Hey, do you know when a bonus is really just a way to hide your crappy behavior? No?
That’s okay… Wal-Mart has graciously given you a clear example of both hiding crappy behavior and the insidious nature of corporate double speak.
After Walmart’s flashy announcement of bonuses of up to $1,000 for some of its workers, the real story played out quietly.
On Wednesday, as news of the bonus announcement was lauded by Trump and Fox News, Walmart abruptly closed down 63 Sam’s Clubs stores. More than 9,000 people lost their jobs. Some only learned about the decision when they showed up to work and found the doors locked.
On Friday, there was news of more pain for Walmart workers. The company confirmed to Business Insider that about 3,500 “co-managers” will be laid off across the country. They will be replaced by new, “assistant manager” positions, which would have a lower salary. The laid off workers will be able to “apply” for these new jobs.
Source: https://thinkprogress.org/walmart-fires-thousands-after-bonus-annoucement-47df627e0e04/
If you continue reading, you’ll also learn the employees are only eligible for a $1000 bonus if they’ve worked at Wal-Mart for 20 years… that’s not insane for a retail company at all. It’s almost like Wal-Mart wants to make it sound like it’s being generous while not having to actually spend the money??? Noooo… that can’t be right…
So… ‘here’s a bonus for everybody!!!‘
‘oh also you’ve lost your jobs and you don’t meet the requirements to actually get a bonus‘.
And to put some salt in your wound here’s Wal-Mart’s explanation…
…In a tweet, the company said the closures would help “better align” its physical locations with its strategy.
…
“Today, we are building on investments we’ve been making in associates, in their wages and skills development,” McMillon said.
…
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/01/11/walmart-to-raise-starting-hourly-wage-to-11-offer-paid-parental-leave/?utm_term=.1abb8f75d4ea
“investments we’ve been making in associates, in their wages and skills development”
Corporate double speak… re-frame your actions to sound positive…
They are speaking of the few they didn’t fire while ignoring the ones they did fire… because telling people that they are not valuable enough to keep on, that they are only expendable labor, just doesn’t sound as good does it?
Investing in associates would mean actually putting work in… Humans are adaptable. Wal-Mart has every opportunity to train and re-train its workers. They absolutely could do other things besides restock shelves or work a register. Nothing is stopping Wal-Mart and its employees from creating real value, skills, and knowledge by putting the effort in.
But Wal-Mart doesn’t and wont.
Because it takes time and effort they will never bother. Why bother when you can just hire the next person that comes through the door for minimum wage? It is not a true economic problem but one of culture.
Wal-Mart is not shrinking its business. It is changing its business. It is still hiring and will need to hire more people. It fires thousands, needs thousands, claims it’s training people… do you see the problem with Wal-Mart’s explanations? Their behavior? It doesn’t make much sense. That is the product of the foolish thinking of upper management.
When upper management sees nothing but the fake smiles of underpaid, untrained, employees and only sees them as some red ink on a balance sheet for decades on end… you should not wonder why their behavior is all about treating people as both unable to grow and expendable. They’ve never bothered to go beyond the fantasy worlds they’ve created around themselves. If you want to talk about privilege, look no farther than upper management. These are people who think they know what’s best for everybody but don’t even know where to buy toilet paper.
Older people shrug their shoulders at all of this. That’s business they say. But it absolutely isn’t. It is their culture that is the problem… the economics do not give a crap, they do not force companies to behave like Wal-Mart, it is merely there to observe and quantify. Not tell everybody what should be, but rather what is.
It is a question of culture, a question of how people behave, and why that’s tolerated. That’s the question younger people ask over and over… and receive no reply. Nobody should be wondering why so many young people think that socialism is the magical answer to everything.
Why is staring you in the face, you just don’t want to see it.
It’s probably time to start challenging corporate double speak more huh… maybe then we could all actually address real issues… instead of just pretending to…