Employee Manipulation?

After a string of issues involving both customer and driver dissatisfaction, Uber has vowed to make new investments into the driver experience.  But even as they talk about changes, the company is still engaged in a massive behavioral experiment in order to entice drivers to work more and longer hours, at times in less lucrative areas.

Noam Schreiber for the New York Times thinks that, “By mastering their workers’ mental circuitry, Uber and the like may be taking the economy back toward a pre-New Deal era when businesses had enormous power over workers and few checks on their ability to exploit it.”   Read more here: How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons

Pay More Get More

771202d32fb3103bc8526feaaccd4d27After dismal 2015 customer service reviews with only 16% of stores nationwide meeting their goals in this area, Wal-Mart decide to try an almost unheard of idea in the arena of large discount stores.  In early 2016, they increased employee wages across the board and began offering more focused training and streamlined schedules for hourly workers. This new investment has already shown promise in both company loyalty and customer reviews.  The profit landscape is still not as sunny, but that’s another story.  One where Amazon and Target play key antagonists.  For now, have a look around your local Wal-Mart store and see if the good cheer, cleaner restrooms and well stocked shelves have reached your neck of the woods.

How Did Walmart Get Cleaner Stores and Higher Sales? It Paid Its People More