Ethics and integrity
Our culture of ethics and integrity — the attitudes and conduct that create an honest, fair and compliant workplace — has been a constant throughout our history. It defines who we are as a company and how we as associates treat one another, our suppliers and our customers.
We manage training and awareness programs regarding our Statement of Ethics in every market globally, and training is provided to every new associate within 90 days of joining the company. We work to ensure the tools and resources provided to our associates throughout their careers remain relevant, while promoting and recognizing ethical decision-making across our operations.
Our governance is driven by the following:
Global helpline: Available where we source and in all operating markets, with additional local helplines.
Walmartethics.com: Website available in 14 languages and accessible globally, where stakeholders can ask questions, read our Statement of Ethics, submit ethics concerns and follow up on a previously reported concern.
Global case management system: A repository and a system to manage our cases.
Consistent case management process: Our ethics associates are trained to follow the same procedures globally. This policy is designed to establish consistency in the handling of any concerns raised by stakeholders.
Learning: Establishing consistency across our international markets
In 2014, our Global Ethics and International Compliance teams implemented a learning management system in seven of our international retail markets. Designed to deliver a consistent training experience while reducing risk, this new platform has resulted in more than 44,000 individual training sessions through e-learning modules or instructor-led training sessions since inception.
Recognizing ‘Integrity in Action’
It’s important to recognize our associates when they make extraordinary ethical decisions so their example will inspire others. Our global recognition program, Integrity in Action, celebrates associates who model integrity or encourage others to do so. Associates nominate and vote for candidates. The company recognizes the award winners at the annual Shareholders meeting. Recipients in 2014 included:
Elize Steenkamp
Sales associate, South Africa
Elize goes the extra mile to make sure the job is done right. She models everyday integrity to build trust with customers and motivate fellow associates.
Eliana Toledo
Sales associate, Argentina
Eliana found a wallet in a parking lot. Even though no one was watching, she turned
it in to asset protection.
Arnaldo Marques Silva
Hypermarket, Brazil
Arnaldo found an expensive phone on the ground while leaving work. He went through great lengths to find the owner of the phone and personally returned it.
Edgar Pineda
Department manager, Canada
Edgar witnessed an associate take valuables from a lost wallet before turning it in. He spoke up for good to ensure the wallet was returned with all of its contents.
Meixia Zhang
Front-end associate, China
Mei witnessed associates not ringing up items for friends and family at checkout. She spoke up to ensure the issue was addressed.
Ram Sharam
Operations manager, India
Ram’s facility received an energy bill for 10 times the amount it should have been. He influenced management to revisit the bill, which led to the replacement of faulty meters to correct the issue.
Tiffany Nelson
Cash office team lead, U.S.
While researching a request, Tiffany discovered misuse of credit card data.
Tiffany spoke up and company assets were recovered.
Zahidul Haque
Manager, Global Sourcing, Bangladesh
During a routine factory visit, Zahidul found Walmart boxes ready for shipping. He noticed the location printed on the boxes and investigated further to find that the boxes were going to be shipped to an unauthorized location. Zahidul discovered that the supplier was using part of the Walmart order and labels to ship to another customer and reported the incident.
Masami Tanaka
Sales associate, Japan
Masami-san knows it is not always enough to tell associates what to do. Masami-san takes the extra time to demonstrate how the job should be done and treats all associates with dignity and respect while doing so.
Maricela Rodriguez
Item file coordinator, Costa Rica
Maricela speaks up for fairness and objectivity. She applies policies to all associates — regardless of title. By speaking up for integrity, consistency and fairness, she protects the reputation of the company.
Nector Ruiz
Lead security manager, Chile
Nector routinely educates associates on how to do the job right, every time. He knows “just get it done” isn’t the right way to communicate to associates. By communicating clearly, associates work more efficiently and we can better deliver on EDLC and EDLP.
Neil Sheehan
Head of safety, U.K.
Neil leads with integrity to educate colleagues and suppliers on how to operate a safe and ethical worksite. By doing this, Neil has saved the company approximately £200,000.
