In an article coming out in the June 19 edition of The U.S. News and World Report, the magazine will include an article about Wal-Mart's need for serious change.

Wal-Mart needed to do something. While it remains the world's largest retail chain--and private employer--its stock has languished, moving only sideways for five years while other retailers watched their share prices jump an average of 40 percent. The company's same-store sales rose only 3 percent in 2005, its worst performance ever, trailing archrival Target every month for more than two years. Labor unions and environmentalists, meanwhile, blasted Wal-Mart's business practices and encouraged shoppers to turn elsewhere.

In the article, Wal-Mart claims to be changing with store remodeling and attempts to reach upscale shoppers. But, notably missing in Wal-Mart's talk of change is any mention of improving the lives of its 1.4 million employees. In fact, the only staffing changes mentioned in the article relate to the shifting of full-time workers to part time.

Its critics are hardly satisfied and point to ongoing staffing changes as a new concern, in which U.S. stores will increasingly shift workers to peak shopping times. The result, analysts have said, is that Wal-Mart will employ a higher percentage of part-time workers. Company critics fear that will cut worker access to benefits.

"Peak" time is Wal-Mart speak for part-time workers who are being pushed from full time work; many are currently losing their benefits. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart's new U.S. stores leader, Eduardo Castro-Wright, who is featured in the article, never mentions improving the lives of Wal-Mart workers. Until that becomes part of Wal-Mart "transformation-speak," Castro-Wright will continue to have a difficult job convincing America that Wal-Mart is changing for the better.