The Ugly Walmart Truth: Some Managers Treat Workers Like Dirt
Labor
The Ugly Walmart Truth: Some Managers Treat Workers Like Dirt
Photo Credit: Alyssa Figueroa
Low wages, no benefits, irregular schedules, and unreliable hours are just some of the horrible working conditions most Walmart workers have to endure. Yet when I asked some of the workers what they consider the worst part about working for the corporation, they didnt mention any of these wretched labor practices. Instead, they all gave the same answer: disrespectful managers.
These managers have committed offenses big and small. Some have refused to return a hello from their workers. Others have forced workers to do heavy-duty work despite medical conditions and pregnancies. And worse, one manager even told an African-American worker that hed like to put [a] rope around his neck.
When workers try to better their working conditions through OUR Walmart, a community of current and former workers, managers behavior often gets worse . A manager was even recorded telling workers he wanted to shoot everyone organizing for change.
This leads to one of two conclusions. Either Walmart is eerily talented at hiring the meanest bullies on earth, or there is something about the corporations culture that manipulates its managers into treating workers in a subhuman fashion. After reading leaked documents that exposed the way Walmart trains its managers on how to deal with OUR Walmart workers (hint: by misinforming and tattling on them), I developed a hunch it was the latter.Then "Dan,"an assistant manager for a Walmart store in the Midwest,confirmed my intuition.
I spoke with Dan (a pseudonym) under the condition of anonymity. (Managers are not protected under the same federal labor laws as other workers.) Well-spoken, polite and admirably humble, Danhas been a manager at Walmart for several years andsaid the warped corporate culture comes down to how Walmart views its workers.
We dont treat people with respect, Dan said. The stigma within a Walmart facility, and even some of the really good ones, is still, We need bodies. But, were human beings, were not bodies.
That outlookthat workers are just cogs in a massive capitalist machinedrives Walmart to give workers often unfeasible workloads created to squeeze out every drop of their labor. And managers are responsible for making sure these workloads are completed.
Even when we talk about the facts, the figures, the dataeven our own company programs that are used to assess how much a workload iswhenever the numbers dont match up, were still expected to get everything done 100 percent, Dan said. And as managers, were expected to stay, to the point where Ive worked 14-or 16-hour days on a regular basis.
Faced with this extreme pressure, managers often pass their anxiety on to workers.
Walmart has forced managers into bad positions because were overworked and overstressed and not handling it the best way we should and sometimes we take it out on associates, Dan said.
Dan admits hes not perfect and has occasionally snapped at workers. He tries to direct his frustrations to upper-management, but ultimately, they give him unusable advice instead of practical strategies for managing his staffs workload.
They say, youre managers. I pay you to solve problems, and if you cant solve the problem, I need to pay someone else to do it."
Dan said the higher-ups harass him on a constant basis about not working hard enough. As some form of protection, Dan began keeping notes on his workload, the amount of workers needed to complete it, and the standard company time it takes to get done. That way, when hes told he hasn't done his job, Dan can say, Show me the data. His supervisors cant. This is also why Dan has not faced administrative action for his supposedly poor performance. But he is punished in other ways.
I say, you cant tell me based on these facts and based on this math that I didnt do my job for the evening," Dan said. But they still will. And theyre designed to keep it verbal and theyre designed to make it personal. Because of the frustration I feel constantly being told Im not performing, Im not good enough, I dont want my associates to feel that way when I know theyre performing.
But many managers do make their workers feel that way. So what separates the respectful and the disrespectful managers at Walmart?
Its whether or not you drink Walmarts Kool-Aid, Dan said. If you do, youre going to go on with the solidarity. I dont know how many meetings that Ive been to that they say, whether we agree or disagree at the end of this meeting we are one team and we will have one direction. Deviation will not be tolerated. Its also the fear of losing your job or the fear of administrative action controls you.
It doesnt help that Walmart incentivizes this by-any-means-necessary behavior.
Unfortunately, we sometimes reward people who arent the best managers because they are getting things done, Dan said. But theyre getting things done because theyre trampling over the people below them and grinding them into the ground. So they are getting some results, but not getting results the right way and those results are not lasting.
What this often means for workers is constant harassment and degradation from management. Dan told me about a recent situation where a manager he works with was hounding one of their workers, nearly screaming at him, because they were far behind on unloading a truck. The worker, who consistently performs at a high level, couldnt understand why he was behind either.
He said, I dont know why Im a failure today," Dan said. Now this is a grown adult really on the verge of being in tears, and Im like, thats not appropriate.
Dan managed to calm the other manager down and figured out that they were unloading the wrong truck. Instead of being behind, they were actually far ahead.
Belittling workers like this is no way to run a business, Dan said.
You can only hold power for so long before either the fear holds no more power or rebellion sets in.
Dan has already reached that point.
Ive gotten to a point where fear no longer runs my life, but there was a point in my career when it was, Dan said. At one point, I didnt take a day off for 12 days, and thats working 14-hour days. Thats how much I let the pressure get to me. And that does a lot of other things to a person. It has personally messed up a lot of things in my life. My last marriage kinda ended over the amount of work I was putting into my job.
Walmart workers have had enough, too. Thats why some are organizing with OUR Walmart for better working conditions.But the corporation is also organizing. It has developed a plan to deal with OUR Walmart and has trained managers to carry it out. Some of these training documents were leaked early last year. Dan confirmed the documents statements on Walmarts official response to workers organizing.
If an associate asks about OUR Walmart, they tell you to call their Labor Relations Hotline and say to the associate, Theyre like a union. I dont think we really need a union. Were pro-associate, not anti-union and Youre going to pay your hard earned money to someone to speak for you when you can speak for yourself.'" (OUR Walmart has an optional $5 monthly dues.)
Unofficially, the higher-ups at Walmart are also telling managers to hamper the movement.
We were told on a conference call, We dont want this OUR Walmart movement, and you are directly responsible for whether they show up. If youre thinking its going to come in, you got to start looking at the individuals who are bringing the influence in and figure out whats going on, Dan said.
Sometimes, that means actually trying to solve workers concerns. But other times, that means managers are supposed to pay special attention to people who may be members of OUR Walmart.
Dan said one of his general managers was so paranoid he made his managers call him immediately if they heard a worker speak about OUR Walmart and provide documentation of every worker that employee was in contact with each day.
Managers are also encouraged to be particularly mindful of these employees work performances. Dan said sometimes managers will chastise workers they think are with OUR Walmart for trivial matters, like resting for a few extra minutes during a break.
That comes up more often if that worker is identifying themselves as an OUR Walmart associate or are interested in it because theres no way for us to really know if theyre an OUR Walmart associate, Dan said. But if we can suspect them, we can start the data trail in case something goes wrong.
Dan recently contacted OUR Walmart hoping that, as a manager, they would let him join. He became a member last week.
I support OUR Walmart. And I came to that decision when I reached the point where I wanted to do anything I can to help associates not feel the same way I do when Im at work and not feel the way I feel about myself in their job.
Dan said he hopes associates remember that managers are people, too.
Your boss may be just as miserable as you are, Dan said. And they may not have the answer on how to fix things, and we dont always agree with whats going on. I would hope more associates would recognize that in managers and more managers will come out and say Look, I agree this is wrong. I want to do what I can to help my associates. I would rather bridge this gap than create more of a friction.
http://www.alternet.org/labor/ugly-wal-mart-truth-managers-treat-workers-dirt
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We dont treat people with respect, Dan said. The stigma within a Walmart facility, and even some of the really good ones, is still, We need bodies. But, were human beings, were not bodies.
I think this is probably true. I have seen it in the Walmart. I have never seen such an unhappy group of people as Walmart employees. Sad faces, frustration and all that. I believe this story.
I've been in a WalMart I think 2 times....and that was 2 times too many.