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Wal-Mart announces personal sustainability projects, aims to enhance employee well-being
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ryan
about 1 year ago about Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart, the largest employer in the US, has launched a program called personal sustainability projects, which aim to provide employees with help on issues ranging from personal health to the environment via workshops.
As noted in this NY Times article, Wal-Mart is investing in employees in ways that only “white collar” jobs had offered previously.
In extensive workshops held nationwide, the company is teaching its employees the benefits of carpooling to work with three colleagues (for a savings of $400 a year on gas), quitting cigarette smoking ($1,500 a year) and turning off a television ($40 a year in electricity, plus more time to spend with family). The program, called the personal sustainability project, is voluntary, but it is proving popular, with roughly 50 percent of employees in a dozen states signing up so far. The company may eventually extend the program to its workers around the world. For Wal-Mart, the payoff could be significant: if it succeeds, the initiative could improve employee morale, and therefore productivity; reduce health care spending on a work force with higher rates of heart disease and diabetes than the general public; and improve Wal-Mart’s reputation with the image-conscious consumers it is courting with costlier merchandise. Over the next two years, Wal-Mart will ask all employees to adopt a pledge to improve their bodies, their families or their planet. And behind that seemingly New Age aspiration is an estimated $30 million commitment, making the program one of the most expensive of its kind.
More info here: Press release, via Wall Street Journal
My question is this: how impactful are these personal sustainability projects/workshops? Is Wal-Mart on its way to challenging its biggest critics (labor unions) by creating an environment that could one day earn it a seat in Top Companies to Work For lists?
Know a Wal-Mart employee (store, not corporate)? The first Wal-Mart employee who shares with us whether this is going to be worldchanging or is PR smoke and mirrors will get a dotherightthing t-shirt and the satisfaction of knowing that a voice has been given to ensure the well-being of Wal-Mart employees.
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Comments
Why cant ALL Companies do similar???
submitted by skyking about 1 year ago
Love the idea. Great education & boost morale & deter Union entry. Employers: Motivate your workforce or Lose. Wal Mart should expand this even more. ALL retailers should do this. IE Macys, Sears, Norstroms, Dillards, Target, Best Buy, May Co, etc.
submitted by josetaco about 1 year ago
Finally a positive story about Wallmart
Very paternalistic
submitted by chebuctonian about 1 year ago
Wal-Mart actually impressed me with a lot of the things they have been doing (buying organic cotton, dropping prices, esp. on generic drugs are amazing).
This however reeks of paternalism.
I’m surprised more people don’t find this appalling. If I wasn’ living above the poverty line and some degreed schmuck asked me what my plan for improvement was… well, I’d be mad as hell. Unionize, maybe?
It’s also an ideological statement that change has to be individual. Which is a nice bit of deception when you’re Wal-Mart. Hey, it’s not about companies, it’s about you stretching and recycling!
Walmart Employee
submitted by shbradford about 1 year ago
I have worked for Walmart for almost two years. I attended the PSP retreat and yes, I believe that if we (associates) get behind this project it will be a world changing event. We are the the largest company in the world, with 1.3 million associates. WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, for the better and leave our children a legacy to be proud of . We have been recycling for at least the last two years, but now we’re kicking it in to high gear. We will make a better life for our children and future generations.
Department Manager
submitted by cjd2267 about 1 year ago
Our store has just started PSP. I think it is great. Once it gets started and other people see the changes that associates are making everyone will, eventually, start changing. It can’t be done overnight, but every little thing every day makes a BIG difference.
YES it will work
submitted by monkeynoodle about 1 year ago
I also work for walmart and can’t believe how fast the fire has spread in our store about this program We announced it tuesday and the questions and the excitement are amazing. Just think 600 people in my store ready and willing to make change and strive to live better to change not only their lives but the community and the world one associate at a time. We should all be as lucky to be GIVEN the opportunity and the knowledge to make the diffrence. I work for a company striving to make a change not only in its self but for every associate that works for them PSP wiil work because it is driven by the associates their ideas, there motivation, their project.yes it will work because it is about the individual making change. Knowledge is power and walmart is providing that to us. And by the way it is not just about the associates walmart as a company is making radical changes to rely on renewable energy, create zero waste, and sell sustainable products can any other major retail chain say that? I hope they follow suit for a better life for future generations
submitted by LaurenS 6 months ago
Speaking of going good in the face of evil, WorldofGood.com has just launched their new online Community! , a partnership of eBay Inc. + World of Good, Inc, the Community convenes a global dialogue of conscious people, producers, media providers & more… good people, great ideas & relevant info that’s empowering – to make positive change through commerce!
Here’s a story regarding WalMart’s shenanigans
Visit the site (or click these links) to see original Articles, Blogs , Polls, & Discussion boards, on all KINDS of eco & people-positive socially-conscious topics (from responsible travel, eco-tips, ethical sourcing, Fair Trade towns, HIV/AIDS in Africa, & issues facing producer groups in the Global South). Exciting, no?!
EACH of WorldofGood.com’s_ social network pages have different fundraiser for artisan groups* – when each group reaches 6,000 members, WorldofGood.com will donate grant $ to Artisan Development projects in Peru &/or Guatemala!: Facebook , MySpace , Care2 , & change.org . WorldofGood.com* also has a cool Orkut profile & Gaia page !
Thanks for doin’ the right thing… spreading good news on do-gooders doin’ good! :0)
~Lauren
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