Diversity Challenge in Walmart
Walmart and Diversity Challenges:
Wal-Mart Sued for Alleged Anti-Gay Discrimination – Smithson was denied spousal health insurance coverage from 2008. In January 2014, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined Wal-Mart's denial of insurance "constituted discrimination on the basis of her sex," because Smithson would have been covered if Cote was male . Brian Nick (Walmart’s director of national media relations) says that before 2014, the company allowed insurance to same-sex couples in places where state law required it. In 2013 Supreme Court announced same-sex couples as legitimate and allowed all federal benefits to them. Walmart changed its policy as well in 2014.
Six Calcasieu Parish former employees of Wal-Mart sued Wal-Mart, in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana on June 23, 2015. They sued Wal-Mart with evidences of age and race discrimination in the workplace between 1997 and 2015. All six employees were fired from Walmart in wrong pretext .
In June 2012 nearly 2000 women had filed discrimination case against Walmart. The discrimination charges were for unequal wages, promotional opportunities and not allowing them to have work-life balance . According to Making Change at Walmart association “Women earned about $5,200 less than men overall in 2001. Women working hourly earned about $1,100 less than men. Women in management earned a salary of $14,500 less than men” .
In March, 2010 Walmart had to pay more than $11.7 million to settle EEOC sex discrimination claim. Walmart’s one distribution center denied female applicants from 1198 to February 2005 .
All these cases show that Walmart had discriminatory policies against diversity groups. They show discrimination in recruitment, promotion, benefits and termination policies. This makes Walmart an unpopular workplace for employees. The corporation received its first major hit in 2005 with the formation of two union-backed organizations, Wake-Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch. These two organizations would cause an Internet war with Wal-Mart, using competing blogs and Web sites to promote their various missions.Walmart has a very strict policy for customer satisfaction and keeping its prices low. This makes the workplace very competitive and overworking. Walmart is also perhaps the most global retail giant. So, it’s expected to show inclusiveness towards all minority groups.
Over years its policies and outlook have restructured to turn the workplace into an inclusive environment. Let’s analyze two of its recent changes that support inclusiveness: Walmart CEO, Dough McMillan asked the governor of Arkansas, to veto The Religious Restoration Act that could allow discrimination against lesbians and gay men. Walmart along with Apple have publicly criticized the law. President of National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Justin Nelson’s comment: “They’ve done a complete 180,” is noteworthy. Walmart was a company that was not active on LGBT issues around 5 years back. But now they have become an employer that as a non-discrimination policy against diversity group .
Company has changed its policy to have fixed shifts for some of the workers. This is a welcoming change for Walmart’s female employees in particular. This will allow them to pursue work-life balance.
These evidences show that Walmart is constantly improving itself as a company to encourage diversity inclusion. Thus, it’s taking its right steps. However, one thing must be kept in mind: many policy changes do not find its way because of local management being unaware of them. Policies alone are not going to be effective.
Here are three key recommendations to encourage diversity inclusiveness:
Representation from every diversity group in critical management positions – It’s difficult to respect all group’s views unless there is a representation of the group. So, diversity group should be enabled so that they are promoted to higher levels of management
Open Forum – Walmart was very skeptical to media and internet as its roots are headquartered in conservative states. It has started opening up. To foster an all-inclusive environment it’s of utmost importance to listen to all “voices”.
Diversity Training – Trainings on different culture groups in particular will help people communicate in a better way in a multicultural environment.
Working towards these dimensions will make diversity group feel “valued” and hence will create an environment of inclusiveness. To further elaborate, below are some of the discreet steps that Walmart can take up to work on diversity group recommendations.
Hiring Drive –
Form separate diverse recruiting teams
Have target numbers for each diversity group
Job posting and advertisements targeting specific groups
Retention – Implement work-life programs like flexible work schedule, child care facilities, and elder care facilities.
Training –
Awareness training on the organization’s diversity initiatives and inclusiveness measures.
Training on communication styles and the delivery of effective feedback as response to culturally incompetent remarks.
Newsletters and internal emails on diversity news
When we look into Walmart’s recent activities we do find that Walmart is also focused towards diversity inclusiveness. They have Associate research groups like, “Associates for Disability Awareness and Education.” (ADAE), Hispanic Latino Associate Resource Group (HLARG), PRIDE and UNITY associate groups to help Walmart understand different diversity groups. Walmart had changed company policies for pregnant women, is opening its views on LGBT issues and is also making operational changes that enables married women to work. As of January 31, 2015; 57% of total workforce was women and 41% of total management staff are women. As Rosalind says, “Today we really operate in a very complex and diverse global environment. And inclusive leaders are those who are able to drive performance and innovation while managing change. And while you’re managing that change, it’s about the relationships and the talent that you build around it.”
References
Corporate Walmart. (2015). 2015 Diversity & Inclusion. US: Walmart.
EEOC. (2010, March 1). Walmart To Pay More Than $11.7 Million To Settle EEOC Sex Discrimination Suit. Retrieved from U.S Equal Opportunity Commission: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-1-10.cfm
Hines, A. (2012, July 6). Walmart Sex Discrimination Claims Filed By 2,000 Women. Retrieved from HuffingtonPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/06/walmart-sex-discrimination-women-_n_1575859.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in
Hiroko, T., & Barbaro, M. (2015, April 1). Walmart Emerges as Unlikely Social Force. Retrieved from NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/business/walmart-emerges-as-unlikely-social-force.html?_r=0
Isidore, C. (2015, Febrauary 19). Walmart ups pay well above minimum wage. CNN Money.
Jayne, M. E., & Dipboye, R. L. (2004, November 17). Leveraging Diversity to Improve Business Performance. Human Resource Management, 43(4), p. 412. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/cortiz/www/Diversity/Jayne%20and%20Dipboye%202004.pdf
Nelson, S. (2015, July 14). Wal-Mart Sued for Alleged Anti-Gay Discrimination. Retrieved from USNews: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/07/14/wal-mart-sued-for-alleged-anti-gay-discrimination
Ostrow, C. (2015, July 6). Half-dozen minority Wal-Mart workers allege discriminatory employment practices . Retrieved from LousianaRecord: Walmart Emerges as Unlikely Social Force
Walmart-Watch. (2013, May). Walmart - A Disturbing History with Women. Retrieved from Making Change at Walmart: http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/files/2013/05/womenabrv.pdf
