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Ii

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II. They do not pay livable wages to their employees; they have worse health care packages and
terms than their competitors.
In the United States, low paid workers have seen the most decrease in their wages as
compared to the general decline of wages from 2009. Due to rising pressure from its workers
and the public, Walmart had to increase the wages of its 500,000 workers who are some of the
least paid workers in the US. After the outcry, the standard pay per hour for an employee at
Walmart was raised to $9 per hour, with a promise of $ 10 before the end of 2016. It should be
noted that this increase would only be for the employees who have finished a 6-month training
and onboarding period.
This was seen s not fair because in most cases, most workers in such low-wage jobs like
in Walmart, do not finish the six months at the same company. This means that most of the
workers will remain in the less than $9 dollar per hour bracket. The low levels of wages might
be common in most retail based industries due to the general minimal skill level required.
However, this is quite low as compared to its competitors like Costco, Target, and J.C. Penny,
putting into consideration the massive profits they make.
The wages in several companies in the industry like, MacDonald’s and Gap has seen a
rise recently, which was also a driving force behind Walmart’s increased wages. Being the
largest employer in the private sector, with 1.4 million employees, it should strive to set better
standards in the retail sector.
According to the Federal Government, the poverty level for a four-member family is
$21,200.9, comparing this to Walmart’s wages of $10 per hour for 34hrs/wk., this means
families of Walmart employees are living below the poverty level. Workers at Walmart have
reported been coerced to work overtime and have unfortunately not received payment for the

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overtime hours. Walmart is making profits of more than 16 billion per year. In recent years they
have been using these profits to buy back their own shares of stock. If this same funds used to
buy back shares were pumped in salary remuneration, there would be a rise of $5 or more for
every employee.
With much lesser margins of the rise in sales and profits, Costco affords to pay their
employees a standard living wage above the poverty level. The average pay at Costco is at $17
per hour; this is 70% higher than the wages at Walmart. A report by Americans for Tax fairness
calculated that even with tax subsidies, it would still be a struggle for Walmart employees to
make ends meet. Walmart can be considered one of the companies with most effective cost
reduction policies and practices. They have been associated with single-handedly causing
inflation due to the depression of wages making their employees more dependent on the
government.
Access to health services becomes quite difficult for these employees and their families
and they are forced to turn to government-funded health care via welfare or Medicaid. Families
have also been forced to use food stamps (Supplemented Nutrition Assistance Program). Target
ensures that every worker is covered by a comprehensive health plan, which is both affordable,
and of the highest quality. Walmart has the most employees on Medicaid as compared to any
other US based industry.
What makes it more saddening is that Walmart actually encourages its employees to
apply for public health benefits, implying that they are aware of this problem and just choose to
ignore it. Considering the large amounts of profits they are raking in, their inability or
unwillingness to pay employees reasonable living wages is quite unethical. As a company part of

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II. They do not pay livable wages to their employees; they have worse health care packages and terms than their competitors. In the United States, low paid workers have seen the most decrease in their wages as compared to the general decline of wages from 2009. Due to rising pressure from its workers and the public, Walmart had to increase the wages of its 500,000 workers who are some of the least paid workers in the US. After the outcry, the standard pay per hour for an employee at Walmart was raised to $9 per hour, with a promise of $ 10 before the end of 2016. It should be noted that this increase would only be for the employees who have finished a 6-month training and onboarding period. This was seen s not fair because in most cases, most workers in such low-wage jobs like in Walmart, do not finish the six months at the same company. This means that most of the workers will remain in the less than $9 dollar per hour bracket. The low levels of wages might be common in most retail based industries due to the general minimal skill level required. However, this is quite low as compared to its competitors like Costco, Target, and J.C. Penny, putting into consideration the massive pr ...
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