Dive Brief:
-
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. this week announced a set of quality-of-life changes that workers have been demanding for a while. The retailer has set aside a new dress code that workers said they couldn’t afford to comply with, for example.
-
“Radio Walmart,” where a real DJ plays music in stores all day long and which was ended nine years ago, will return to replace a repetitive mix of Justin Bieber and Celine Dion that workers have said is somewhat driving them crazy.
-
The announcement also included some new requirements for the jobs, like making eye contact with shoppers and greeting them whenever they get within 10 feet.
Dive Insight:
Many Wal-Mart workers have been demanding a living wage from the world’s largest retailer — they’ll tell you that recent pay bumps there still leave too many in poverty — but many reportedly welcomed these more minor changes.
The new dress code had just been announced in September and garnered unflattering press since, in part because it drew attention to what its workers and many employee unions say are its low pay and sub-par working conditions. The requirement may have also run afoul of the law: Because the retailer required street clothes in addition to vests it hands out, it called its rule a “dress code” and not a uniform, but a court may have disagreed, according to legal experts.
And just thinking about Justin Bieber and Celine Dion on repeat, even for fans, shows how welcome mixing it up might be.
