GC: Alejandra, how would you describe what diversity and inclusion mean to you? Why are they important for the corporate landscape?
Alejandra Bogantes (AB): In an organization, they are very important, because we need to make people feel comfortable.
If you accept them and let them be who they are, you are going to have employees that want to work with you. If you defend them and respect them, they are going to respect the company, and try to accomplish our goals and our vision and mission.
GC: How would you characterize the diversity and inclusion culture at Walmart?
Bob López (BL): To give you the background on this approach, we have core values for the company. One of these core values is respect for the individual in regard to differences – differences in mindset, background, education and so on.
But we also have an ‘Associate Value Proposition’ (AVP), which has five different pillars. The first one is purpose, the second is challenge, the third one is opportunity, the next is enjoyment, and the last (but not least!) is inclusion. For us, it’s really important to be an inclusive company, and that’s why we made the decision to include this pillar as part of the AVP, both internally and externally.
At this point, we’re focusing our efforts on four different approaches for the company: gender equity; people with disabilities; the LGBTQIA+ community; and the non-discrimination pillar, which is the newest one, and is working towards eliminating those barriers when it comes to talking about race, for instance.
For the company, it’s really important, and it’s part of the business strategy. We have goals to reach, we have KPIs for the company, so we are putting together all of these different thoughts within the company.
We also have a diversity, equity and inclusion council. This is a group of business leaders that are working towards an inclusive workplace for everyone within Walmart. This is not like the typical HR team working for inclusion, it’s more about the business leaders working for inclusion for the company, and they are bringing their expertise, they are bringing their ideas, and they are the ones that are writing this change. They know the business very well, they know very well the pain points that we may have in the stores, in the distribution centres, or in the home offices, and they are putting in place an action plan towards a more inclusive environment in Walmart.
In addition, one of the key actions that we have implemented since last year is to partner with external organizations outside Walmart, so we can bring their expertise within the company, and make better decisions for our associates in every pillar.
GC: It’s interesting that you mention KPIs, because it’s that sense of ‘what gets measured gets done’. How do the KPIs work; what does that look like day-to-day?
BL: We have different KPIs in regard to gender equity, and with regard to talent with disabilities. We have a work engagement survey, and last year we included a voluntary self-ID for the LGBTQIA+ community and for people with disabilities. That way, they could give us their responses and we could assess how they feel working for Walmart and with that information we have created different action plans to improve the work environment for these groups. This is also the first year that Walmart México and Central America has included a self-ID for race, because we wanted to know if we had racial diversity within the company, and how we can leverage people’s working experience within Walmart.
GC: How is the legal team supporting the company in its diversity and inclusion efforts? How does the team fit into that structure?
AB: As a legal department, we are an example and a role model for the company. We have to always act correctly – and not only look like we are acting correctly. We have to make sure the company complies with its policies and complies with the law. We help HR and the committees when they have any kind of question. We support area staff operations too, to make sure that they can explain what we are doing – we know that there are a lot of people that have prejudice and we try to make people understand. For example, we sometimes have cases where customers don’t want to go to a certain cashier because he has long hair, or tattoos, and we as a legal department have to tell them, “well, he has the right to look how he wants – we don’t have policies about how you look at work”. We have to support our employees and make them feel safe and protected by us, and we as a legal department promote a lot of efforts to make people feel comfortable.
In our legal department, we have a lot of people of different ages, some of them have kids, some of them are single parents, some of them have different sexual orientations, and we try to make the team feel completely united. We are very close, and we try to let people know that one of our values is that we are a diverse group, and we have different ideas. For example, the younger ones sometimes promote ideas about tech systems that can work for us to make things simple, and you know that people, when we are older, we sometimes don’t understand how things are going to work. So, I think that we make a really good balance.
We follow the company’s policies, and in case someone doesn’t feel respected or supported, the company has an ethics department, where people can file a complaint and they will investigate to make sure that the legal department, like everyone in the company, is compliant with the policies, and with our ethics code of conduct.
We have an open-door policy, so that everybody can go to their boss, or the boss of their boss, or the CEO of the company, to explain their concerns, and they have to listen to them. They don’t have to be afraid of retaliation, because they are allowed to express what is concerning them.
GC: Do you think that in-house legal teams have an important role to play in driving D&I? How do you think in-house legal teams can contribute to that conversation?
AB: As a legal department, people are looking to us. If the legal department is doing something incorrect or is not promoting diversity and inclusion, people are going to think that they can act in the same way. The risk is that if the legal department is not compliant with company policies, people are going to consider that that is ok, because we establish what is good or not, or what is correct in accordance with the law.
Also, the legal department has a section in our engagement letter to external lawyers where we request them to promote diversity and inclusion in their firms. For us, it’s very important that our external lawyers share our values; that they try to make a difference in society.
I think that Walmart is really working to make a difference in terms of diversity and inclusion. We are a big employer in Mexico and Central America, and the company is really trying to invest in helping people to understand what diversity and inclusion is. If our employees understand, they are going to start making a change in society, they are going to make that change with our clients, and we are, I think, contributing a little bit to making a difference.
BL: Being one of the largest companies within the region, we truly believe we can make an impact because of the cascading effect that we may have across society.