Wal-Mart has started to cut employee work hours in some locations, but the company denied that it’s connected to a wage increase for entry-level employees.
Regional executives told stores managers to reduce worker hours and rein in costs, according to Bloomberg.
Wal-Mart increased its entry-level hourly wage to $9 in April, and total earnings were lower than expectations for the last quarter. By February 2016, Wal-Mart will increase that to $10 per hour.
Higher wages can attract better workers or encourage current employees to work harder to maintain their jobs, but the higher payroll costs from the strategy can also cut into the thin profit margins that Wal-Mart earns.
Reduced hours will only affect stores with overscheduled workers that exceeded the allotted time for a store, spokesman Kory Lundberg told Bloomberg. The timing of the change, however, has some journalists skeptical of that explanation.
