At first blush, it seemed like Wal-Mart was making a concerted effort to improve its image by reconsidering its labor policies. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, for example, that the company will reverse its earlier position and encourage Congress to consider raising the minimum wage.
In a speech to Wal-Mart directors and executives, [Chief Executive Lee] Scott unveiled a series of initiatives designed to present a kinder, gentler face for the world’s biggest retailer, which has come under stepped-up criticism for everything from its wages and benefits to its impact on small businesses.
Mr. Scott also discussed a new health-care package with lower premiums for Wal-Mart workers, and he touted the retailer’s efforts to cut pollution.
Whether it is jobs, health care, product sourcing or environmental impact, “it is clear to me that in order to build a 21st century company, we need to view these same issues in a different light,” Mr. Scott said in his speech yesterday. He added that he has spent the better part of last year exploring ways to use the company’s heft and resources to have a more positive impact on society.
Sounds encouraging, right? If there is one company that needs to reconsider its regressive labor and commercial policies, it’s Wal-Mart. If it’s planning to take social responsibility seriously for a change, it’s great news.
However, just as the suddenly-progressive Wal-Mart starts its new public relations make-over, we learn that the company is considering a new employment plan that includes fewer employee benefits and discrimination based one’s physical abilities.
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.
At one point the memo reads, “It will be far easier to attract and retain a healthier work force than it will be to change behavior in an existing one. These moves would also dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart.”
Always low standards. Always.