Wal-Mart: Pursuing Top Operating Efficiency
“The cost of an Associate with seven years of tenure is almost 55% more than the cost of an Associate with one year of tenure, yet there is no difference in his or her productivity, moreover, because we pay an Associate more in salary and benefits as his or her tenure increases, we are pricing that Associate out of the labor market, increasing the likelihood that he or she will stay with Wal-Mart.”
The horror! If we treat our people well, they might actually want to stay. This kind of thinking by a senior human resources executive at one of the world’s biggest companies is simply unconscionable. Over the years, there have been too many examples of this kind of pervasive thinking among Wal-Mart’s top ranks.
When you have to hire an army of people to help improve your image, you’ve probably been doing some things wrong. That’s a lesson Wal-Mart seems incapable of learning.
- Why you should hate Wal-Mart
by Megan Barnett for MSN
2009-10-09
Wal-Mart hires people like Gavin Gibbons (i.e. the type who are comfortable spinning yarns and towing the company line) because it’s cheaper and more efficient than changing their practices. Wal-Mart is not incapable of learning: it has learned the most important lesson of public image and opinion.
The truth is merely what you can convince people to believe.
