Ducks in a Row: Culture Of Hypocrisy
by Miki SaxonW
almart loves showing off all they do for their employees and it has a lot of them.
From its website (emphasis mine).
Walmart employs 2.3 million associates around the world. About 75% of our store management teams started as hourly associates, and they earn between $50,000 and $170,000 a year. Walmart is investing $2.7 billion over two years in higher wages, education and training.
What isn’t mentioned is that around the same time
Walmart lifted wages [to $10/hr], it cut merit raises and introduced a training program that could keep hourly pay at $9 an hour for up to 18 months.
Walmart especially loves to brag about its special efforts, such as those for military workers and defines its culture as “our values in action.”
However…
What kind of values enable the following scenarios?
The report says that Walmart uses a point system to discipline workers, and too many points results in firing. Walmart reportedly gives workers disciplinary points for any absence they consider unauthorized, and working less than half of a scheduled shift is considered an absence.
- ‘I passed out at work. They sent me to the hospital. The next day, they fired me for it.’
- “I got into a car wreck on my way to work and was sent by ambulance to the hospital. I had two fractured ribs and a concussion. I reached a manager from the hospital, who said it would be ok, and I came into work the next day with wrapped ribs and a concussion. The front manager then said that they wouldn’t accept the doctor’s note from the hospital, and they fired me for missing that day.”
- “My appendix ruptured while at work and because I already had eight points, I could not leave work to go to the ER without pointing out and losing my job. I should have been able to leave to go to the ER and not worry about losing my job. I had even said to management, ‘So if I fall out because of my appendix and have to go out in an ambulance…I will get a point and lose my job?’ The response from management was, ‘Yes.'”
- “I was vomiting blood and had to go to the ER. I was there for two days and each day was a point. I then had two days off, and I brought my hospital notes in when I went back. They would not accept them.”
Of course, Walmart’s well-known attitude towards women is front and center
- “My daughter was having seizures, I had to take time off to monitor her. They counted it against me. I passed out at work. They sent me to the hospital. The next day, they fired me for it.
- Katie Orzehowski was forced to return to work still bleeding after a miscarriage or face being fired.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so grim, but apparently Walmart expects events, such as heart attacks and car accidents, to be scheduled.
If an employee does not call in to report an absence at least an hour in advance, they receive four points, the report says.
Most ironic of all is Walmart’s tag line, which reads, “Save money. Live better.”
More accurately, it should read “Save money. Live better — unless you work here.”
All of this proves once again that there is a major difference between words and actions.
Image credit: Duck Lover
