2015 Global Responsibility Report

Retail opportunity

Around the world, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are investing in training and advancement programs that increase the economic opportunity and mobility found in the retail sector. Through partnerships with NGOs like International Youth Foundation and the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), retail training programs are under way in Argentina, Chile, Ghana, India, Mexico and Nigeria. In February 2015, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation announced a five-year, $100 million commitment in the U.S. to invest in increasing economic mobility in retail and related sectors. Through this commitment, we’ll work to:

  • Develop a detailed map of retail career pathways
  • Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of pre-employment training and placement
  • Help accelerate mobility from frontline to middle skills jobs
  • Pilot this work in six to eight local communities

Aspiration

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation will commit $100 million over the next five years (beginning in 2015) to increase the economic mobility among U.S. retail and related-sector workers. Specifically, we aim to support retail training for more than 50,000 retail and related-sector workers, while helping 30,000 move from entry- to middle-skills jobs.

In February 2015, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation announced an initial investment of $16 million in seven national nonprofit organizations. These grants will support career mapping and training for retail and related-sector workers, while also aligning retail employers with training providers.



Achieving the Dream

$1 million

Build the capacity of four community colleges to place students in training and secure middle-skills jobs in the retail sector, creating a framework that can be replicated at other colleges.

The ACT Foundation

$2.265 million

Develop a retail sector-wide competency model and interactive career maps to showcase the career paths of existing jobs in retail, logistics and customer service.

Dress for Success

$2.58 million

Provide 5,400 disadvantaged women from more than 30 states with pre-employment training that will help them obtain jobs and advance in their careers.

Goodwill Industries

$3 million

Build the capacity of 8 Goodwill affiliates to provide training and career pathways to advance people from entry-level to middle-skills jobs in retail, logistics and customer service (1,500 individuals served by grant).

Jobs for the Future

$3 million

Grow the capacity of 10 organizations to provide training needed for entry-level workers to access jobs in the transportation, distribution and logistics sectors (3,000 individuals served by grant).

McKinsey Social Initiative

$3.2 million

Develop an innovative retail training and job placement model, and pilot with 650 low-income youths.

National Able Network

$1 million

Build the capacity of 18 centers to train and provide job placement assistance for 1,000 individuals working in retail, logistics and manufacturing.


Jobs for the Future: Helping retail workers build long-term careers

The transportation, distribution and logistics (TDL) industry is a long-overlooked, but increasingly critical piece of the retail sector — and economic recovery in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that transportation and warehousing employment will grow by 20 percent over this decade, adding 856,000 jobs.

Jobs for the Future — one of the initial grant recipients of Walmart and the Walmart Foundation’s commitment to increase economic mobility among U.S. retail and related-sector workers — works to strengthen and expand career pathways that train underprepared workers to move into middle-skill positions in high-demand sectors. The organization will use the $3 million grant to join workforce partnerships and employers in providing TDL job training, support and placement services to 300 people in each of 10 regional labor markets. Each program has committed to serving at least 25 percent female participants. To reach this goal, it will deliver targeted technical assistance to recruit women to learn truck driving, warehouse management and other TDL jobs.

Brazil: Creating opportunity through the Social School of Retail

Since 2010, Walmart Institute (Brazil’s charitable foundation) has supported the Social School of Retail, committed to providing Brazilians ages 17 to 29 with the professional training they need to work in the retail industry. The program has been implemented in seven Brazilian states and has reached nearly 6,000 young people to date. Walmart Institute recently began collaborating with the Brazilian government to incorporate this same training into the high school curriculum. In 2014, 160 teachers — mainly in the state of Ceará — were trained, impacting about 66,000 high school students.

Japan: Empowering youth with hands-on retail training

In Japan, the number of young people who are not actively pursuing education, training or employment is on the rise. In an effort to empower this demographic, Walmart Japan recently began providing grants to NPO Sodateage Net to support skills-building programs and to facilitate short-term, hands-on retail experiences at our Seiyu stores. The collaboration began in 2014 with 13 participants. Twelve found jobs and the other enrolled in continuing education. Seiyu decided to continue support for Sodateage Net with a grant for 2015.

This support will go a long way in addressing a real issue across the industry. By helping entry-level workers move into these positions, we’re giving them a leg up on long-term careers. Maria Flynn
Senior vice president,
Jobs for the Future

Challenges: Retail workers

Retail is often perceived to lack career ladders. In order to promote economic mobility, the retail sector needs to better articulate competencies required to advance careers. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are committed to working with educational institutions and programs to change this misperception.

Veterans reintegration: U.S.

We’re grateful for the sacrifice veterans have made and consider it an honor to support men and women in uniform. We believe they represent one of the largest, most diverse, talent-rich pools in the world, yet data from Pew Research Center suggests nearly 44 percent of U.S. veterans who have served over the past decade report difficulty re-entering civilian life. Through their service, veterans give us a land of freedom. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are committed to providing them a land of possibility when they return by:

  • Supporting the ongoing work of local government, nonprofit and business partners to provide veteran-specific transition help, job training and education
  • Offering a job to any honorably discharged U.S. veteran within his or her first 12 months off active duty

Aspiration

In 2011, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation committed $20 million by 2015 to support veterans and their families with assistance from programs that provide job training, transition help and education. After delivering on this commitment in 2014 (one year ahead of schedule), Walmart and the Walmart Foundation renewed their commitment, announcing an additional $20 million through 2019 to support veteran job training, education and innovative public/private community-based initiatives that address the challenges many of our veterans face when returning to the civilian workforce and their communities.

By May 2014, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation met our original $20 million commitment. The investment supported job training for more than 20,000 post-9/11 veterans, provided thousands of holiday meals and toys for military families, and built capacity for nonprofits working in this space.

IVMF grant: Building a model for the rest of the nation to emulate

Over the next three years, the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) will use a $1 million grant from the Walmart Foundation to help improve the direct health and well-being of North Carolina’s unemployed and underemployed veteran population. To accomplish this, IVMF will coordinate with North Carolina’s public, private and nonprofit partners to identify and place veterans into meaningful employment opportunities. This will be achieved through vocational and soft skills training, and more.

Long-term goals of this initiative are to strengthen regional collaboration among veteran-serving organizations, resulting in more veterans and military families seamlessly and successfully reintegrating into local communities and the civilian workforce. Ultimately, our hope is that this statewide initiative will serve as a model for the rest of the nation to emulate.


Aspiration

Offer a job to any eligible honorably discharged veteran within the first 12 months off active duty.

From Memorial Day 2013 through FY2015, we hired more than 77,000 veterans, nearly 16,000 as part of our Veterans Welcome Home Commitment. More than 6,000 have been promoted to roles of greater responsibility since joining the Walmart team.

I wasn’t sure what my next step would be when I separated from the Army. I’ve found a new path at Walmart and the opportunity to be a part of a team that operates on many of the same principles the military lives by. I’ve found a new home. Maurice Wilson
General manager
Walmart distribution center
DeSoto, Texas


Candice Lovelace: Finding her future

Candice Lovelace, an operations manager at the Walmart distribution center in the Atlanta metro area is among the nearly 16,000 veterans we’ve hired as part of our Veterans Welcome Home Commitment.

Her love for the military began when she enrolled in ROTC in high school. That experience led to nearly seven years of service in the U.S. Navy. Candice saw it as an opportunity to travel the world and build leadership experience. She sought that same level of camaraderie when she began her post-military job search last year and said she found it at Walmart.

“When I interviewed with Walmart, I sensed that camaraderie,” Candice said. “Something instantly clicked and I saw a future with this company. I visited the distribution center (in Atlanta) the same day and knew it was right.

“I see lots of opportunities for advancement in the operational division at Walmart and I’m embracing this new role,” she said. “I envision my post-military career to take that of a CEO path. The way Walmart promotes its own associates up the ranks, the opportunity is endless.”


Aspiration

Our Military Family Promise guarantees a job at a nearby store or club for all military personnel and military spouses employed at Walmart or Sam’s Club who move because they, or their spouse, have been transferred by the U.S. military.

Regarded by the Military Spouse Employment Partnership as the largest employer of military spouses, Walmart continues to help turn jobs into career opportunities through the Military Family Promise.

Heather Brice: Keeping our Military Family Promise

When Heather Brice, an assistant manager at Walmart, got married, she knew her husband’s career in the military meant there was a good chance they would move far — and potentially often. But she was comforted when she learned from her Neighborhood Market manager in Beaverton, Ore., that Walmart was just as committed to military spouses as it is to active service members and veterans.

A few months later, Walmart made good on that commitment when Heather’s husband, Ryan, was assigned to Idaho to serve his first duty station as a pharmacy tech with the Air Force. The company promptly connected Heather with a position at a Walmart Supercenter in Jerome, Idaho, just 30 minutes from their new home.

“When we were waiting to find out where my husband would be transferred, he was worried about me keeping my job. But I wasn’t. I’ve always known that my company would support me,” Heather said.


Challenges: Veterans

We’ve taken a hard look at the quantitative and qualitative data from the hourly and management population and believe we need to focus on the following areas:

  • Increasing awareness of the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment at the local level
  • Educating store and department managers on matters that impact their military associates
  • Assigning veteran champions to new veteran associates during the onboarding process to ensure a smooth transition to the company
  • Matching skill sets to jobs for better utilization of prior military training