Wal-Mart moving employees to new schedule system
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is moving workers to a new advanced scheduling system, building on a pilot program it tested last year that schedules hourly employees based on the number of shoppers in a store.
“This is exactly what we were piloting before, and it has been introduced to cashiers and customer service positions,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Wal-Mart will start moving many of its 1.3 million workers from predictable shifts to a system based on how many customers are in stores at a given time.
Wal-Mart said last year that it was testing the system as it looks to cut labor costs. Clark said Wal-Mart plans to move all hourly workers to the new system this year.
Critics contend the advanced system takes hours away from full-time employees and demands more flexibility from workers.
“You are saying to workers who are already getting paid poorly … if you want any hours, you have to agree to work when we want you to work and to agree to a schedule that changes,” said Chris Kofinis, spokesman for WakeUpWalMart.com, which has pressured Wal-Mart to improve pay and benefits.
And they wonder why their employees steal them blind..
Sounds like a good use for flash mobs. Have 200 people show up at the same time and leave 5 minutes later.
According to the article, “employee schedules are now available three weeks in advance.”
I don’t have a problem with this. I got the impression from the blurb posted that under the new system employees could be called in at any time to cover customer surges. That would suck, and it would be very difficult for parents.
But as long as you know when you’ll be working in advance, I don’t see any problem at all. If they don’t like it, employees should quit.
When I worked at K-Mart back in the 80s, my schedule bounced around from morning to evening, and I only had a one week warning. This system seems much more fair.
If you don’t like it, work somewhere else. Why do all those people line up when a new Wal-Mart opens if it is such a horrible place? When I was a lifeguard I would get one day warning that ‘oh, by the way, tomorrow you will be working from 9AM to 11 PM for the next three days’ and I survived.
WakeUpWalMart is run by unions who just want more union dues.
Hey, it’s a great idea as long as shoppers always keep the same schedule. But how many of you actually schedule your shopping trip to fall on the same day each week? We’ll see if this really makes any difference. I have a feeling, with the random nature of how a lot of people have to shop (especially since a lot of Walmart’s customers have to work at places with these flex schedules) this system doesn’t really do anything. It just sounds better to say “A computer guesses when we should schedule people” than “A manager guesses when to schedule people”.
The real question is, which one’s cheaper?
Quitting isn’t an option for some people. For some people, WalMart is the difference between a home and the street.
That doesn’t mean WalMart should be able to take advantage of the dire situations these people find themselves in.
When will people stop making excuses for multinationals and start demanding fair labour practices from them? I guess it’ll be when human dignity and empathy return to the mainstream. From what I see, that will take a very long while yet.
Working hard is respectable, and among the values I most admire and work to cultivate in myself.
Taking undue advantage of people who are willing to work hard for you is despicable.
If you read the article it does not sound bad like the headlines imply. Schedules 3 weeks in advance vs. 2 before and schedules more accurately determined.
Jordan Louis, I agree with your sentiment, but disagree that this new scheduling system is “Taking undue advantage”. As other posters stated working in retail means being flexible about hours pretty much anywhere you work and at least here it’s somewhat predictable, unlike at many smaller, less formal companies.
there will always be a certain group of people that are willing to work for companies like wal-mart,but you need to be aware of the companies that have the best working conditions in order to make a comparison,you have to have the worst companies in order to appreciate the best companies, or visa versa,
i’ve worked in the 9-5 jobs, 5 days a week, i have also worked a continental shift, and 5 1/2 days a week, and 6 days a week, and most other variations, i just Worked, some shifts sucked but at the time i had no other choice, i waited till i could get a better job, then i moved on, i was fortunate.
#2 has the right idea
now… if wally’s employees are now oncall, do they get free or subsidized cellphones so they know WHEN to be at work?
#2, #11 Something like this?
I hope this IT trend continues with other companies as they try to cut costs to bring in better returns for the shareholders and the shoppers. To all the posters who demand “fair” labour practices, whatever that relative terms means, a firm maximizes profit by setting the wage equal to the value of the marginal product of labour, or in other words how much that unit of labour contributes to the over all bottom line. Also do not forget the 211th Ferengi Rule of Acquisition, “Employees are rungs on the ladder of success. Don’t hesitate to step on them.”
I would just like to have enough people working in the store checkout lanes so that I do not have to wait twenty minutes to purchase an item that took me five minutes to find.
Jordan said: “For some people, WalMart is the difference between a home and the street.”
I too agree that any citizen willing to work hard, full time, in this country deserve a living wage, including basic health care, provided by either the companies or the government (or both), and if they have a family, enough to support a family of two.
But I truly believe the answer needs to be via the government.
I also believe that if the government gets involved, it should only subsidize the basics of life. Personally, if the “subsidized” family had a TV, items of clothes worth more than $50, jewelry, or any non-necessities, the subsidy ends. I also believe the subsidy ends at one child per person (two per couple). When someone else is helping you out, the helper has a right not to be taken advantage of.
I don’t mean to be mean, but we must remember that for the most part, today, the poor of this country live much better and healthier lives than the rich of the near past. I grew up relatively poor (born in 1960, in NYC), and my family of five all slept in one bedroom. Today, I’m sure many would believe that is cruel and inhuman (maybe it was), but I am uncomfortable believing that with every living “advance” by the rich, the middle class and poor are entitled to be bumped up in life style. Of course I have an interest in minimizing class warfare, but I think everyone needs to be realistic about things.
Since we are on this topic, can anybody direct me to software that automagically makes schedules for employees in a smalish retail store chain? 5 stores, about 10 million a year sales. OMG the bickering goes on and on, seemingly forever, who works where and when, how many hours… It would be really cool, if I could just punch the parameters into the computer and it made the schedule. Then when people complain to me about the schedule, I could just say, “Its not my fault, the computer did it that way.” Maybe even some web interface, where the employees could schedule the days they need off. Then do it all tight and secure like a cash register. Right now, it seems like my store managers spend a good portion of each day dealing with this issue.
Why, I would even buy a Mac to do this if that is where the software is at:P
I worked at that shit hole for a month or so. Had to stop showing up it was so bad.
#1 it right. seen it a lot.
16., just coincidentally got through the WSJ before seeing what Dvorak was up to today. And you are right, the software will make a manager’s life much, much easier. The man concern expressed in the second half of the article seems to be that employers are also ramping up demands for 40+ hour availability due to the 15 minute resolution the software provides to management. So part time workers are losing the ability to hold down two jobs.
What does “being paid poorly” mean, exactly? Are the workers unable to leave and are forced to accept at gunpoint wages that Walmart offers?
It seems to me that the labor pool for Walmart may shrink as those who wish to work multiple jobs find it too difficult to accept employment at Walmart, at which point Walmart will have to raise wages to retain the sort of employees that it wants.
Even Walmart can’t beat the law of supply and demand.
#15 – what do you mean that the helper “has the right” not to be taken advantage of? You may not feel like someone is taking advantage of you if they only demand welfare for their family with two children, but plenty of others do. Why do you get to set the rules for what it means to be taken advantage of and where our rights begin and where they end, or do you base your philosophy simply on what the majority will agree to?
19. I think it’s pretty simple, really. Being paid poorly means, among other things, having trouble paying one’s rent. I’ve worked $7.00/hr jobs in the past, and not by choice. Why do economics-heads always assume that flesh abd blood people are ‘rational utility maximising individuals’ and always COMPLETELY free to make (presumably better) choices? That’s always struck me as extremely patronizing to the working poor (Don’t like your job? Well, quit why dontcha? Or are you too stupid to?’) As Richard Lewington, an esteemed sociobiologist once said, even if we somehow engineered stupidity out of the human genome, would that alter the structure of power, wealth and status relations one iota? No, and people don’t quit sh*tty jobs cos the ‘natural’ level of unemployment makes sure there is enough competition between workers for those jobs to keep ’em where they are. And if unemployment falls, well, hey, the Fed raises interest rates.
Let’s put the shitty wages into perspective.
Adults should be paid enough to own a home, a car, insurance, utilities, and groceries. Granted, the quality of those items will be based on your skill level but anyone who works a job should have at least a decent place to live.
Wal Mart should setup cots for their employees so at least they would have a place to sleep and eat if they are going to pay them shit slave wages. No wonder America is going downhill.
BTW, I wasn’t kidding. If anyone can point me to a small to midsize business version of software that does this, I am buying…
23: 1400 in pre-tax income, exactly: let’s say you’re a single mom living in a big city. How much is left after tax, rent and groceries for all that stock market investing? Exactly where is the choice here? I remember Reagan urging laid-off GM employees to move to the Sunbelt on spec. They could either choose to move, or choose not to. Which was more rational, to spend your last savings on a u-haul to nowheresville, to to stay up north where there were no jobs but you had some kind of support network? I guess either horn of that dilemma could be chosen ‘freely’ but then the newspeak meaning of ‘free’ is shown to contain a certain element of coercion.
I have a good job. I didn’t choose to be hired – it was during the recession of the early 90s and I was really rather lucky, given the competition from many other qualified applicants, many of whom had a ton of human and/or cultural capital but still didn’t manage to find that magic lever of choice until the boom after 1995’s reverse plaza accord (which was shaky for many still unresolved reasons, see Robert Brenner’s The Boom and the Bubble) shifted international trade back into the US’s favour.
And yes the Fed raises interest rates out of inflationary fears, but then inflation’s key component is wage inflation, so then we’re back to square one arguing over the economic costs and benefits of minimum wage laws etc.
Finally, as for taxation – I assume you are a ‘taxation is theft’ libertarian then – well, that quaint utopian theory rests on a rather shaky metaphysical plane (eg. Robert Nozick’s attempt to update Locke in Anarchy, State and Utopia) – mystical notions of ‘natural property rights’ that were in fact historically determined by social relations between Landlords, Tenant farmers and serfs in 15C England.
23,
LETS base your assumption on the IDEA that Wallys will HIRE you FULL time. Even tho they ONLY hire part timers.
50 hours a week, at $7…$1400
1/3 is TAXES…$420…GONE
$980 LEFT
Average rent(I live in a RURAL area) $600..
Utilities–about $150
Food for 1 person PER month is about $5 per day, IF you cook it. $150
NOW, I aint even added..
Gas for the car.
Insurrance for the CAR,
Licence for the CAR,
LEAST amount per month, $20 ins, Lic $5, GAS $50=$75
How about 1 date…can you hack 1 date amonth? $20(cheap date)
Internet, avg price, $50…
Cable TV, $30
1 Lonely LIFE all alone…Priceless
Want to pay my BILLS for 1-2 months??
Let me add something to my post…
HOW much in taxes do you ALL think we pay??
Each pack of Cigs, is about $1 in tax.
Each gallon of gas, is about $0.70-$1
remember that this INCLUDES every train, plane, 18 wheeler, delivery truck, that has to carry the goods.
Sales tax 3-10%
For every Corp and business, you PAY for their Utilities and taxes.
Every utility has taxes, every Phone has taxes…
for every hand that Makes, distributes, sells the goods, you pay ALL of their taxes.. THEY dont..and it dont come out of the profit line.
Import taxes on Everything Imported.
Beer taxes..
Its estimated that US citizians pay about 60% of our wages to Some SORt of tax.
Why is this a problem?
Look, I am by no means a wal mart supporter (never shopped there, never will) but it only makes sense for a business to staff its store when people are there.
Don’t like it? Tough. How many minimum wage jobs have set schedules anyways? I know when I worked in grocery long ago my schedule was different every week – this is nothing new.
But I suppose because it’s wal mart it’s front page news?
Don’t like changing schedules? Get another job.
Of course all those profits that WalMart makes should be distributed to people who want that money, and how dare they try to make money.
28, CORN, pure CORN…
Wally’s went direct to the makers and Get the best prices OVER all the others that FORCE profits up…or level the prices in the stores.
29,
WOW, you must be at least 40 to understand whats happening…
PS,
Walmart DONT pay for insurrance if you are sick or hurt.
Cant find a job, PICK one..
Wally’s, MsD, burgerking….Profits profits PROFITS…
Make basic TAX laws and enforce them…
OK…
go to the store, and figure this out for Breakfast…
2 strips of bacon the BEST.
2 eggs…
Hasbrowns, any form you wish.
If you get more then $1.50 I will be amazed.
consider that is YOUR PRICE, RETAIL…
NOT the 1/2 price the resturant got them at…For buying a 5 dozen pack at $3-4…
Bacon by the SLAB….less then $10 for about 10lbs..
And Hashbrowns ARE FREE….or about $0.10 per potato…
REALLy think about that…$6 for a breakfast that you pay…and $4-5 is PROFIT…
See? #25 gets it. #23 is probably a Wal Mart manager.
There should be no arguement here. Comparing the wages to the actual cost of living is about as straightforward as you can get.
Contracts Shmontracts. Most companies are run like slave camps.
Actually, #23 is probably a Wal Mart lawyer.