[Publib] Part-time employment -- Wal-Mart -- the future?

[Alana Abbott]

>Wal-Mart is clever.  They know that the lower-income people who want to
work for them are less likely to >demand anything, which is why they hire
them.  They seek the downtrodden and get them, and then use them >up.

I'm not going to argue that anything folks are saying about Wal-Mart isn't
true, because I simply don't have the facts or research (or the inclination
to devote the time into those that would be required for me to feel good
about supporting/refuting any of the arguments). So I'll just offer a little
anecdotal evidence that made me reconsider some of what I thought I knew
about Wal-Mart. A friend of mine works for Wal-Mart's HR. She's told me
about situations where workers just fail to show up. It's a common occurence
at Wal-Mart. It's difficult for the company to hire reliable employees for
just the reasons people have been mentioning: they don't pay well, they
don't offer good benefits, and it's very, very difficult to support a family
on those factors.

So while Wal-Mart may seek out lower-income applicants and then "use them
up," it's also true that with their current policies -- which is what allows
them to do business by their model -- they can't possibly attract people who
have higher expectations out of a job. And while they may use some of them
up, many of them just leave of their own accord, without notice.

I don't know if that's a self-perpetuating cycle or not.

-Alana
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