Wal-Mart Rolls Out a New Worker Scheduling System

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is trying out a new scheduling system in hundreds of stores to give store employees more control over their hours as it seeks to address worker discontent around unpredictable scheduling without increasing its labor costs.

The retailer, which has 1.5 million U.S. employees, has put the new system into about 650 of its Neighborhood Market stores in the past month and could eventually use it in all of its approximately 4,600 U.S. locations, a Wal-Mart spokesman said.

Under the changes, some full-time and part-time employees will be able to have a fixed schedule for at least six months, a rare offer in the retail industry, where employees are often given little notice about shift changes. Other employees will stay on the current regime, getting three weeks advanced notice of their schedules. But the new software should better predict staffing demands to give store managers and employees real-time information on open shifts and staffing changes, the spokesman said.

The change makes good on a promise Wal-Mart made in 2014 when it announced plans to raise the minimum wage for store employees. At that time it said it would give some employees fixed schedules by this year. The goal is to give workers greater sway over their schedules and more clearly communicate when they can work open shifts.

The new system "is set up so people don't think they have to tell Wal-Mart I am able to work at any time to get enough hours," the spokesman said. "We want to get away for that."

An employee advocacy group, Our Wal-Mart, said employee control over scheduling is a huge issue for the industry. "If Wal-Mart is moving away from the pattern that is happening, it is a big shift," said Dan Schlademan, the group's co-director.

Wal-Mart doesn't use on-call scheduling, a system that is widespread in retail in which employees are told to come to work or stay home with little notice. But in Wal-Mart's case, employees fear that if they limit their available hours, they won't be given enough shifts, Mr. Schlademan said.

As the country's largest private employer, a change at Wal-Mart can set the tone for the industry. When it announced in 2014 it would raise store employee's minimum wage, other retailers followed suit, including Target Corp. and Costco Wholesale Corp.

Traditional retailers are confronting a raft of labor challenges, including rising wages and new demands on their workforce as they cater to the needs of online shoppers. In addition, labor costs at store registers are rising because Check-Out times have slowed amid a shift to new credit-card technology that requires shoppers to insert their cards into a machine, instead of swiping.

The new Wal-Mart scheduling system is the latest in wider changes the retailer is making in stores to improve customer service and make operations more efficient, like bringing back greeters to store entrances and reducing inventory.

Wal-Mart views the new scheduling system as a test for now. "You don't want to roll something out that doesn't quite work to 5,000 stores at the same time," the spokesman said. The retailer is soliciting employee and manager feedback, he said.

Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 04, 2016 16:55 ET (20:55 GMT)

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