Walmart Global Tech India’s Post

Why in 2018, 8000 coffee shops in the US were shut for a day? Starbucks a company with 8,000 U.S. stores and 175,000 employees, responded to a highly publicized act of racial discrimination by a Starbucks employee against two African American men by closing all its U.S. coffee shops for a day for unconscious bias training. On April 12, 2018, two African American entrepreneurs had scheduled a business meeting at a Starbucks in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square neighbourhood. They sat without ordering, waiting for a local businessman to show up for the meeting. The store manager called 911 on them, despite the fact that they were behaving neither violently nor disruptively. When the police arrived soon after the call, they arrested the young men. The incident was viewed by the Starbucks' leadership team, including the CEO, as "a disheartening situation". To react to the incident, the leadership decided to close down its stores for a day of unconscious bias training, aimed to raise awareness of racial bias and discrimination. Starbucks also focused on providing more training and development for employees to ensure they lived by company values daily. CEO Kevin Johnson reflected on how to ensure every Starbucks employee not only understood but emotionally connected to the company's mission and values in their daily work. On the other hand, here in India, some leaders are being proactive and have begun the journey of diversity, equity and inclusion and have taken prevention very seriously. So excited to share that I (Shikha Mittal) along with Be.artsy: Awareness Experts empaneled trainers Piyush Kumar Amrapalee Dutta VANDANA DV (She/Her) Kakoli Das Mandal Himanshi Awaal Communications Coach Pooja Aman Sharma Gitanjali Thite Varsa Nishanth Dr. Archana Gupta, PCC conducted 28 unconscious bias trainings in the last two days and gearing up for 300 more in the next 15 days for a leading financial firm. Prevention is better than cure. Don’t wait to take corrective measures, start inclusion right from the beginning. #starbucks #starbuckscoffee #casestudy #casestudies #traininganddevelopment #training #learninganddevelopment #learning #humanresources #trainings #bsfl #financial #finance #usa #leadership #ceo #discriminations #philadelphia #rittenhousesquare #911dispatch #police #diversityequityinclusion #diversity #inclusion #unconsciousbias #unconsciousbiasawarenesstraining

Do you still think DEIB(Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging)needs a business case ? Think again.. While researchers are still trying to establish emphirical causality, the correlation of DEIB to business performance and risk mitigation has been ascertained a while back. While the growing intolerance & polarisation and the resulting instability in geo politics has made things difficult for multinational organisations, it is all the more important that we hunker down and focus on creating a sense of belonging for our employees and an inclusive mindset while driving business goals.

Cultivation, Connection, Culture, You and Me   Walmart had our Belonging summit today focused on building on our values and pushing us further.   Key takeaways: Belonging starts with belonging to yourself. Know yourself, love yourself, believe in yourself. There are unspoken words within divisive phrases no one talks about. Talk about it, ask about it. Be different. Working towards a shared goal can bridge the divide. Seek that, build that, live that. Stories matter. They make us human. They make us real. They have power. #YouBelong #TeamWalmart

So much has been done in so few years!

“Want some chocolate sprinkles with your slavery-themed ice cream?” Sounds absurd, right? But that’s how it sounded to many of us when Walmart rolled out a Juneteenth-themed ice cream with a label that read: “Share and celebrate African American culture, emancipation and enduring hope.” Not only does ice cream belittle such an important event (like, can imagine buying holocaust cakes?!), but it also doesn’t feel right to commercialize and make profit from slavery history. The immediate public backlash caused Walmart to apologize and pull the ice cream from the shops. But how on earth did it make it onto the shelves in the first place? In my post last week I was talking about the often costly price of not having an effective DEI strategy — and this is the perfect example. Even the biggest and most prominent organizations get it so wrong. Where was the chief diversity officer in their product development team? It’s all very well to have a DEI committee setup but if it’s not integrated throughout all departments it doesn’t amount to anything. DEI in the workplace can’t just be an HR exercise, it needs to include the voices of people at all levels, from the ground floor to leadership. Neglecting their experiences means disregarding a significant dimension of diversity. And the consequences of that can be as damaging as a slavery-themed ice cream. If you need help with making sure your DEI work is truly integrated throughout all departments, drop me a reply and I can send you more info. Stay brave, Melissa

#walmart's open door policy. Working with walmart was a great experience.. one of the wonderful policies they have is "Open door policy". This policy lets an employee ("associate", in walmart speak) raise a concern with a higher ranking manager or ask questions without the fear of reprisal. IMO, this policy does wonders to the organisation culture. Some captured here. What do you think? How many companies can do this? Does it require organisational courage? #organisationalbehaviour #organisation #innovation

  Starbucks leaders win shareholder lawsuit challenging diversity policies   In a brief decision, the Eastern District of Washington knocked a Starbucks shareholder lawsuit firmly out of court, dismissing the action with prejudice. The complaint alleged that Starbucks officers and directors had breached their fiduciary duties by causing Starbucks to adopt illegal racially discriminatory policies in pursuit of employee diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. The court’s ruling was issued in a docket entry with a note that an order is forthcoming (Natl Center for Public Policy v. Schultz, August 11, 2023, Bastian, S.). Alleged illegal policies. The complaint was initially filed in Washington state court by National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) and subsequently removed to federal court. NCPPR is a Starbucks shareholder represented by the American Civil Rights Project (ACR Project). NCPPR’s website recently described its purpose as “to provide the conservative movement with a versatile and energetic organization capable of responding quickly and decisively to fast-breaking issues.” ACR published an open letter in March 2022 demanding the retraction of “discriminatory policies” of Starbucks Corporation. The policies related to increasing employee DEI at Starbucks, including goals of achieving BIPOC representation of at least 30 percent at all corporate levels and at least 40 percent at all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025. According to ACR, these policies caused Starbucks to violate the Civil Rights Act and created “tangible risks” that materially threatened the value of Starbucks and its shareholders’ interests... This story can be read in its entirety at the Wolters Kluwer Vital Law site (no paywall) at https://lnkd.in/gUwZr5tG. As reported by Lene Powell. #Starbucks #DEI #FiduciaryDuties #CorporateGovernance #ShareholderDerivativeSuit  

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐬! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠⁉ Starbucks stores are unionizing all over the country! Starbucks has gone from a case study on the power of creating positive work environments to…well, I’m not sure what in the hell is going wrong with them. So, there are a couple of objective lessons here for all leaders to consider: 1️⃣ Pay your employees well. 2️⃣ Don’t assume that you know what your employees need. Go directly to them and hear what they have to say. 3️⃣ The statement “where there’s smoke, you better believe there’s a fire!” is always true! 4️⃣ Pay your employees well (notice a theme here?) ➖➖➖ For the past 18 years, I’ve worked with hundreds of companies such as Nike, Activision Blizzard, and the U.S. Army to: ✔ Increase employee retention ✔ Conduct workplace investigations ✔ Transform manager and employee challenges ✔ Solve diversity-related issues in the workplace This success has led to my clients branding me as the "𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓". The Employee Whisperer system elevates the relationship between leaders and their workforce. For a limited time, I’m making the “𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝑺𝒊𝒙 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒔” available to use during your next meeting. ***** 👉 Type “𝟔” in the COMMENTS below, and I’ll get it to you right away for FREE! #management #leadership #starbucks #laborrelations #unions

What if… You removed friction for your clients? John Furner, Walmart's CEO, recently highlighted that shoppers prioritize convenience and are willing to pay for it. Companies must continue to innovate to “serve people in a way that saves them time, takes friction out of their lives, lowers some of the decision-making they have to go through”.  Some of you may think that this isn’t relevant, especially if you are not in the retail sector. Yet it most absolutely is! This is universal across all sectors. Here’s why. Success hinges not on our priorities, but on our clients’ rapidly evolving preferences and expectations, and we must anticipate vs. react. Here’s how… 1.  Be a steward of the industry: Dive deep into understanding client behaviors, preferences, and the disruptors shaping our industry. 2.  Master the art of discovery: Engage in genuine conversations to uncover what truly matters to your clients. 3.  Deliver with Excellence: Ensure your services are aligned, and not just available. Evaluate how “easy” it is to work with you, and how well you anticipate their needs. Consistency is key. Our goal should be to make our clients feel valued and understood, creating experiences that resonate deeply with their needs. Inspired by Walmart's focus, commit to being proactive, adaptive, and most importantly, attentive to our clients. It's not just about meeting expectations but exceeding them. Complacency stagnates. Reframe standard. Explore endless possibilities. Live inspired. #whatif #success #productivity #leadership #aq