Anyone who has been following the news for the last several years knows that there has been an increase in the cost of health care and an increase in the trend of companies providing employees with several benefits such as free health care, food, housing and so on and so forth. We can see this in the case of big tech companies, who provide their employees with free food, on site gyms, free health care etc. The reason being that these companies want to retain the employees in the company by providing them with such benefits.

Walmart used to provide its employees with free health care. But due to rising cost Walmart cut health benefits for workers who work less than 30 hours. I agree with Peter Cappelli that this scheme was facilitated due to the launch of the Affordable Care Act, which helps in getting health insurance easily and cheaply. Walmart in this way will save a lot of labour cost but can also lose a lot of employees by not providing them with benefits.  However I personally believe that Walmart should provide for at least 30% of the health insurance for part time employees, as it will help in reducing the burden of high health cost from employees.

References-

“Google Adds Benefits, Walmart Cuts Them; Oddly, the Logic Is the Same.” Harvard Business Review. Web. 9 Nov. 2014. <https://hbr.org/2014/11/google-adds-benefits-walmart-cuts-them-oddly-the-logic-is-the-same>.

The Cut Applies to Part-timers Who Work Fewer than 30 Hours a Week — about 2% of the Company’s U.S. Workforce. “Wal-Mart Cuts Health Benefits for 30,000 Part-timers.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2014. <http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/07/news/economy/walmart-health-benefits/>.