Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs

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Marie

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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 (continiued)
 
There was a Wal-Mart store in Quebec that was "strongarmed" into not forming a Union.

With the help of others, a Union was formed.

Wal-Mart immediately shut down the store....

I don't shop at Wal-Mart specifically because of wage and labour abuses.

Also I experienced "poor" customer satisifaction when I shopped there about 10 years ago, just once. Never set foot in a Wal-Mart again.

I don't need to save money on the backs of people who are not paid a decent wage and who are subjected to the fiscal "policies" of Wal-Mart.

No way
 
I'm happy to say that I worked with other members of my suburban community to form a group to keep Wal-Mart from coming smack dab in the middle of us with a Superstore. It would have been only hundreds of feet from a neighborhood.

When I started looking up all the pros and cons of Wal-mart and how many other communities have gone through the same battle, I was amazed. Happily, we did defeat it but only one person on the City Council was supporting us; they only saw the tax $$$.

The Wal-mart of today is not the same one that the founder Mr. Walton envisioned.
 
I love Walmart and am glad that we FINALLY were able to get one in the radical town in which we live. Walmart as well as ALL companies try to find ways to contain benefit expenses. The cost of healthcare is driving many businesses into the ground.
:(
 
nanandjim said:
I love Walmart and am glad that we FINALLY were able to get one in the radical town in which we live. Walmart as well as ALL companies try to find ways to contain benefit expenses. The cost of healthcare is driving many businesses into the ground.
:(
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We are all under great pressure from rising healthcare costs, so Walmart is the rule, rather than the exception. How many unions at this time are fighting for increased wages, with the individual worker having to bear a greater share of his/her healthcare cost, as one of the main reasons for their demands. Until a solution is found that will reduce healthcare costs at their source, rather than allowing it to continue to increase, it is a problem we are all faced with. The people who save money by shopping at Walmart aren't complaining about Walmart, the people who are complaining about a Walmart coming to their area, are generally those people who can afford not to shop at Walmart, i.e., business owners who see Walmart as a threat to their continued affluency, for one.
 
nanandjim .... you make a good point. Whether you like or dislike Wal-Mart, the memo is dealing with an issue that a lot of companies are having to deal with. Healthcare in the US is unaffordable. Period. Look the woes General Motors is facing and they have historically been known to pay their workers very well (they are union, of course) and give good benefits. But, it's becoming unaffordable for them to maintain that.

I think the health care profession needs to be taken in hand (including pharmacueticals) and we as shoppers need to think a little harder when we're in the store filling our carts with products from Mexico and China and wherever else we can get it cheap!!
 
It's not just Walmart, it's all the stores. Thanks to the half-a$$ed law that the government passed, 15 years or so ago, saying that employers had to offer benefits to all full-time employees, all the jobs got cut to part-time. I worked for KMart years ago - full time job, great paid health insurance, retirement, profit sharing. The wages weren't much but the benefits made up for it. That was back when many people made working at KMart a career. Then the government stepped in and "fixed" things. People with 20 years seniority were suddenly out on their tails.
 
Marthatex said:
I'm happy to say that I worked with other members of my suburban community to form a group to keep Wal-Mart from coming smack dab in the middle of us with a Superstore. It would have been only hundreds of feet from a neighborhood.

When I started looking up all the pros and cons of Wal-mart and how many other communities have gone through the same battle, I was amazed. Happily, we did defeat it but only one person on the City Council was supporting us; they only saw the tax $$$.

The Wal-mart of today is not the same one that the founder Mr. Walton envisioned.
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Exactly! The heirs of Sam Walton have bastardized the whole concept. I am sure he is rolling over in his grave. :mad:
 
Benefits including health care are a growing problems for all businesses, including small businesses.

Wal-mart's CEO, H. Lee Scott,Jr. made $17,543,739 in total compensation last year - nearly twice the average of $9.6 million for leading Ceo's as a whole, according to Business Week.

The firm's full-time U.S. employees earn on average $9.68 per hour. (that doesn't include part-time). The national average is $15.35 for production and non-supervisory workers.

"As a result of Wal-Mart's low wages, many employees must rely on government healthcare, food, housing and other aid."

In China, the subcontractors make .17 per hour.

Target's CEO made 7.9 million.
 
Mabel said:
It's not just Walmart, it's all the stores. Thanks to the half-a$$ed law that the government passed, 15 years or so ago, saying that employers had to offer benefits to all full-time employees, all the jobs got cut to part-time. I worked for KMart years ago - full time job, great paid health insurance, retirement, profit sharing. The wages weren't much but the benefits made up for it. That was back when many people made working at KMart a career. Then the government stepped in and "fixed" things. People with 20 years seniority were suddenly out on their tails.
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I had a friend that was one of the bosses at K-Mart in Baytown. She said the pay was great and it was a good job. But, as you said, things eventually went into the toilet...and they didn't even want to provide the toilet paper...LOL! However, it is not just the stores that are doing this. Exxon and Mobil merged and things went to hell there as well. My husband retired early (56) because they kept changing all the retirement benefits. Each year they became worse, so he retired before things went totally to hell. It is all about the almighty dollar. I realize all businesses need to turn a profit, however most are getting too greedy and employees are considered a throw away commodity. And now, the companies wonder why the employees are nonproductive, absenteeism is high, and theft is up. This all stems from workers having no loyalty to their companies. Well, the road runs both ways! When companies start to treat their workers like humans, then I feel certain workers will start to act like humans. With all their fancy analysis of problems within their companies, it slays me to think that they can't figure out the simplest one......Just act like people matter. Pretty simple to discover isn't it? OH...but wait....they are too busy trying to screw the employees, so I guess they don't have too much time to see the noses on their greedy faces.
OK...stepping away from the soapbox now.:truce:
 
Health insurance companies are the new evil IMO. They make it hard for physicians and patients, as well as business owners who provide or offer insurance for their employees. My husband was a small business owner who had about 11 employees and he eventually had to do away with providing health insurance. It was too expensive and it was either let it go or let some people go. He did compensate them salary wise, so they could go out and get their own but it wasn't a whole lot. He and I went without insurance for about 2 years, he closed that business and went to work for a big company and we got group coverage. We felt like we'd won the lottery. And as bad as it is now, I think it will get much worse before it ever gets better.

I despise Wal-Mart but I agree with the others who said that WM is no different than any other company trying to save on health insurance costs.

I have no idea as to how to improve it but something has to be done about this health care/insurance crisis.
 
shopper said:
Health insurance companies are the new evil IMO. They make it hard for physicians and patients, as well as business owners who provide or offer insurance for their employees. My husband was a small business owner who had about 11 employees and he eventually had to do away with providing health insurance. It was too expensive and it was either let it go or let some people go. He did compensate them salary wise, so they could go out and get their own but it wasn't a whole lot. He and I went without insurance for about 2 years, he closed that business and went to work for a big company and we got group coverage. We felt like we'd won the lottery. And as bad as it is now, I think it will get much worse before it ever gets better.

I despise Wal-Mart but I agree with the others who said that WM is no different than any other company trying to save on health insurance costs.

I have no idea as to how to improve it but something has to be done about this health care/insurance crisis.
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So why do we not study and adopt what works in other countries?
 
dakini said:
So why do we not study and adopt what works in other countries?
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Good question. I'm not much into politics but I always hear about politicians being in the back pockets of the insurance companies. My hunch is that no one in the insurance industry is complaining about the way things are and they throw money at politicians to keep out of their business and to allow things to continue as they are.

I find it very sad that in the United States some people work solely for health care coverage, and those are the lucky ones. A lot of people can't get coverage for one reason or another; either their employer doesn't/can't offer it or they can't get good coverage on their own because it's too expensive.


:twocents:
 
Ya know, I know many people find work and like the savings that a WalMart in a town brings. Heck, I shop at Target and really cannot say that it probably is much better. However, you certainly do not hear of the problems at the other huge stores that you hear about at Wal Mart. But, this is what I do find wrong...

Strong arming their way into a community. In our locale, a SuperStore was planned in an area where the road surrounding it would be 2 lane country roads. The company said they would share in expenses of changing the roads to 3 lanes (still not big enough) by condeming the surrounding homes on the outskirts of the exisisting neighborhood in order to widen. We (the community) said no, you are not worth it. They came back again. And again.
And again and again. Right now I honestly do not know if they are still wanting to build or not but the message should be clear, we don't want them here.

Gotta say, I have only been in like 2 Walmarts, and each time it was messy and dirty. If I am out of town I will travel way out of my way to go to any other store BUT Walmart.
 
lynie said:
Ya know, I know many people find work and like the savings that a WalMart in a town brings. Heck, I shop at Target and really cannot say that it probably is much better. However, you certainly do not hear of the problems at the other huge stores that you hear about at Wal Mart. But, this is what I do find wrong...

Strong arming their way into a community. In our locale, a SuperStore was planned in an area where the road surrounding it would be 2 lane country roads. The company said they would share in expenses of changing the roads to 3 lanes (still not big enough) by condeming the surrounding homes on the outskirts of the exisisting neighborhood in order to widen. We (the community) said no, you are not worth it. They came back again. And again.
And again and again. Right now I honestly do not know if they are still wanting to build or not but the message should be clear, we don't want them here.

Gotta say, I have only been in like 2 Walmarts, and each time it was messy and dirty. If I am out of town I will travel way out of my way to go to any other store BUT Walmart.
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I'm not wealthy by any stretch but I'm glad that I can afford to not shop at WalMart. That isn't a dig or slam at anyone who has to. And if their products are cheaper than what few competitors they have, it's because they've screwed over their suppliers/vendors and passed the suppposed savings onto you that way. They are thieves and they get away with it. But they don't get my money. I know I won't break them but it gives me satisfaction to not spend my money there.

IMO Walmart talks big about what they can and will do for a community when they want to move in but as soon as they do, nada. It turns into what they can squeeze out of the community. And I find it deplorable that they go to such lengths to destroy local businesses. They want to be everything to everyone. I'm all for healthy competition but why do they have to be the only game in town? Unless and until people quit giving them all the business, they will never change their ways and consumers will have even less of a choice of where to shop.
 
I know someone who hired on at WalMart with the understanding that after a certain time she'd be eligible for benefits and like a week before that time was up they changed her hours to part-time. Really nasty business practice.

And a couple months ago I was in Wally World shopping for a birthday toy with my 3 young children. The town had a power outage and for whatever reason Wal-Marts generator wasn't working. They actually herded us together with flashlights, made us wait at the door area and we were told that since the shoplifting detectors weren't working we couldn't leave until an employee had checked us over with a flashlight! Cripes I was pissed. My kids and others were scared to death and all Wally was worried about was whether they would get ripped off.

I will never shop there again - and believe me that's not easy because we're one of those small towns that Wally invaded so there aren't many other places left to shop at now.
 
shopper said:
IMO Walmart talks big about what they can and will do for a community when they want to move in but as soon as they do, nada. It turns into what they can squeeze out of the community. And I find it deplorable that they go to such lengths to destroy local businesses. They want to be everything to everyone. I'm all for healthy competition but why do they have to be the only game in town? Unless and until people quit giving them all the business, they will never change their ways and consumers will have even less of a choice of where to shop.
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Wal Mart hasn't destroyed any of our local businesses. And they certainly aren't everything to everyone, they can't be. I guess what I'm saying is this- take the hardware department. They have one department, maybe 5 or 6 aisles. Do you really think they carry everything our local hardware store does? Not even close.

Housewares- I've looked around there many times, and not like what I see, so I go somewhere else.

Groceries- they don't carry all the brands I like, so I buy most of my groceries at a different store.

I've had three friends that have worked at Wal Mart, and they loved it. I know there are some that don't, but you always have that in any large company.

I think Wal Mart is doing what most companies in this country are doing- trying to figure out how to contain costs. Health care is becoming an out of control expense.
 
IrishMist said:
Wal Mart hasn't destroyed any of our local businesses. And they certainly aren't everything to everyone, they can't be. I guess what I'm saying is this- take the hardware department. They have one department, maybe 5 or 6 aisles. Do you really think they carry everything our local hardware store does? Not even close.

Housewares- I've looked around there many times, and not like what I see, so I go somewhere else.

Groceries- they don't carry all the brands I like, so I buy most of my groceries at a different store.

I've had three friends that have worked at Wal Mart, and they loved it. I know there are some that don't, but you always have that in any large company.

I think Wal Mart is doing what most companies in this country are doing- trying to figure out how to contain costs. Health care is becoming an out of control expense.
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Wasn't trying to come across as speaking for others, I realize my opinions regarding Walmart are in the minority. But I read everything I can about them so unless what I've read is a lie, I stand by my earlier posts about their tactics/bullying. And lack of health care is the least of it.

Again, just my :twocents:
 
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