Bye to Celine, Justin music at Wal-Mart

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas: Celine Dion’s heart may go on “near, far, wherever you are,” but her songs are being taken off the in-store playlist at big-box Wal-Mart.
The store is also splitting up with Justin Bieber — Wal-Mart employees are sick of his songs, too, Daily News.
Wal-Mart stores and distribution centers will soon have a new soundtrack that they’re calling Wal-Mart Radio, in which a DJ will spin tunes that will be pumped throughout stores, The Associated Press reported.
It’s a small change, but one that may reflect Wal-Mart’s renewed commitment to retaining talent. The effort began earlier this year when the world’s largest private employer said that it would increase wages for some 500,000 of its workers by raising its minimum wage to $10 per hour by 2016.
In a cavernous college basketball arena on the campus of University of Arkansas, Wal-Mart announced other workplace changes prompted by employee feedback: It is tweaking the temperature in its stores, which employees have said are often too cold or too hot. It will relax its dress code, which permits workers to wear only khaki or navy pants with blue- or white-collared shirts.
On July 1, employees will also be able to wear black or khaki-colored denim, and overnight workers will be allowed to wear blue denim and T-shirts.
Throughout the presentation, Wal-Mart executives emphasized the chain’s focus on creating stores that are “clean, fast and friendly.” US chief executive Greg Foran had outlined these goals previously as a central component of his plan to boost Wal-Mart’s US business, which has lately seen only modest sales growth.
Foran’s remarks provided some insight into how he plans to execute that vision. He asked employees to become “10-foot-rule champions” when they return to work. That means that they will always smile at and greet customers who are within 10 feet of them, and they will encourage their co-workers to do the same.
Wal-Mart also said it plans to bring back another popular employee engagement program known as VPI, which stands for “volume-producing item.” In the past, employees in each store have selected hot items that they emphasized when talking to customers and creating visual displays. But lately, the selection of those hot items has been done at headquarters. By allowing the store employees to take on this responsibility again, Wal-Mart hopes to get them more excited and engaged in the sales process.