RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Our business news begins with Wal-Mart overhauling how it schedules workers.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: The nation's biggest private employer will switch to a computerized scheduling system based on the number of customers in stores at any given time. Wal-Mart has about 1.3 million workers.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: According to the Wall Street Journal, the company hopes it will help cut costs and improve customer satisfaction. A union official says the change could be, quote, “devastating for workers, though, because hours and wages will be less predictable.”</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Other retailers are also using the new scheduling system, including Radio Shack and Payless Shoes.
The nation's biggest private employer will switch to a computerized scheduling system based on the number of customers in stores at any given time. Wal-Mart has about 1.3 million workers.