Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in consultations with McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) regarding the raise of minimum wages.
The retail company has the highest number of employees in one organization in the United States. The firm has 1.3 million workers, and this places union spotlights on the giant retailer. Kristin Oliver handles all of them. She is the head of Human Resources at Wal-Mart.
During a recent interview with Forbes, she revealed that her company was in the process of reviewing a proposal to increase the minimum wages. She also shed some light on the procedure for making such hefty but important decisions. One of the matters she addressed was her thoughts towards the company’s responsibility towards the employees who are not so economically empowered.
In her statement, Kristin talked about the uniformity of most working conditions and how many other firms employ workforce similar to that of Wal-Mart. She described the current market conditions as a convergence of interests in the sense that each company has to employ a different approach as employers to achieve their goals. At the same time, these different firms have to empower those it can in the society since they end up as the end users of the products and services being delivered.
Kristin revealed that most companies have to partner up with other firms in order learn from their footsteps. Both successes and mistakes are important. She then said that her company has been consulting with McDonald’s for a while. The officials from both companies have been in close ties to discuss the process of increasing the minimum wages.
A few weeks ago, McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was facing employee demonstrations which were pushing for increased pay for its employees. Recently, Wal-Mart decided to increase the minimum pay to $9 per hour. According to Kristin Oliver, the company paid a lot of attention to suggestions from its fast food counterpart. This was important for the company to avoid any future issues with the unions regarding pay and most importantly, to empower and motivate its employees.
