Diversity in Walmart (Essay Sample)

Diversity in Walmart Name Institution Affiliation Diversity in Walmart Introduction Walmart established its diversity goals program in 2004. The program created a foundation for educational awareness and accountability on diversity. During the establishment, the program involved sixty thousand staff members in the management and director level in the field and stores of Walmart. The program demanded that the directors and managers were to mentor at least two associates as well as participating or attending a minimum of one diversity function in a year. The program outlined the core metrics in measuring of diversity. These metrics included three domains. These three domains were the workplace, workforce, and marketplace. The workplace metric in the program entailed inclusion and retention. The workforce metric entailed talent acquisition and representation while the marketplace diversity addressed the review of supplier diversity, in addition to, the representation of persons providing services and goods to Walmart. In inclusion and retention, Walmart opted to measure it through an associate survey conducted yearly. The survey included questions that highlighted an inclusion index. This diversity goals programs underlined the desire by Walmart to ensure that its workforce, workplace, and marketplace were a manifestation of diversity and inclusion. Nonetheless, the efforts of creating diversity in the Walmart organization was questioned evident from about two million women suing the entity for discrimination in 2007. For this reason, the paper purposes to discuss diversity in Walmart. Diversity The definition of the term diversity broadly refers to any traits that differ between persons including values, personality, and demographic attributes. Walmart has made certain that diversity is an integral part of human resource planning, which entails training, recruiting, retention and onboarding (Walmart, n.d.). Workforce and Workplace Diversity The significance for Walmart to build a diverse workforce attributed to the reality that the targeted customer base of Walmart was changing evident in its customer base being diverse. The diversity in customer base demanded the organization to have a workforce and workplace that also reflected this attribute. According to Greg Foran, the President, and CEO of Walmart in the United States, diversity in Walmart stands for accommodating persons with different ways of thinking and perspectives through unlocking creative environment (Global Office of Diversity and Inclusion, n.d.). As a result, not only new but also diverse ideas are shared to drive its growth and innovation. Based on the statistic presented on its workforce in the United States in 2015, the total number of women employees was 784,000. Out of this number, 279,000 were African Americans, 185,000 were Hispanic, and 48,000 were Asians. This total number of women was a representation of about 57% of the total Walmart workforce. This representation was 42% of the total management position as well as being about 32% of the corporate officers’ positions. In the case of the people of color representation, which entails both the men and women, the people of color were about forty percent of the total workforce. In the management and corporate positions, the people of color were about 30% and 22% respectively (Global Office of Diversity and Inclusion, n.d.). Based on the recent recruitment representation of Walmart in the last three years, the recruitment process reflects their desire to have a diversified workforce. The representation of the hiring in the last three years entailed the following. In the years, 2012, 2013, and 2014, women accounted for 50% of total positions in 2012, 51% in 2013 and 53% in 2014. In the case of the people of color, in 2012, the people of color accounted for 45% of the recruitment; in 2013, they accounted for 49%, and in 2014 accounted for 51% of the total hiring (Global Office of Diversity and Inclusion, n.d.). Marketplace Diversity Walmart has also encouraged diversity in its marketplace. The marketplace includes the suppliers of the store as well as the people providing goods and services for Walmart. To encourage diversity among the suppliers, Walmart works with suppliers to increase the manufactured goods bought within the United States, source of new manufactured goods within the United States that enhance marketplace diversity, and re-shore the manufacturing of goods through accelerating and facilitating supplier efforts. Walmart has ensured that its suppliers are a reflection of diversity in the following ways (Walmart, n.d.). The first way is through establishing of the women’s economic empowerment program. The program encourages more outsourcing from women-owned business to ensure that more women are involved in the supplying of services and products to Walmart. The program not only empowers women through training but also enhance diversity and inclusion in Walmart’s professional services suppliers and merchandising. The second program is the ‘veterans welcome home commitment.’ The program not only targets hiring the veterans who have been on active duty for twelve months but also empower the veterans to engage in doing business with Walmart. The program ensures that veterans have a smooth transition to civilian life by either being employed as a worker at the Walmart or a supplier to Walmart. The last program that ensures diversity in the marketplace is the existence of the supplier diversity team currently headed by Michael Byron. The program ensures that Walmart has an inclusive supply chain. Participation and growth in this program are measured yearly to make certain that the Walmart suppliers range from family-owned entities, small-to-large, in addition to, these suppliers employing ethnically diverse persons. Moreover, the program aims at empowering minority-owned entities for supply (Walmart, n.d.). For this reason, as of 2015, Walmart had more than 3,000 diverse suppliers for their products and services. Diversity and Inclusion Programs in Walmart In spite of Walmart, having programs that aim at empowering marginalized groups of people in accessing employment and engaging in business with the organization, Walmart has also established programs that nurture diversity in its chain stores. The first program is the hands-on diversity immersion course. The course targets primarily the managers in Walmart and Sam’s Club. The objective of the course is to subject managers to a firsthand trip on civil rights as well as other historical venues for inclusion and diversity. A compelling example of the venue is the Martin Luther King Jr.’s house, which is in Montgomery, Ala. Moreover, the managers are made aware of the effects of border-patrol regulations on Hispanics in San Antonio (Visconti, 2012). The second program is the Women in Leadership and Minorities in Leadership Seminars. Through this program, Walmart enhances skill sets of minorities and women for the management positions. Furthermore, this program nurtures Walmart’s awareness on diversity best practices as well as inclusion in their workforce and workplace (Hall, 2008). Recognition of Walmart Efforts on Diversity Walmart efforts to encourage diversity have received recognition from different organizations. Walmart received recognition in 2007 as the Best Company for Multicultural Women. The award, which was by the Working Mother Magazine acknowledged that Walmart was a reflection of...