Walmart deploys temperature checks & offers workers gloves, masks

Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said the company will begin taking temperatures as employees report to work at its stores and facilities. Yahoo Finance’s Julia La Roche joins Seana Smith to discuss.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: So we have Walmart upping its safety measures for its 1.4 million associates. Now the retail giant announcing it will start taking employees' temperatures at all stores and distribution centers amongst other initiatives that they are taking into account in regards to the coronavirus outbreak.

So here to talk more about this we have Julia La Roche. And Julia, I know you were digging into this story. What can you tell us at this point?

JULIA LA ROCHE: Yeah, Seana, and when you think about it, Walmart, as you just mentioned, they employ 1.4 million associates, as they call them. They are the largest private employer. And you got to say this-- they're on the front lines, because they're also the world's largest grocery retailer.

And we still have many folks who are going to the stores. They've remained open. They have 4,700 locations. 90% of the US population lives within 10 miles of one of these stores. And they've become essential for folks who are stocking up, whether it's their pantry items or their paper towels or sanitation or even visiting the pharmacy, those sorts of things.

But questions have been raised. How do you keep your employees safe? Walmart has, in recent weeks, taken measures, including adding plexiglass decals on the floor to help with social distancing.

But the newer measures that are coming out today you just referenced-- taking the temperature of employees. If you have 100 degrees or more, you have to go home, yet you will still be counted as present for work. You'll get paid. They have implemented catastrophe pay.

But they will be taking temperatures using infrared thermometers for all employees, whether it's at a distribution center, a club, a store. And they have that 100-degree threshold. And they're also asking folks to take their temperature at home. They're asking them to monitor for symptoms and that you have to be fever-free for a set number of days to even be allowed to come back to work.

And as I had mentioned, they'd already implemented the catastrophe pay to take care of their employees who might be worried about missing days, having absences, missing wages. That's not gonna be the case because they really are stepping up. They're also providing-- optional here, though-- gloves and masks-- now not N95 masks, and the gloves and masks are optional. They have been closely following CDC guidelines moderating this.

Some folks have asked, hey, why hasn't Walmart put masks or gloves on their employees? Well, you don't want to take away the supply from the health care workers. They are being very mindful of that, as I mentioned, not N95 masks here.

Some other changes, Seana, that you might see when you go into a Walmart-- Dan Bartlett, one of their executives, said on the call they will be implementing one-way aisles to help promote social distancing. They don't want to have their workforce trying to promote the social distancing, per se. You need to have it measured and controlled and keep your employees safe as well. Seana.

SEANA SMITH: Julia, do you think that pressure has really been placed on these retailers to do more? Because just yesterday we were talking about how there were walkouts staged--

JULIA LA ROCHE: Yeah.

SEANA SMITH: --at a number of companies, including Instacart, including Amazon, so some of Walmart's competitors there in the grocery space.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Yeah, and actually this is something I asked Dan Bartlett on the call this morning. And I gotta give this to Walmart, because they've been out front on this all along. They had that $550 million in cash bonuses going out to associates, bringing in the bonuses earlier, giving those one-time special cash bonuses, coming out with the catastrophe pay well ahead of schedule for others, promoting some these safety measures, reducing the hours so they can focus on cleaning-- also hiring. They are hiring 150,000 people. A lot of those are temporary.

Reached out to industries that have just been wrecked by the coronavirus. And to date, they've brought in 50,000 people. And I did ask former-- as you're mentioning about the walkouts, and a lot of it is that they are listening to their associates. They're listening to their employees, finding out what do they need, what do they want, what are the things that will help support them do their jobs. And they're actually following through on what their workforce wants.

You'll see their CEOs, whether it's US CEO John Furner or CEO Doug McMillon, on the front lines visiting folks in stores. So I think it's important-- this is the stakeholder capitalism theme-- your employees are part of your company. They are stakeholders. They matter. You have to listen to them.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, certainly it's extremely important, especially in a time like this. Julia La Roche, thanks so much.