I worked for the drugstore chain Walgreens in the early 2000’s and was involved in a situation where employees were asked to perform work off the clock. The incident occurred when Walgreens was preparing to open a new store in Los Banos, Ca. The company had a tight deadline for getting the store to an operational state, requiring huge tasks in a short amount of time. As the scheduled opening date approached it was clear the store was not on track to be ready for business by the opening date. Management and lower level employees were all feeling the pressure to do work faster and harder in order to catch up. The situation was that we were behind on stocking shelves, setting displays and placing mylars (price tags) on the shelves throughout the store. In hindsight, it seems that …show more content…
We wanted the store to succeed and to be recognized as a part of that success. The job market in Los Banos at the time was slim and crowded with job seekers. We were afraid of being viewed poorly by Marita and possibly losing our jobs as we were all hired on a probationary period. I believe that this fear of losing our jobs was the biggest factor in our response to comply with Marita’s request that we work off the clock. No one wanted to speak up and challenge her request. I try to understand Marita’s thought process and imagine in some way she felt what we were feeling. Pressure, she probably had a similar worry about proving herself and keeping her job. Falling behind schedule and the condition of the store would be a reflection on her as our leader. She justified asking her team to work off the clock by thinking of the end result of meeting our mutual goal to have the store operational by the deadline. I believe Marita saw herself and the team benefiting by proving that we could complete this tremendous project in the short time
For example one of the rules states ““strive for excellence” but the employees at Walmart act the opposite. That is not what it takes to be a Walmart Employee. There was a video shown at the orientation of an employee caught on tape stealing from the cash register. When Walmart was having the presentation with the pre employees they were in a windowless room filled with no distractions because they wanted them to only be focused on that specific thing the “orientation”. While Ehrenreich was working for Walmart she saw a lot of hostile behaviors she did not like that environment but she had no choice because of the few jobs available in the town she didn't have a alternative. I felt the same way if there were more jobs in my neighborhood I would definitely would have stopped working for
The Tucker vs. Walgreen Company was a nationwide known class action case. It fell into the category of race discrimination. This cases was brought to the attention of the law by African Americans who were employed at this retail and pharmacy store. This pledged that they were being discriminated to by the following acts:failure to move up in positions (promotion), dieing them the opportunity to apply for assistant manager and manager, and being assigned to an undesirable store for an extended period of time compared to whites. They filed a class action lawsuit with the demand of compensatory and punitive damages and declaratory and injunctive relief. Along with these demands, the plaintiffs desired class certification for those who have been previously affected by the defendant’s discriminatory acts as well as any who will suffer from them in the future.
“We run to grab the wheeled carts...We run past each other and if we say something, we say it as we keep moving” (McClelland 400). A practically inhuman speed is expected from the workers, forcing them to rush from place to place. They do not have time to spare for walking. They are even deprived of socialization, which is essential to human satisfaction, due to a lack of time. There is not a moment of peace as long as they are clocked-in, no matter how hard or long they work. Enjoyment is impossible, and no effort is made to reduce the highly stressful environment of the workers. The company shows no concern for its workers’ mental well being.
With the Walgreen's proposed acquisition of Rite Aid, we posed 3 questions to our members. Here are the questions and the results:
The novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich shows the hard working, fast paced environment of the workplace. Even the smallest jobs can take a toll on a person. Along with taking a toll, the novel also references the main point of workers showing compassion on the job. From the story, Barbra talks with one of her co-workers, and tries to help her out. “ ‘Her back has long since given out but she’s leaving now because she’s scheduled for knee surgery in a couple of weeks.
Since 1901, Walgreens has had a strong passion for customer service. The founder, Charles Walgreens, goal was to create a drugstore that was like no other. He said that for as many drugstores as he had worked at, he had never worked for one that had a focus for good customer service and low prices. Walgreens has grown by leaps and bounds since 1901 and is now recognized as the leader in the market with over 7000 stores. Charles Walgreen had an eye for good managers. He said he was able to pick people that he knew were smarter than him so to promote them and make them the heads of his drugstores. As a store manager, not only is it your job to run a store which includes ordering, customer care, and inventory control, but also it is your job to manage the staff. As a part of managing staff, it is their responsibility to hire, train and develop, and terminate if need be. While there are many jobs to choose from when it comes to HR and employee staffing, I choose this one because it is by far to me the most intense.
Walgreens is a substantial affluence in the United States, as it is one of the leading drugstore chains in the market. Recently, we have looked into bringing the company to Canada in hopes of attaining the same or greater level of success. Walgreens in Canada could be the perfect fit, as the 24 hour availability along with the “one stop shop” experience and convenient prices would be beneficial to the many people living there. The drugstore and pharmaceutical market, location, and culture are all taken into consideration in order to establish if the company would be successful in Canada.
We live in a capitalist society, and many of our everyday actions are integrated with the economic system. When we walk into any store, we are participating in the grand tradition of capitalism but, as in all social structures, there are rules. When we enter stores, we must act proper in order that the economic processes can go smoothly. For my social experiment, I plan to enter a Walgreens and subvert the capitalist process by staying in a store for an extended period of time and requesting free goods. I plan to directly ask an employee if I can have items for free, and also request outrageous discounts. I chose to conduct my experiment at Walgreens because it is a small store that has a variety of products. That way, I can wander the
Or should I say something was missing? Besides three or four cars the parking lot was empty. I was in shock. Even we are closed the parking lot is more full than it was at that moment. As I parked made my way to the store entrance I could see some of my managers and fellow employees standing outside with signs. “Don’t Feed Corporate Greed” and “Market Basket Strong” were plastered all over the place. Walking into the store was kind of scary. It was a ghost town. There was no one at the checkout and only one customer service women in the courtesy booth. She looked at me smiled and said “It’s going to be a busy day” in an extremely sarcastic voice. I chuckled, smiled back, and proceeded to log myself in. My manager came inside and asked if I wanted to protest. I was skeptical at first because I wasn’t quite sure if he was kidding or not. He enthusiastically handed me a large blank piece of poster paper and a marker. “Write something but keep it appropriate” he said. “This is a peaceful protest Tommy and we want to keep it that
Walmart exclusively? It is a product of the times we live in and neither helps nor hinders. It's merely a part of a system of retail service that does exist and would exist with or without Walmart. The strange focus on places like Walmart but not Target or Home Depot or JCPenny or Kohl's always flabbergasts me. Like, because Walmart is the biggest, it's the guiltiest or something. Which is dumb. Nobody fucks workers like "softlines" retail. Walmart doesn't even come close.
Walmart provides benefits to their employees regarding healthcare, education and financial benefits. The healthcare plan includes access to dental, vision and other procedures including counseling for post-accident cases. The medical plan covers both domestic partners and married couples. According to Wohl ( 2016), the company implemented the strategy to mitigate the loss of employees to other businesses that cover domestic relationships. Domestic relationships eligible for the benefits include legally married individuals, spouses with no documented separation, and two people with the same sex or opposite sex that have shared the same household and wish to settle together. The condition only applies to relationships existent for over 12 months and likely to continue for more years. However, if the spouse of a Walmart worker gets benefits
The consequences of removing the time clocks were that employees started to show up late, leave early or take extended lunches. The increased absenteeism took effect on plant productivity. With the mangers trying to keep track of employees’ comings and goings, this made it difficult for them to keep up with other responsibilities. Then when management started putting letters of reprimand in employees’ personnel files, for those who were noticed leaving early, coming in late, or taking extended lunches, employees started filing grievances with their labour union. This took more time away from management because they had to handle these disputes with the Union. Simard should have taken the time to fully understand the aspect of the situation before making a decision that let to such recklessness. If he had many of the consequences would not have
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in various formats in the United States and Internationally. It has two segments: The Wal-Mart Stores and The Sam's Club. The Wal-Mart Stores segment includes Discount Stores, Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets in the United States, as well as Walmart.com. It offers apparel for women, girls, men, boys, and infants. They also offer hardware, electronics, home furnishings, small appliances, automotive accessories, sporting goods, toys, pet food, cameras, health and beauty aids, pharmaceuticals, jewelry, optical department and photo processing services. The Neighborhood Markets include dry grocery, meat, produce, deli, bakery, frozen foods, pharmaceuticals, photo processing, health and beauty aids, household chemicals, general merchandise, and a pet supplies departments. The Sam's Club segment comprises the warehouse membership clubs in the United States and samsclub.com. It offers electronics, jewelry, sporting goods, toys, tires, books, grocery items, and selected private labels. As of July 31, 2005, Wal-Mart operated 1,276 Wal-Mart stores, 1,838 Supercenters, 92 Neighborhood Markets, and 556 Sam's Clubs in 50 states in the United States. The company operates various retail formats in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. It operates 261 Canadian Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Clubs, 11 units in Argentina, 150 units in Brazil, 88 units in Germany, 16 units in South Korea, 697 units in Mexico, 54 units in Puerto Rico, and 292 units in the United Kingdom, as well as 48 units in China under joint venture agreements.
A long-term capital investment are classified as an investment that is longer than a year. Capital investments are necessary for ongoing business activities Capital budgeting is an estimate at the time, “the budgeting process is subject to purposeful manipulation, as well as judgmental errors.” “Considering the significant size and long duration of these investments, inappropriate capital investment decisions may have serious financial consequences for a business.” (Regis University, n.d. p.2 )
In the United States and all over the world, the entry and operations of big retailers like Wal-Mart into a small town sparks great controversy within the community. The fact that people contemplate on the fact that the policies and actions of Wal-Mart are destructive to a small town’s economy is not new. Most small town’s economies are run by subsistence and self-reliant traders. With time, the traders embrace the division of labor and specialization of skills in accordance with the trade, production and manufacturing needs of the community. In such a market, a simple move like a decision by the producers to sell directly to the consumers may spark