Hey, remember six months ago when we told you about Walmart stores nationwide not having enough employees to keep their shelves stocked? Yes, running your store chronically understaffed saves money, but Bloomberg reported that the empty shelves were driving Walmart customers to places where they could actually buy stuff, and same-store sales were falling. Walmart says that it plans to give some workers more hours in order to increase its workforce and maybe increase sales.

The company plans to hire about the same number of seasonal workers as last year: 55,000. What’s different is that the company says it will “elevate” 35,000 part-time workers to temporary full-time status, and 35,000 to permanent full-time status. It makes sense to promote workers who are already there, and employees put on permanent full-time status will be eligible for benefits after six months.

If a total of 90,000 people joining the payroll seems like a lot, keep in mind that there are 4,092 Walmart stores in the United States. That’s about 17 part-timers bumped to full-time per store, and 13.4 seasonal workers per store as well. Those are Will that be enough to keep the shelves full and customers slightly less enraged? Walmart workers out there in Consumerist-land: you can find us at tips@consumerist.com. We want to hear about it.

Wal-Mart Hires Workers for Holidays Amid Shelf Complaints [Bloomberg News] (Thanks, Rowell!)

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