Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs

[Rose Siding]

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefit costs because critics had attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Ms. Chambers acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid.

http://nytimes.com/2005/10/26/business/26walmart.ready.html?hp&ex=1130299200&en=4dc7b3ba14cd801a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Hekate]

1. Probably building on Labor Secretary Elaine Chao's suggestions

She had some helpful hints to employers a few years back.

Most. Corrupt. Administration. Ever.

Hekate

[EVDebs]

32. DOL actively out to replace nativeborn labor with immigrants

Check out DOLETA's Form ETA 9035 for H1B visas:

"3. A number of statutory requirements and authorities under the INA, as amended by the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998, sunset on October 1, 2003. The specific program changes that occurred included:
A reduction in the cap on the number of available H-1B visas from 195,000 to 65,000 per fiscal year;
The elimination of the Recruitment and Hiring and the Displacement and Secondary Displacement attestations that previously applied to "H-1B dependent" employers and to employers found to have committed a willful violation or misrepresentation of a material fact on the application;
The elimination of authority granted to DOL to investigate H-1B employers if they have "specific, credible evidence" that a violation has occurred; and
The elimination of the $1,000 fee that is required to be paid by employers of H-1B nonimmigrants to support low-income scholarships and job training programs for workers.
The recruitment and displacement attestations noted above, and the instructions relating to them, were previously outlined in Subsections 1 and 2 of Section F. Due to the possibility that these attestations may be reenacted by the Congress, the Department has temporarily blanked out these portions of the application and instructions.

The previous edition of this application form, displaying an OMB Expiration Date in the upper-right-hand corner of 31 AUG 2003, should no longer be submitted by employers seeking to hire H-1B nonimmigrants."

http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/foreign/preh1bform.asp

They've stripped the attestations-- made under penalty of perjury, stripped the fines, stripped Office of Inspector General DOL from any enforcement capability, and oh yeah, stripped the US worker of any rights to protest being displaced from his/her old job...all so that DOL and the employing globalized multinational firms can bring in cheaper labor on visas from overseas.

The H1B visa fraud scandal is common knowledge on the Hill but no one dares do anything about it while Chao and Co. are at the wheel and "outsourcing" is good mentality rules Congress.

[zonkra]

53. I know a better way to cut WalMart's employee costs WAY BACK

never buy anything from them for any reason whatsoever, ever, ever. Ergo, employee costs= zero.

[Eugene]

2. Sweet. Talk up progressive issues in public while quietly practicing dis-

crimination.

This week's PR salvo from Wal-Mart has included cheaper
health insurance, concern for the environment, and (believe it
or not) increasing the minimum wage.

Thank you for confirming that they haven't changed a bit.

[hatrack]

19. Yes, but calling on Congress to raise the minimum wage

Heaven forbid that Mao-Mart just go ahead and raise its own wages. Much easier to call for a federal increase, look compassionately conservative and not have to actually do anything. :eyes:

[primavera]

42. My thoughts exactly!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1878028&mesg_id=1878028

Isn't the duplicity marvellous? I swear, capitalism is just so totally fucking evil.

[54anickel]

3. Heh-heh, on the same day they are calling on Congress to help working

families.

Wal-Mart calls for minimum wage hike
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/25/news/fortune500/walmart_wage/index.htm

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott said he's urging Congress to consider raising the minimum wage so that Wal-Mart customers don't have to struggle paycheck to paycheck.

Scott told Wal-Mart (Research) directors and executives in a speech Monday that he believes "it is time for Congress to take a look at the minimum wage and other legislation that can help working families."

"The U.S. minimum wage of $5.15 an hour has not been raised in nearly a decade and we believe it is out of date with the times," Scott said. "We can see first-hand at Wal-Mart how many of our customers are struggling to get by. Our customers simply don't have the money to buy basic necessities between pay checks."

Given increasing gas prices and other economic pressures on Wal-Mart customers, Scott went on to say that Wal-Mart shoppers will further be challenged to "support themselves and their families."

more...

[MarsThe Cat]

5. nice sentiment...

they want the underclass to make a little more, so that there's more for them to take...

next thing you know- they'll be taking out peasant-insurance on customers- especially if their own workers start getting healthier.

[Princess Turandot]

9. They want to increase the minimum wage so that people will spend..

more money at WalMart. No altruism for them.

[Mr_Spock]

4. Filth Mart. They support DeLay, they SHIT on thier workers and buy Chinese

Why the FUCK is anybody here at DU shopping there??

BOYCOTT WALMART

BOYCOTT FAUX "NEWS"

How many times do I have to say it!

[swimboy]

35. rAmen! I'm solid with you on this. I've never been in a WalMart

and I never will.

Rich, Evil Fuckers.

[Mr_Spock]

37. Good for you!

I wish we could unite on just ONE thing here x(

[PapaJoe]

71. Perzactly

Except that I get the email advertising from WalMart and I request on their Search for something like,"unionize WalMart" so somewhere there is an order for a book or a toy called that. Sure it does not hurt them but it makes me feel good.

[roguevalley]

6. these are the most evil people in America, more evil than the PNAC

[shugah]

7. ah walmart!

just when you think they are as evil as they can be, they prove you wrong again!

if you've worked at walmart for 7 years, you are getting paid more than they want to pay. i wonder how much that is?

i wonder how much the unhealthyness of the long time employees is due to trying to live on walmart wages?

there is just so much in this article that is so...so... so walmart - i think rogets should be updated to include walmart as a synonym for evil, hateful, and greedy beyond bounds.

[ninkasi]

8. We drive 6 miles further

and pay a bit more to shop at a store that isn't Walmart. For my husband and me, it's worth it.

[Ferret Annica]

10. Wal Mart is a cancer, boycotting it a must

In the aftermath of Rosa park's death and hearing the sacrifices bus boycotters made, I don't see how an informed person could entertain shopping at that place for a moment.

[brainshrub]

44. Best comment in the thread.

I'm sick of hearing people whine how they understand how evil Wal-Mart is, but they have to shop there.

Boo-fucking hoo.

Do they know many Union leaders got killed so that the Middle Class could exist? Do they have any idea as to the sacrifices workers had to make so that they would not get treated like serfs in their own country?

But nooooooo. They have to shop at Wal-Mart to save you an extra 10 minutes.

If you eat beef, don't call yourself a vegetarian. If you shop at Wal-Mart, stop pretending you are a Progressive.

[JDPriestly]

11. Sounds like a lawsuit for violation of the

American Disabilities Act is in the offing. How did they get so rich when they are so stupid?

[salin]

12. as they got richer they learned to grease the wheels

that let them do whatever they want, to the point where they no longer think in advance of where their policies might give exposure to law suits.

Greed rules in this republican era.

[suegeo]

13. See you in hell, M. Susan Chambers n/t

n/t

[Coexist]

14. What pigs. eom

[elehhhhna]

15. If you don't think EVERY company is up to this, guess again.

[RedEarth]

16. this is outrageous .... this is such a slimy company

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hatrack]

20. Did you make a wrong turn somewhere?

That's what I say.

[strategery blunder]

21. If you read just about any thread with more than fifty posts on it

You will see that DU is not an echochamber. We have PLENTY of flamewars.

Meh, enjoy your stay.

[mcscajun]

23. And you picked this thread to make your challenge, Why?

Is there some specific bone you're looking to pick?

I'm getting my :popcorn: even though it's a bit early in the morning for it.

[strategery blunder]

26. He made the same challenge on another thread

TOP TEN "Extremely Unlikely Repub PR Disasters I would like to see"

fighterofevil's challenge

Suspicious, eh?

Edit: Search is your friend:)

[SidDithers]

24. Enjoy your stay...

:hi:

Sid

[strategery blunder]

33. This freeper tombstone has been brought to you by...

your friendly "Alert" button.

Without Alert, trolls will run free on DU.

Alert is your friend. Use as needed.:)

[MaineDem]

25. And what does this have to do with WalMart?

Just wondering...

[strategery blunder]

28. Tombstoned

Hope you enjoyed your stay!

[natrat]

18. BOYCOTT WALMART --tell 10 friends

[mcscajun]

22. Moving to a GATTACA workforce?

The memo noted that Wal-Mart workers "are getting sicker than the national population, particularly in obesity-related diseases," including diabetes and coronary artery disease. The memo said Wal-Mart workers tended to overuse emergency rooms and underuse prescriptions and doctor visits, perhaps from previous experience with Medicaid.

The memo noted, "The least healthy, least productive associates are more satisfied with their benefits than other segments and are interested in longer careers with Wal-Mart."

Exactly HOW do you figure they found the correlation here? All companies do employee satisfaction surveys, but all claim to be anonymous. This outfit has stats on the health of each employee (which legally is none of their business), their productivity rate (we already knew they micro-managed at a level to put most micro-managers to shame, so that's no surprise). Their ability to correlate employee health and productivity status with benefit satisfaction seems the most insidious part of the memo, and the one least likely to attract notice.

The memo proposed incorporating physical activity in all jobs and promoting health savings accounts. Such accounts are financed with pretax dollars and allow workers to divert their contributions into retirement savings if they are not all spent on health care. Health experts say these accounts will be more attractive to younger, healthier workers.

"It will be far easier to attract and retain a healthier work force than it will be to change behavior in an existing one," the memo said. "These moves would also dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart."

BTW, GATTACA, for those who aren't familiar with the reference, is the title of a movie in which only the "genetically superior" can attain the best jobs, everyone's DNA sequence is known and publicly available for a cost, and the "genetically inferior" are discriminated against. (The title comes from the letters GATC - the identifying letters of the components of DNA.)

[Solon]

27. Only good Aryans for their workforce...

yessiree Sieg Hiel!!!!!! :sarcasm:

[Sgent]

29. Actually

they probably get their info a little more insideously.

My gut says that they are given the expenses / employee based on health insurance claims (which is legal), and then associate it with the productivity results.

[mcscajun]

40. And then they associate that with their "anonymous" employee

satisfaction surveys.

Which is my entire point. Bastards.

[Sgent]

59. Not sure how

they would associate it with employee satisfaction surveys. The OP doesn't mention them at all.

Insurance info would have the employee's name & SS number, which they can then associate with productivity results, age, etc.

[mcscajun]

61. The OP doesn't mention them...but the NYT article does, indirectly.

This quote says it all.

The memo noted, "The least healthy, least productive associates are more satisfied with their benefits than other segments and are interested in longer careers with Wal-Mart."

There's no other way I can see for them to make that statement.

[zbdent]

30. The truly comical aspect of Repukes' love of Wally World is this:

If Dennis Kucinich (or Hillary Clinton, or Nancy Pelosi) came up with a proposal which taught working people how to collect on benefits which were normally unavailable to them (and funded by the government), the Repuke noise machine would be screaming about the socialist plans of the anti-patriotic Democrats.

And yet, Wal-Mart does such a thing . . . and the Repukes praise WM as just below Reagan . . .

[MannyGoldstein]

34. Actually, Ms. Clinton Must Be Beaming With pride

Ms. Clinton was a Director of Wal-Mart for almost a decade, when they were first forming and rolling out their marvelous labor-crushing practices. When will the left realize that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton are actually economically right-wing, fond of low-wage policies and union-busting?

Wake up, people

Manny
"I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality." - George Washington

[zbdent]

39. Yes - sure - and in "My Life" Bill related the story about how he

met with SAM WALTON himself to convince him to keep the shirt-making facilities in Arkansas while BC was governor. This is not the person who took over Wally World after Sam died.

And, I believe, before 1993, Hillary would have had to relinquish her directorship (I never heard this tidbit before. Please provide a link), if not a whole helluva lot earlier, as a "conflict of interest". At that time, I don't believe that Wal-Mart was quite the world dominating power that it became after 1993.

There's plenty of evidence that the Repukes would have embraced the Clintons - if only they were registered Repukes instead of Dems.

[MannyGoldstein]

43. If It Walks Like A Republican, ...

Some coverage of Ms. Clinton's tenure as a director of Wal-Mart:

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0021,harkavy,15052,5.html

[zbdent]

47. Guess what? That doesn't disprove my idea that

if the Clintons were officially the Repukes that a lot of lefties say they are, the Repukes would be praising them for their tenure.

BTW, you have diverted the whole message of my point away from the fact that, had a liberal proposed something that is actually policy in WM, then it would be trumpeted across the "Liberal media" as another "wacky socialist liberal" idea.

You just hijacked Hillary as to lead away from a valid point.

And since when is the Village voice a bastion of truth for the Repukes?

[ihatekoolaid]

31. INVESTIGATE!

I think that there should be an investigation as to who wrote this internal memo? The person who wrote it should be impeached.

[swimboy]

36. Welcome to DU, ihatekoolaid!

:hi:

[mcscajun]

41. Um...you can't impeach people in private business.

Surely you know that.

Maybe I missed an invisible :sarcasm: icon?

[ihatekoolaid]

45. yes, it was sarcasm..

yep....

[Triana]

38. Mal-Wart sucks and I will NEVER shop there...

..I'll drive across town to avoid that place. The people running it and the corporation itself are nothing but parasites upon worker's backs and upon the communities in which they have stores.

They're DISGUSTING--and getting more so by the minute.

[anotherdrew]

54. I agree, I will never shop at one of those hell-holes

just seeing the way they treat their workers sickens me. and they all have to smile and play happy to keep their jobs. Never shop at a wal-mart. go mail order if need be.

[holboz]

46. I live in NW Arkansas and yesterday...

one of the women in our children's play group cautioned her boisterous 3 year old by saying, "Honey, be careful! Wal-Mart's health insurance sucks!" (her husband works in the home office somewhere) I laughed when she said it and she replied, "No, it really does. It's probably the worst health insurance plan out there."

Maybe her hubby is going to be effected by the things in this memo so it was fresh on her mind; her mini-rant caught me by surprise, though! I would have liked to prod her for details but it wasn't the appropriate place or time.

[prolesunited]

48. And millions of Americans

are cautioning their children to be careful not to get hurt or sick because they have NO insurance and can't afford to take them to the doctor. Why do we find this acceptable?

[holboz]

51. Yes, it's a sad situation all around.

I pay $130 a month for a $7500k deductible plan for my daughter and myself, but we also have a health savings account that we pop $150 a month into to pay for doctor visits, OTC medications, perscriptions, etc.

I absolutely hate it - I feel like we're getting ripped off; but we decided on a rediculously high deductable mainly for "catastrophic" reasons. The company my hubby works for offers health insurance at the rate of $2/month if it's just the employee to be insured, but if he added my daughter and me to the plan it would go up to $350/month.

And in spite of it all, I consider ourselves lucky to have anything at all. Is this what America has become?

[Orrin_73]

49. Aha, I see the benefits of

capitalism.

[Yavin4]

50. Here's The Irony. They're Contributing To High Health Care Costs By Not...

covering their workers. One of the main reasons why we have such high healthcare costs in America is because of the high rate of uninsured people.

Just because someone doesn't have health care insurance, that doesn't mean that they won't need health care services. People get pregnant. Get into car accidents. Have diabetes. Have kids with health problems. These people will get treatment at some point, but they cannot afford it. So, who winds up paying? The insured patients do. Insured patients are paying for their own health services as well as a portion that doesn't get paid by the uninsured.

Think of it as a restaurant that is forced to serve all customers whether they can pay or not. In order for that restaurant to stay open, paying customers have to pay for the non-paying customers.

Corporations like WalMart contribute mightily to the uninsured population.

[hfojvt]

60. I have to wonder about that

since I have had insurance benefits, I have notice that the doctors and hospitals bill me, say $13,000, and my insurance company only pays them something like $11,500. Yet, if I went there as an uninsured patient, I would pay the whole $13,000.

One huge way it increases costs is by not giving care. In my case I went to the emergency room twice before going to the hospital. If this problem had been treated after the first emergency room visit, or even before that, if I had had insurance and a doctor it probably could have been taken care of with a $1500 outpatient procedure instead of with two $800 emergency room visits and a $14,000 hospital bill. It is the stitch in time saves nine principle.

[Voltaire99]

52. Democrats who shop at Wal-Mart...

...practice Bushism.

Bushism is the theory; Wal-Mart is the practice. Can't shop at the latter and gripe about the former.

[Realityhack]

62. There are no real dems. that shop at Wallmart...

ops. I did... needed a pelet gun for a prodject and could not find anyone else around here that carries them (I tried too).

*Kicks self - HARD* Bad RH no shopping at Wallmart.

Seriously. I will do just about anything to avoid them.

[verdalaven]

55. Wal-Mart isn't the only store that treats employees crappy

I hate to say it but the store I work in (where Wal-Mart is a dirty word, no less) treats employees just as bad. Out of about 100 employees only a dozen or so qualify as full time in order to receive benefits, though many of their employees work up to 39 hours a week. I saw one of the managers actually yell at an employee who stayed to work late to cover another woman's shift because she went over forty hours by 1/2 an hour. I kinda thought that an employee that was willing to work a 11 hour shift deserved a pat on the back.

I'd wager that many businesses that start people out at or just above the min wage are about the same. It sucks, but to them we are an expendable commodity. We can boycott Wal-Mart, but how do we stop a problem that is far more wide spread than one (enormous) store chain?

[barb162]

57. work 39 hours a week and still can't get medical insurance?

that is so damned sick. Sick employers, sick federal administration= screwed workers

[noonwitch]

70. That's precisely why they work you 39 hours a week

I worked at K-Mart when I was in college. One summer, I stayed at school and worked "full time". They worked me 39 hours every week, which was okay for me because my parents still covered my insurance.
There are rules-it has to be 40 hours a week (or more) for a certain number of consecutive weeks. This gives employers flexibility with their part-time employees, who maybe want to make a little extra money here and there, but don't want full time status. It worked for me-I got the extra money and didn't have to worry about management cutting my hours to prevent having to pay for insurance I didn't need.

[Realityhack]

63. Thats absolutely true...

but walmart tends to take things further than *many* other stores. Forced un-paid overtime was found a number of times. Going as far as closing stores to union-bust. Leaning on suppliers untill the fold one after another.
Walmart is also to some degree just the largest target in the room though. As the worlds largest retailer or whatever they like to call themselves they are one of the worlds largest corporate criminals.

Its sad sad sad all around. So many horible companies :(

[matt819]

56. What a shock! Despicable Behavior from Wal-Mart. Who'd a thunk it?

Okay, as a businessperson, I also try to cut costs. But I'm not Wal-mart, and my profits aren't in the billions. Poor, poor Wal-mart. Last year it's health care costs increased by 1.4 billion dollars for its 1.33 million employees. (Incidentally, the article points out that 46% of the children of these 1.33 million employees are uninsure or on Medicaid. So, of course, the hidden tax is on the rest of America.

Back to that 1.4 billion dollar increase. That comes to just over $1,000 per employee per year. Okay, you multiply it out, and, sure, it adds up to 1.4 billion dollars. But less than $3 per day in additional health care costs per worker doesn't seem particularly onerous. Keep in mind that those of us in small business are paying hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to insure ourselves or our employees. Seems to me they're getting off easy.

They can spin this as they like. No sympathy here.

[Lilith Velkor]

58. LV Suggests Guillotines to Cut Employee Benefit Costs

:evilgrin:

[JusticeForAll]

64. Sweet...this article finally hit Top 5 (In the News) on Yahoo

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!

:)

[DeepModem Mom]

65. LAT: Wal-Mart's Memo Blurs Its Message on Benefits

Wal-Mart's Memo Blurs Its Message on Benefits
As the retailer vows to widen coverage, the document suggests 'bold steps' to cut health costs.

By Abigail Goldman and Lisa Girion, Times Staff Writers


....On Monday, Chief Executive H. Lee Scott Jr. pledged to bring health insurance within reach of his 1.3 million U.S. employees. On Wednesday, a leaked company memo revealed "bold steps" to reign in Wal-Mart's employee benefit costs.

Among the recommendations: using more part-time workers, cutting life-insurance payouts, pushing spouses off health plans through higher premiums and trying to dissuade unhealthy people from seeking jobs by, among other things, requiring cashiers to gather carts in Wal-Mart's vast parking lots....

***

"I don't think the DNA of Wal-Mart has changed at all," said HSBC Securities analyst Mark Husson, returning Wednesday from an analyst meeting at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. "It's like a religious cult — it has a low-cost gospel to bring to the country and sees it as a divine duty to do that and nothing is going to get in its way. It will do what it has to do and say what it needs to say to get there."

In the healthcare memo, whose contents were first reported in the New York Times, Executive Vice President of Benefits Susan Chambers wrote to the company's board of directors that Wal-Mart workers on average spent 8% of their income on healthcare — almost double the national average. Last year, Chambers wrote, nearly two-fifths of those enrolled in Wal-Mart health plans spent 16% of the average Wal-Mart income on healthcare.

What's more, 46% of the children of Wal-Mart employees either are on Medicaid or are uninsured, the memo said. That marked the first time that Wal-Mart has acknowledged that a significant number of employee dependents rely on public assistance. On Wednesday, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman called that figure "unacceptable."...


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart27oct27,0,4488701.story?coll=la-home-business

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

66. How about this "bold step"?

National health care. Can be paid for by eliminating the tax cuts for the rich that Bush rammed through Congress.

[saigon68]

67. NEVER HAPPEN

They want to roll it back to 1890 when "SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST" was all the rage.

[sweepster]

69. It's not just WM

Many large companies are dropping health bemnfits, pension plans etc.
Hiring employees as sub contractors so they don't have to wory about workers comp etc.

We are on a race to the bottom. The 1890 days may be back upon our grandchildren some day.

[OneForLuck]

68. I hadn't been inside a Wal-Mart

for over two years. On Tuesday I needed to pick up a going away card for a co-worker who was leaving our department. The only place I could run to and get back in the course of my hour lunch was Wal-Mart. I told myself it was only $3.00 and it was more important to make sure the my co-worker knew that he would be missed than to be that hard lined about shopping at Wal-Mart. Then yesterday when I read the contents of that internal memo. I literally felt sick to my stomach. With profits of over $10 billion last year the idea that they want to screw their employees to save $1 billion over the course of the next 6 years is beyond disgusting. This is a company that should be ashamed of themselves. I don't care if it's .50 next time, I will never step foot in a Wal-Mart again. I'm ashamed of the $3.00 I spent there on Tuesday.