Public health and private profits don’t mix.
It turns out that Ken Senser, the guy who issued the original attendance policy memo that led to the NLC report, is the guy who runs Walmart’s spy ring! From the Wake-Up Wal-Mart blog:
Here’s a little background on Walmart’s spymaster turned health “advocate.” Before Mr. Senser was concerned with influenza, he was spying on employees and activists alike as Walmart’s security chief. His crowning acheivement came when company operatives planted a long-haired employee in an “Up Against the Wal” activist meeting. The bugged employee transmitted audio from the meeting to a surveillance van circling eerily outside.
Senser’s department also spies on employees who are suspected of violating company policy. His investigators have tailed executives across Central America, for example, to out them publicly for extramarital affairs. This is the guy entrusted with safeguarding the wellbeing of Walmart’s 1.4 million U.S. employees. Bizarre.
His de facto role, it would seem, is safeguarding Walmart’s $13 billion in yearly profits. By any means necessary.
Senser is known for bare-knuckle enforcement of policy. Unfortunately, Walmart’s rigid attendance rules are not productive for anyone. Not even Walmart’s top shareholders. It’s simply a recipe for spreading disease among employees and members of their communities.
I can’t wait for the first “I got swine flu at Walmart” lawsuit from a customer. That will show the company the cost of not thinking in the long term.