Walmart Cut Employee Hours So Drastically They Can't Keep Shelves Stocked, Losing Customers

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/walmart-cut-employee-hours-so-drastically-they-cant-keep-shelves-stocked-losing-customers


Customers shop at a Walmart Neighborhood Market store in Chicago, Illinois. US retail sales edged higher in August at a weaker than expected pace, led by auto and home furnishing sales, official data released Friday showed.

After cutting employees’ hours so deeply that stores could not keep their shelves stocked, Walmart is adding more full-time workers in time for the holiday shopping season. The retail giant has been shedding customersrecently due to disorganized stores and empty shelves.

Walmart started aggressively cutting staff during the recession. Over the past five years, its total American workforce dropped by 120,000, even as the company opened more than 500 new U.S. stores. The result is longer check-out lines, backlogged inventory, and poor customer service — not to mention employee protests all over the country. Now, amid plunging sales and massive strikes, even Walmart has conceded it can’t run a business on a skeleton crew. Over the next few months, the company will move 35,000 part-time workers to full-time, and another 35,000 temporary workers will become part-time staff.

After the Affordable Care Act kicks in January 1, Walmart’s new full-time employees will be eligible for health insurance after 90 days, a vast improvement on the retailer’s usual 6-month waiting period. To qualify for benefits, part-time staff must work an average of 30 hours a week for a year — no small feat at a company known to abruptly cancel shifts, cut hours, and lay off workers at any moment.

While most stores will hire an army of temporary workers to handle the holiday season rush, Walmart has been relying almost exclusively on temps year-round. A Reuters survey of 52 stores in June found that most were hiring only temps, who must re-apply for their jobs after 180 days. Meanwhile, existing long-time employees have seen their hours reduced drastically.

[Mosby]

1. Don't you have to have some customer service first before calling it poor?

[leftstreet]

2. So nothing to do with people being broke and having no credit?

Huh

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

3. Holiday Hiring

Saw on the news last night that Target is planning to hire 70,000 temps for the holiday season. Wal-Mart is planning to hire just 55,000. Now given that Wal-Mart more than twice the number of stores in the U.S. than does Target, clearly the Sons of Sam are trying to get by on the cheap during the holiday season.

Interesting. Piss off your customers during your most important 90 days of the year.

[tech3149]

4. Can't see the forest: My ex, along with my goading

finally convinced the company she worked for that experienced, well trained and happy employees are not only the best asset of the company but tend to be a lot cheaper. It might have taken five years but the ROI was seen within a year.
Unfortunately my company couldn't grasp the concept with 15 years of trials and tribulations without changing their mindset.
Glad I'm not interested in being a wage slave any longer but I really feel for those who still have to deal with that reality.