Wal-Mart Tightens Work-Shift Rules
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has taken plenty of heat over its wages and health benefits, but many employees say they have an even bigger gripe with the world's largest retailer: their hours.</br></br>When Mona Curtis signed on 3 1/2 years ago to work at a Wal-Mart store in Hillsboro, Ohio, the 71-year-old retiree says she made it clear that weekends were out because of her duties as a foster parent and churchgoer. But when Ms. Curtis refused to work a pair of weekend shifts in June, she says a manager cut her hours in half, to just two days a week.</br></br>At a Wal-Mart supercenter in Apopka, Fla., Cora Brown, 66, says she had to fight to keep her schedule as a cashier after her husband fell ill last spring. Meanwhile, the eight-year Wal-Mart veteran says she has seen a number of co-workers quit amid tighter work-shift rules. Those who haven't quit have found themselves working more oddball shifts, she says.</br></br>"They'll call them in at 7 a.m. on Monday, 10 a.m. on Tuesday and three in the afternoon on Wednesday," Ms. Brown says.</br></br>Over the past year, Wal-Mart has quietly focused on tackling a tricky problem: how to improve spotty customer service while keeping a lid on its payroll, which covers 1.3 million employees in the U.S. alone. The key, management says, is to better match work shifts with the ebb and flow of customer traffic.