Posted on 12/05/2006 10:24:07 AM PST by meg88
Faced with public demonstrations of discontent by its employees, Wal-Mart Stores has developed a wide-ranging new program intended to show that it appreciates its 1.3 million workers in the US and to encourage them to air their grievances.
As part of the effort, Wal-Mart managers at 4,000 stores will meet with 10 rank-and-file workers every week and extend an additional 10 percent discount on a single item during the holidays to all its employees, beyond the normal 10 percent employee discount.
The program, described in an internal company document, was created during a volatile six months period, starting when the company instituted a set of sweeping changes in how it managed its workers.
Over that time, Wal-Mart has sought to create a cheaper, more flexible labor force by capping wages, using more part-time employees, scheduling more workers at nights and weekends, and cracking down on unexcused days off.
The policies angered many long-time employees, who complained that the changes would reduce their pay and disrupt their families’ lives. Workers even staged small rallies in Nitro, W. Va., and Hialeah Gardens, Fla., the only such protests in recent memory.
The portion of the new outreach program called “Associates Out in Front” is described in company documents as a way for Wal-Mart to show workers “that we do appreciate you and that we have an ongoing commitment to listening to and addressing your concerns.”
The program includes several new perks “as a way of saying thank you” to workers, like a special polo shirt after 20 years of service and a “premium holiday,” when Wal-Mart pays a portion of health insurance premiums for covered employees. Sarah Clark, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said the program was a “a more formalized, contemporary approach” to communicating with and collecting feedback from its fast-growing work force.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Mushbrained elitist.
they could have at least given them an enrollment in the "JELLY OF THE MONTH CLUB"
Can you specifically name any of this cheap Chinese-made crap at Wal-Mart and not sold at other stores???
Walmart, Target, Kmart, Lowes, Home depot, Dollar General sell cheap Chinese-made crap that breaks after a couple of months.
Why? Would it be any more truthful if Fox news reported it?
"cheap Chinese-made crap that breaks after a couple of months."
First, over 80% of Wal-Mart expenditures are U.S.-based. Secondy, what does Wal-Mart have to do with my Black & Decker grinder being made in China? Our Black & Decker coffee pot didn't come from Wal-Mart and it's made in China.
I was in Wal-Mart yesterday. There's plenty of made in the USA stuff in there, not that you care.
LOL.....you think they can afford a big screen tv on walmart wages.....LOL.
"Satisfied with mediocrity" isn't as catchy, and "loser" works quite well in its place.
Good grief, 76% of Wal-Mart's managers have been promoted from the ranks of their hourly employees. Wal-Mart managers are well compensated. Store managers can make in excess of six-figures. Having access to their stock in the 80's and 90's made lots of those people millionaires. Maybe you shouldn't have said anything at all instead of removing all doubt.
Was the pin gold or silver?
Possibly.
When the wife works there for the 10% discount and the hubby pulls down 70-80k in a mechanical trade?
They could probably afford to spend a couple of thousand dollars on a TV. Why they would want to is another question entirely.
Excellent question.
So let me get this straight. These millionaires were whining about working conditions, so Wal-Mart gave them a Polo shirt. Is that your story?
Yeah it sounds like Walmart is cheap, but no one is forcing people to work there. They can get another job or go back to school.
I was at a cheap company, and I quit (along with many many others). Now they are having serious staffing problems.
I would expect people at FR to not be as populist minded as the average folk.
Been slogging away in oil patch IT for going on 38 years myself.
A few years after you've moved out of your parents basement you may begin to understand that all honest work is honorable.
Since when is it an employer's obligation to "take care of" it's employees?
_________
LOL. Back off on the caffeine or increase the valium dosage :-)
It's not the obligation of the company to do jack other than pay the folks on time. However, smart companies do more to retain their people. Every time someone leaves, they take with them certain valuable assets (namely, the way the organization works, its data, etc.). Keeping those folks around is just good business sense.
Important in the retail world of Walmart? Maybe not. Elsewhere, you betcha.
"I would expect people at FR to not be as populist minded as the average folk."
You would think so, but you would be wrong. ;?)
I've talked to quite a few Walmart employees and most do not have husbands making that kind of salary. That would be the exception.
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