Wal*Mart to Offer Just In Time Children for Parents with Just In Time Schedules
Wal*Mart to Offer Just In Time Children for Parents with Just In Time Schedules
By Joan Chalmers Williams
When I saw the headlines about Wal*Mart moving to flexible scheduling, I was see that the company has decided to become a leader in the work/life arena. Here's a bit from The Wall Street Journal:
[U]sing a new computerized scheduling system, [WalMart] will start moving many of its 1.3 million workers from predictable shifts to a system based on the number of customers in stores at any given time. The move promises greater productivity and customer satisfaction for the huge retailer but could be a major headache for employees...
The WSJ seemed worried about what would happen to Wal*Mart associates' children if the ability to arrange child care were hamstrung by schedules that changed unpredictably from week to week.
No worries. I have it on inside information that Wal*Mart is just about to announce that it is providing its associates with Just In Time Children to enable associates to work the new Just In Time Schedules.
Here's how it works. As each Wal*Mart store shifts over to Just In Time Scheduling, associates' children will be magically transformed into beings who can be freeze-dried whenever their parents are called to work at a time there's no one to care for them.
It's simple. Say you have a working family where both parents work, but on different shifts -- one in four American families "tag team" this way, and Wal*Mart associates are likely to because who could pay for child care if you are working at a Wal*Mart associate's salary? So the family has it worked out that dad cares for the kids when mom's at work, and mom does when dad's at work.
But with Just In Time Scheduling, mom's schedule is changed from week to week. Not a problem, though, because now with Wal*Mart's new Just In Time Kidz, you can freeze dry those little ones and store them safely away for those hours and hours when they otherwise would be home alone. No more worries about 8 years old taking care of 5- and 3-year old siblings, or about toddlers left home alone, or about what in God's name the teenagers are doing from 3 to 6 that make that period when most teenage pregnancies and crimes take place.
What a business opportunity for Wal-Mart! In fact, the company is secretly working on a plan to market its Just In Time Schedules and Just In Time Kidz in Europe. Then Europeans will be able to abolish all their expensive, old-fashioned "real time" child care, and flexible schedule schemes that give workers some control, and replace them with schedules and children that meet the needs of a globalized world.
What will they think of next? Hat's off, Wal*Mart.
Jan 5, 2007 -- 01:43 PM EST
Copyright © 2006 TPM Media LLC. All Rights Reserved
By Joan Chalmers Williams
When I saw the headlines about Wal*Mart moving to flexible scheduling, I was see that the company has decided to become a leader in the work/life arena. Here's a bit from The Wall Street Journal:
[U]sing a new computerized scheduling system, [WalMart] will start moving many of its 1.3 million workers from predictable shifts to a system based on the number of customers in stores at any given time. The move promises greater productivity and customer satisfaction for the huge retailer but could be a major headache for employees...
The WSJ seemed worried about what would happen to Wal*Mart associates' children if the ability to arrange child care were hamstrung by schedules that changed unpredictably from week to week.
No worries. I have it on inside information that Wal*Mart is just about to announce that it is providing its associates with Just In Time Children to enable associates to work the new Just In Time Schedules.
Here's how it works. As each Wal*Mart store shifts over to Just In Time Scheduling, associates' children will be magically transformed into beings who can be freeze-dried whenever their parents are called to work at a time there's no one to care for them.
It's simple. Say you have a working family where both parents work, but on different shifts -- one in four American families "tag team" this way, and Wal*Mart associates are likely to because who could pay for child care if you are working at a Wal*Mart associate's salary? So the family has it worked out that dad cares for the kids when mom's at work, and mom does when dad's at work.
But with Just In Time Scheduling, mom's schedule is changed from week to week. Not a problem, though, because now with Wal*Mart's new Just In Time Kidz, you can freeze dry those little ones and store them safely away for those hours and hours when they otherwise would be home alone. No more worries about 8 years old taking care of 5- and 3-year old siblings, or about toddlers left home alone, or about what in God's name the teenagers are doing from 3 to 6 that make that period when most teenage pregnancies and crimes take place.
What a business opportunity for Wal-Mart! In fact, the company is secretly working on a plan to market its Just In Time Schedules and Just In Time Kidz in Europe. Then Europeans will be able to abolish all their expensive, old-fashioned "real time" child care, and flexible schedule schemes that give workers some control, and replace them with schedules and children that meet the needs of a globalized world.
What will they think of next? Hat's off, Wal*Mart.
Jan 5, 2007 -- 01:43 PM EST
Copyright © 2006 TPM Media LLC. All Rights Reserved
posted by Walking Contradiction at 2:39 PM
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