empty shelves, and dissatisfied customers.

I have seen the system tested now for 3 plus years, and it just does not work due to the volatility of labor and customer flows in a typical Wal*Mart.
Wal*Mart is simply trying to stretch an available (theoretical) labor pool in order to overcome deficiencies in current labor productivity, or the lack thereof (of labor) entirely.

Scheduling system, have you seen their stores lately and have you seen all the new faces in them from pushing out older associates. They already have the worst customer service I have ever seen. There is no one there to do any work, you cant get up and down the asiles at anytime let alone when a “computer” says its peak time folks. Walmart has no ethics at all towards its people. Congress should step in and take control of this bomb ready to explode. I dont even get my car serviced there anymore because of they dont have anyone there to watch what happens to my car. I was used to having the manager in the car Lube center talking to me and sitting down and explaining anything they found. Now I take my car somewhere else. I used to buy things from the sporting goods department too because the associate there really knew his stuff. Now the persont there can hardly tell you there name without looking at there name badge. I have been going back to most of my hometown stores where at least the really are sincere when they say thank you and give you the service you deserve as a customer. We all should go back to our hometown stores, in some cases you may pay more but you really do get what you pay for when it comes to service, and a clean place to shop.

I’m not a Wal-Mart employee, but I find this discussion really interesting.  I stopped in a Wal-Mart once, about 12 years ago, but otherwise won’t shop there because of their ethical issues.  I do think that with Wal-Mart’s enormous influence, taking a “just quit” attitude isn’t helpful—the plain fact is, they’re affecting the rights of all workers by continually pushing the envelope.  What’s next? Bringing back child labor and dismantling OSHA?

But one point I haven’t seen raised here is that if they continue to disrupt workers’ lives, and if they then must raise salaries/provide greater (or any) benefits to workers to compensate, won’t they then have to raise prices as well? And if that happens, what’s the point of going to Wal-Mart?  My understanding is that the people who shop there only do so because it’s cheap.  I’m having a hard time seeing how this can possibly benefit the company in the long run.

Ellis wrote: “What will happen is this: Wal-Mart will find out that it cannot attract and retain talented employees based on the combination of scheduling/compensation.”

You apparently haven’t read the Chambers memo.  Wal-Mart has no intention or desire to “attract and retain talented employees”. Just the reverse.  Bentonville believes they can operate with a disposable workforce of part time new hires to be discarded after the first year.

“Given the impact of tenure on wages and benefits, the cost of an Associate with 7 years of tenure is almost 55 percent more than the cost of an Associate with 1 year of tenure, yet there is no difference in his or her productivity.” ~ Chambers memo

It will get to the point that the local pizza shop is a better job than WM.

Ken V,

“You apparently haven’t read the Chambers memo.  Wal-Mart has no intention or desire to “attract and retain talented employees”. Just the reverse.  Bentonville believes they can operate with a disposable workforce of part time new hires to be discarded after the first year.”

Let’s say that you are right and this is their goal.  Have they not the right to do this?  Fast food, has done this for years!!  The point is, CHOICE.  If a person accepts a job, knowing that they will be replaced within the year, wouldn’t a responsible person consider this as a stepping stone and use that year to find a better position somewhere else?  I suggest, that their turnover is a reflection of that, people going on to better jobs.  Anybody, who knows anything about ‘retail’, knows that it is not a job that can be referred to as a career, unless you can advance to upper management.  If you accept this going in, you won’t have as much trouble on your way out!!

Judy,

You are right, Wal-Marts success is based on their “Low Prices”, having people who make 55 percent more than a new hire, with no difference in his or her productivity, defeats that ‘Low Price’ stragety.  If people want better wages and benefits, they will have to show that they can produce equal to their increases.  Same store sales declining, shows the opposite, as does losing customers.  Employees are on the front line of customer service, they are the ones that customers deal with and base whether or not they will shop there.  If customers leave, it is the fault of the employees, who are not putting forth a good effort.  If a store is dirty, it’s the employees who are not keeping it clean, etc.

Bob

Big Law firms, such as those on Wall Street and D.C., hire hundreds of new associates each year. They work them 100 +hours per week, bill them out at $250 an hour and fire them after a year or two to replace them with hundreds of new law school graduates. It is an endless cycle. But I guess it is only bad if Wal-Mart does it (if that is even their intention).

Good to see you posting!

For those who operate under the belife that “ quit and find another job” Have not been looking at the unemployment issues in the nation of late. We are currently at some of the highest numbers of unemployed in the USA. Yes, when you listen to the news and politicians they quote numbers that show unemployment is down and greater numbers of people are going to work. The problem with these numbers are that they don’t into account the number of people who run out of unemployment and are not getting any money at all (estimates are in the thousands nationally). And a greater number of people going to work are based on new hire reports and don’t take into account the number of people switching jobs because they quit or laid off.
And as long as people can’t think beyond there wallets there will always be wal marts of one sort or another.
P.S. and if you think wal mart can’t be curbed read up on wal marts experience in Germany

I have worked for WM for 20 years & have had the same schedule for those 20 years. I also have a family with 4 children who are active in Sports ,Student Council, Deca, Girl Scouts and Church activities. The associates who are long term deserve more that this from a company that we have been so loyal too. Don’t tell me to go get another job I have to much invested at this point and I will fight it to the end!!

Remember when
we were associates-it was our company
no job code levels-if you are a full time cashier and its slow gee domestics always needs zoning!! you learned the whole store, it was yours,you were proud and worked hard.

we were family, Family sticks together. Ok things are slow sales are down everyone would cut an hr here or there to help out. But then there were no caps on pay, you had a merit raise this year because you did learn how to mix the paint, cut the fabric, ect so you gave back.

It all worked out back then,full time-part time you knew your hrs. Store managers managed the store instead of being a puppet for home office, giving out the bad news.

we knew our customers by name and they knew ours !!!
customers too were a big part of the family, thats why they came. Thats why our family grew and prospered.

Remember when.

long term,

I’m with you.

Change is always hard, no we learn sometimes it is pointless.

Well I see this as a disaster in progress, I shop there of course because of the low prices. But I do not believe they would need every employee in at a certain time of the day or evening! Sometimes I go in the day and sometimes in the evening how can you really say what time is best year to year....But if wal-mart is just trying to get rid of there long time employees that is just so wrong when I go to my wal-mart I am happy to see familar faces to help me..and who know how to help me, I think if these people are forced out we as customers should show our support to those who have in reality worked for us all these years. If we worked somewhere for 10-20-years and the company did this to us what would we do? Also lets see who fills these day shifts will they be a younger group of employees ........I think if a employee has been there for years they deserve day hours , but if they throw in younger newer . Then I believe that is age discrimation!!

I have worked at walmart for almost 11 years and I will tell you why I have worked there because I liked the company and I had a schedule so I could plan my life. A lot of us also do Volenteer work for our Community. Like Girl Scouts and Teacher Parent Organization. Some of us teach sunday school , or coach baseball and some of us even have second jobs with the Fire Dept as Voleenteers. It Used to say Volenteerism Always Pays in our breakroom.Not any signs up anymore. Soon there will be only people who do not have any reason to care for your community working at WalMart. Due to not caring for the associates that Sam Walton hired to run his stores soon there will be no one with knowledge to set the mods and deal with the venders and the buyers. Not to mention the lack of communication about coverage. Just last week I had no won to cover my area that knew how to sell a hunting licence cause of the dumb computer scheduling. Computers do’nt know who knows how to cut keys or who knows how to mix paint . So there was one hour a day where Walmarts little computer was totaly utterly worthless in my book. I also think it is low of Walmart if they are making billons of dollars a year and not loosing any money. They gain billions every year to worry about scheduling” IF IT AI’NT BROKE DO’NT FIX IT.” The most funniest thing is when we do our so called Walmart cheer a couple of years ago they changed it to say who’s walmart is it ,and you are supposed to say My Walmart . It is not our Walmart any more it is some dumb unfeeling computer who has to be turned on and off on a whim so we have to be too!!! In our community WalMart is the only store that is retail so there is not many jobs. I am sorry for being 100% vested in a company that brags about how many poeple they employ on there comercials and all of the silver and gold badges that work for them. When the attendence policy rolled out we were forced to sign on a piece of paper to keep our jobs and to change to AN AT WILL EMPLOYER so WalMart could get rid of us older Associates. We we’re told that we do not need a union but it is sad cause I am thinking we need a Norma Ray. Walmart would have to shut down if we all walked out like that store in florida did. Talk about the straw on the camels back without anyone to run the stores the way we do no one would want to shop there. Except a few unfeeling customers who have never worked retail or do’nt care about the Associates who serve them. We have a great Manager but his hands are tied because of the home office and their lovely CEO and people so out of reality they think parents that have kids to raise can just float any hour of the day. The Associates that work for Walmart are for the most part real nice that will change when they can not be with their familys cause of WalMart. WalMart would better be served if it just had stable shifts for the Associates who wanted to work those hours. To disriminate agianst the Associates who have other jobs or children is unconstatutional .Try to find a daycare after 5 o’clock in our town good luck and if you do not have family you are going to have to loose your job or loose touch with your kids to whomever you trust. So more food stamps and Hud and medicade for the single mothers who may have worked for a company for 17 years . So she can be replaced with tom dick or harry and they can keep thier job for about a week or maybe 3 at most. Sounds like Walmart going to have lots of fun and so will andy1. Because he knows it all. LOL . You need to be the Walmart spoksman. Just Mr. Poster Boy !!

The schedules are generated 3 weeks out and posted. They cannot be changed without the assoicates initals on the schedule. Three weeks out you can schedule for babysitting and other appointments. But wait, what about Target who refuses to talk about it. What about that? I am sick to death of Wal-mart being the target of all bad publicity.
Stacy

Your employer pays you to do a job. Your employer tells you when to be at work. If you don’t like the pay or the hours, quit. You are there to solve a problem, not create one. I can’t stand people who say “I’ve been at Wal-Mart X years and have always had the schedule I’ve wanted. Why should I put up with change?” I’ll make a deal with all the complainers here.

Wal-Mart’s market cap is about $180 billion or so. Go buy yourself 10%, or $18 billion, in Wal-Mart stock and vote yourself onto the board of directors. Once there, make a demand that you be employed at the store of your choice with your preferred schedule. THAT is how you dictate policy to your employer if said employer happens to be a public company. Otherwise, you are an employee and you need to be at work when your employer wants you to be there, not when you feel like showing up.

Thanks andy...so insightful.  Go work somewhere else, indeed!  If I quit, I lose my insurance and being embroiled in a battle with breast cancer at the moment, that would equal death for me.  Oh, and with the new attendance policies, I now have to worry about being fired after being out for three weeks to recover from the life-saving surgery...more if chemo or radiation therapies enter the equation.  Are YOU going to pay my bills?  Who do you think would hire me with my health the way it is?  Or should I opt to have you, the American taxpayer, pay my bills each month but still leave me to cover my medical expenses on my own which will surely run into the hundreds of thousands?  Not to mention, I’m single...so I have to battle all of this on my own.  You’re obviously very intelligent, but not so much that you can cover ALL of the factors.

I’ve worked for Walmart for over 6 years and have attained all my goals with the company thru dedication and great work ethics.  My only concern with the new scheduling centers around the fact that I babysit my grandchild so my daughter can work her shift at the same Walmart without having to pay a sitter. If she is called in when I’m working she doesn’t have the financial ability to pay for a sitter. Not to mention the fact that only one day care in our town is open late and you have to pay for a full week whether your child is there one day or the whole 5 days. Single parents with limited income will be the ones to suffer. It seems like all these “changes” started to come about when a former Target employee was hired in our corporate office. I love my job with Walmart and the majority of our employees have no problem going to all areas of our store to help out where and when needed.  It’s always the young new hires in their late teens & early 20’s who don’t have much of a work ethic who find fault.  They want a paycheck just to stand around.  My management team stresses customer service. They lead by example and work in all areas also. It’s not uncommen to have our management running registers, stocking shelves, or whatever else needs to be done to serve our customers. Not because of short staffing but because of pride in our store. Maybe the stores with lousy service need to have the management scrutinized.

PO’ed

First off, let me say that I am very sorry to hear about your situation. I really, truly hope and pray that you make a speedy and complete recovery. I really mean that. We can all debate the issues, and I certainly will, but human life takes precedence over any comments or opinions any of us post.

However, I was the under the impression that Wal-Mart either did not provide health insurance or provided bare-bones policies? Yours is paying for cancer treatments? Please share that. You worry about losing your job at Wal-Mart, which means that Wal-Mart must not be such a bad place to work. Time and time again we hear about how bad Wal-Mart is, the low pay, the scheduling, the lack of benefits, etc. If Wal-Mart is the worst employer out there then you or anyone else should have no trouble finding better employment elsewhere. You can’t get any worse than Wal-Mart, right? Maybe a Mom and Pop store can hire someone at minimum wage and no benefits for 24 hours per week? I just want people to acknowledge that Wal-Mart is a good employer and that wages and benefits are pretty good for retail. How many Mom and Pop stores would offer you health insurance that pays for cancer treatments?

All of this debate about this, that or the next thing is a waste of time. Wal-Mart is being attacked for one reason: they are non-union. They are no better or worse than any other retailer but they are the largest and they have the audacity to stand up to the UFCW, which is on the run elsewhere.

I shop at a local Kroger store as well. The employees are UFCW. They have their hours cut by the store to keep them part-time and without benefits. I know a guy who has been there 2 years and can’t get full-time. He gives pretty good customer service, a rarity for a union shop, and he earns less than $8 per hour. In typical union fashion, the department heads are in charge based on seniority. In this particular department where my acquaintance works, the department manager is a 55-year old woman who refuses to get with the program. She is slow, unfriendly and will not learn the product or the new register. She is pathetic and yet she is the manager. She is constantly asking her employees how to do this and that. I’ve also witnessed an employee threaten a customer in front of witnesses and call her names. He was not fired or even suspended. The UFCW protects him. He treats customers like dirt, ridicules and insults them, throws product around and walks away from customers he doesn’t like, telling them “I’m not waiting on you”. In a normal environment, he would be fired. But he is with the UFCW and so they tolerate this behavior. This store routinely cuts hours, sends employees home if business is slow, calls people in on short notice and posts a new schedule once per week (unlike three weeks out at Wal-Mart). The department managers earn between $12-$13 per hour. The hourly employees start at $6.15. This is a fact. They also pay a $50 fee to join the union and $20-$40 per month based on years in the union, job title and wages.

I have gotten off the point here. The whole point, the entire reason for the constant attacks on Wal-Mart, is a coordinated effort between the UFCW, the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party to organize Wal-Mart’s workers.

Think about this: the UFCW currently has less than 1.5 million ill-served members. By organizing Wal-Mart, they could nearly double that overnight. If they charge 1.3 million workers $50 each to join the union, this puts $65 million into their pockets right now. $30 per month puts $39 million PER MONTH into their pockets. Do the math.

Unions have also been demanding that workers can be represented by a union if a majority sign union cards. They want to eliminate the secret vote because 1) They’ve been losing elections left and right and 2) They don’t want workers to be able to vote on union affairs at all. So much for Democracy.

I have rambled. I am sorry.

EllisW in

I’ve got one for you, it starts like this........Once upon a time in a store far, far away.........

Wow, thats quite a right wing fairy tale. You must have written NAZI bed time stories, I mean with an imagination like that. Let me guess how it ends.........lets see, the rude , rude cashier is taken out back with the rest of the evil union members, where the publishers of Forbes and Money magizine along with the Walton Family shoot them in a firing squad. And capitalism reigned there and stock holders lived happily ever after. Blah, blah, blah, ya, ya, ya What a LOAD OF PURE BULL SHIT!!!!!

Now, every one that believes that stand on your head, and sign this contract for this bridge I’m selling in Brooklyn

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

I had to wait in line for 30min the other night to get checked out. If this is how this new system is going to work I will shop some place else.  Super center with only 4 registers open. What a load of crap.

Jerry in,

Too bad you weren’t smart enough to use those self checkouts, maybe then you could have gotten out faster!!