Could Someone Beat Wal-Mart (Part 3)?

Paid Advertisement

You see it at every Wal-Mart. There are two kinds of Wal-Mart employees. There are the typical Wal-Mart employees who do their best to keep from doing any work while on the clock and then there are those who actually do all of the work. You will see employees congregated around different areas of the store. They will be having personal conversations and ignoring customers, fellow employees and pages for assistance. These are the employees who ignore a customer when they ask them a question. Often if a customer approaches this type of employee, the employee will act like they don’t see them and walk away.

Then, there is the other kind of employee. These employees are the “Go to People.” You hear their name on the intercom. They may have a particular area they are assigned to but, because they have paid attention and have some brains, they are called upon to run every aspect of the store. One prime example is “Billy-Bob in Toys” (the name was changed to protect the innocent). Billy-Bob was assigned to the toy department as a sales associate. He learned his area and the toy department was a shining example of what a toy department should be. The problem was Billy-Bob was great at his job.

Soon, the store manager, zone managers, and department managers all learned that Billy-Bob in toys was great at his job and could handle any task he was assigned. Soon you would hear “Billy-Bob in Toys, line two” over the intercom. Customers learned that Billy-Bob in toys could take care of them.

There are always one or two “Billy-Bob in toys” at any Wal-Mart. These people, in spite of receiving very little training, manage to thrive. Wal-Mart works them longer than a normal shift and they don’t get breaks. They work over time, but aren’t paid for it. Soon, Billy-Bob in toys gets burnt out because Wal-Mart doesn’t hire enough good people to get the job done. The store head count might indicate that there are enough people to get the job done. And, if all the people hired were as good as Billy-Bob and were trained and taken care of properly, Wal-Mart could not be stopped.

When Wal-Mart gets good people they work them to death. If Wal-Mart were to hire and properly train more quality people, then things would improve. However, Wal-Mart would have to pay these people a reasonable wage and provide a proper schedule that would include breaks and paid overtime.  The biggest thing Wal-Mart could do to improve is to provide adequate staffing levels to get the jobs done that need to be done. 



Disclaimer
The opinions or advice listed in this blog or website should be used as a place to start only. It is not a substitute for the use of a professional.
Please be sure to consult your attorney and/or accountant with any specific questions.
There is no one right answer to any business question that will cover all circumstances.
Please Visit McClendon Enterprises