Walmart’s new scheduling system, called Customer First Scheduling, can electronically pinpoint the busiest shopping times for Walmart stores and then schedule staff according to that information. Employees will only be scheduled during their true availability (the times they told the store they are available to work each week) and will need to show up and report to work those shifts they are scheduled for. Not only does it ensure that each store has enough employee coverage to help during peak shopping hours, but some employees will have the ability to set fixed schedules with the same hours and days for up to six months.Currently, Walmart associates without fixed schedules receive their schedules 17 days in advance, so they know 2-1/2 weeks ahead of time when they will (or won’t) be working. “Walmart’s new scheduling program is designed to get the right people in the right place at the right time to better serve customers.”įor both Walmart as well as its employees, the new system is a win-win. “The needs of customers are changing and so are the needs of associates, who want more control and ownership of their schedule and better visibility into available hours,” Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg told FlexJobs. This program launched in all of the 650 small-format neighborhood markets in July, and eventually Walmart plans to use the system nationwide. The new system, called Customer First Scheduling, can electronically pinpoint the busiest shopping times for Walmart stores and then schedule staff according to that information. As the nation’s largest private employer, Walmart is launching a new scheduling program that is designed to give employees more control over their work schedules-and their lives. They might even be called in at the last minute to cover a shift.īut Walmart is looking to change all that. But for many organizations, employees might find themselves “shift insecure,” meaning that they aren’t sure when they might be called in to work. It goes without saying that employers want to use their workers to the best of their abilities, including maximizing when they can (and can’t) work.

Walmart employee scheduling system