BENTONVILLE (KFSM) – Walmart has changed up its dress code for employees, bringing back required vests for its associates, officials say.
One of the main reasons Walmart is changing up the dress code is to help customers identify its associates. In the past, some customers had trouble identifying who worked for Walmart when they needed help, according to officials.
Barbara Pennington, an associate at the Walmart Supercenter at 4870 Elm Springs Rd. said she thinks the vests were a good idea.
“It’s great because customers know we’re associates,” she said.
Pennington also told 5NEWS associates got plenty of warning about the changes, and staff members knew of the dress code update months ahead of time.
The old Walmart dress code simply consisted of blue t-shirts and khaki pants, but new additions to the code include black pants and white tops, as well as, blue collared shirts, officials said.
Walmart associates used to wear vests in the past, but the store decided to do away with them, according to officials.
Now, the vests are coming back, and the Walmart Supercenter Pennington works at is the first store in the country to get them, officials said. As other new stores open, they’ll get the vests, too.
The new dress code kicks in on Sept. 29, according to officials.
Affiliate station WHIO reports that Walmart will provide the vests, but the purchase of other works clothes is the responsibility of associates.
moneymyst
Blue vests and hog hats, the tools of ignorance.
Get Real
I wonder who the ignorant one is Money, take a look in the mirror. When you are as successful as Walmart, your “witty comments” may have some credibility.
Leten Uno
Actually those are tools of likely the greatest success story in History. How a single man from Newport used cheesy props and gimmicks to leapfrog the competitors and become at one point the richest man in the world.
You see Moneymyst, those gimmicks keep most from looking further. What appeared a home spun mom and pop retailer was factually a ruthless behemoth with gigantic warehouse and sophisticated computer systems pushing freight at record volumes and low cost, while tracking every dollar you spent. Then breaking it into the most minuscule buying patterns which were used to take even more money from your pocket. .
Patti Horton
OH PLEASE WAL MART EMPLOYEE.. You have long lines because you do not have enough cashiers on duty.. Do you think we have never been to or worked at another store.. When cashiers go on break someone else should cover them.. You should have more than 3 cashiers on at a 30 register bank store… Try visiting Giant Eagle or Wegmans or any other store… A lot of them have cashiers who are open and have no one…. Guess what they pay more than WallyWorld too… You should be in management making such lame excuses.. Wal Mart customers could care less what the employees wear they care that Wal Mart could care less about customer service..
tammy
amen and I do work for the company
Susan Crook
The problem here is that your average customer doesn’t think, and I don’t just mean Walmart customers. Associates anywhere can be wearing the designated uniform, store name on it with nametag and everything, and still get asked, “Do you work here?”
Had it happen when I worked at Walmart as a cashier-I was standing at the cash register at the time- *and* working at a Sears jewelry counter. I was *in* the jewelry bay with my hands inside a locked case straightening the gemstones. Almost said what I really thought, that time-“Well, ma’am, if I don’t, they’ll be taking me out in handcuffs here in a minute!!!”
A Harris
according to the Fair Labor Standards Act, a company can require a uniform or certain set of clothing to be worn, but if purchasing these articles of clothing puts your pay below the minimum wage they can not enforce it. Employees who believe they are unjustly being forced to cover the cost of purchasing or maintaining a uniform should contact the Dept. of Labor’s Wage and Hour folks. This page on the DOL website lists all the regional Wage and Hour offices, or you can call 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) to be directed to the office near you.
Joetta
The reason people have trouble figuring out who works there is because most of the time they are standing around talking and watching customers standing in long lines with only 3 registers open instead of actually working
neveah
I work for walmart and the reason being that customers see cashiers standing around just talking and watching the people standin in lines with only 3 registers open is cause we either on a 15 min break, and we need to scan our badge coming from our breaks or lunch or waitin for our time to clock back in. once we scan our badge it will tell us what register we assigned too. we cannot just go and jump in any unused register.
sorry for the long lines, but some people just dont have the patience, and shouldnt be shopping on their lunch hr if ur in a hurry.. it is WALMART. another thing waiting in line to have ur receipt looked over is causing long lines as well..
so yes, vest will be a great come back for associates that way when we go on break or lunch we can take those vest off and maybeee customers wont stop and ask questions on our breaks or lunches..
Marie
I used to work for a company that had a dress code for all of it’s employees: clean jeans or khakis and a polo shirt or any shirt with a collar. However, I think if you’re going to impose a dress code, you should either supply a clothing allowance or provide uniforms through a uniform service. If you’re paying people minimum wage, it’s unreasonable to ask people to go out and purchase clothing that they won’t be able to wear any place other than that job. My company also made me pay for my apron or vest along with any other tools they required for me to perform my job. If you lost your name tag (used to punch in and out) it cost you five dollars. If you’re going to require me to wear something and you’re not going to pay me a lot, then the company should pay for it. I also think it’s stupid to have only one time clock that you can punch in and out on at the farthest corner of the back of the store. If you left the building to go on break or lunch you had to make sure you left enough of your lousy ten minutes (for breaks) or the thirty minutes (for lunch) to sprint to the back of the store and get to the time clock so you could punch in or out.