Walmart Global Tech India’s Post

At a recent meeting with Walmart’s Belonging team, I shared this anonymous quote: “Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget." This quote struck me, because this is what drives a culture of belonging: not just thought, but action. If we want everyone to feel they belong, then everyone has to take an active role in fostering that culture. I would love to hear what you’re doing to drive belonging with your teams. #YouBelong

Last week, Walmart and Sam’s Club associates from all over the world gathered here in Bentonville, AR for Associate’s Week. The spirit and energy that this annual event breathes into our collective hearts as Walmart and Sam’s Club associates cannot be overstated. It is invigorating to have so many people here in our relatively small city at the heart of Walmart, USA. It’s a richly diverse gathering, not just in terms of cultures and countries represented, but also in diversity of career journeys, life experience, educational backgrounds, and so much more. This was the first year I was able to attend the Associate Celebration that wraps up the week. I saw incredible entertainment (Lizzo, anyone??). I also heard from Paris Hilton and Robert Downy, Jr. about their products available at Walmart. I enjoyed the lighthearted antics of host Peyton Manning, hearing leaders from different parts of the company talk about our future, and seeing the unique things happening at various stores around the world. What was most impactful to me though, was the message from CEO Doug McMillon as he recognized three amazing associates for their dedication and the difference they make every day. He spoke about the impact of consistent effort towards achieving goals, the importance of celebrating wins and success, and the inspiration to be found in moving targets. I really needed that message. I’m personally coming out of the most difficult year of my professional life to date. That idea of “moving targets”, for whatever reason, really clicked and resonated with me. We have been experiencing a lot of change recently in Walmart Global Tech, some of it unprecedented for many of us. It’s been a challenge to stay optimistic and seek out success in times of uncertainty. It’s so easy to lose sight of positivity when things are happening around us that we can’t control. But there are always things we can control, even in the midst of the unknown. Through that lens, moving targets are a really positive thing - an opportunity for a different way of working, a chance to discover a spark of creativity, a moment to foster new ideas. Change can stifle us with fear, or motivate us towards evolution. The rest of this year, I will be working on the latter. Here’s to an incredible remainder of FY25 at Walmart. I look forward to what the future holds! #WMT2024

So this is me getting as close to feeling like Justin Timberlake as I ever will at the Dallas Pride Parade. Despite all the feels happening for me personally here, this moment captures what it truly means to be a part of something bigger. Beyond the music, the float, the banners, and the countless high fives from the crowd, there was an amazing group of partners (employees) coming together to stand for visibility, equality, and change (in a state that can sometimes feel unwelcoming and even hostile to those just trying to live a life as their authentic selves). Just as Pride Parades are more than just parades, Employee Resource Groups (Partner Networks at Starbucks) are more than just "DEI" hashtags and photo ops. They are an opportunity to leverage the scale and power of an organization to uplift employees, causes and communities that can directly benefit from our support.   To be transparent, I do not have an official leadership role in any of the Starbucks Partner Networks, my involvement is ad hoc and in the moment. And high fiving in parades was never part of my career goals. But from the perspective of my “day job” I see direct benefits through the lens of my professional development: influencing without authority, connecting with partners across the organization, helping others succeed, project/event planning, public speaking, community engagement – my involvement with the networks checks so many boxes. In short, ERGs drive results on many levels. So if you could use a moment of feeling like a rock star (or being a part of something bigger), consider starting, supporting or leading an ERG. Happy Pride Month. #employeeresourcegroups #tobeapartner

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.

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

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

People are often surprised when they learn I have worked for Walmart close to 30 years and now Fortune is helping me share the WHY! The People-first and family culture was (and still is!) a magnet for me and the way I wanted to live and work! Has it been hard at times? YES! Have there been tears of frustration at times? SURE! Did I sometimes work so many hours that a 40hr / week job would have felt like part-time work? NO DOUBT! But........ Has it also been fun, fulfilling and everything I hoped it would be? YES! Have there been tears of joy when I see people grow and accomplish things that they never dreamed possible? ABSOLUTELY! Was it better raising a family and putting myself, my wife and both my kids through college with Walmart in my corner the whole time? NO DOUBT! I could list many more reasons but I will let you take a look for yourself now! Check out this blog post from Great Place To Work® and other key facts below. https://lnkd.in/g8Nsrts9 Thank you to ALL the associates around the world that make this company so great, Striving for Excellence every day! I am humbled to serve you as we all help our valued customers #SaveMoneyLiveBetter! #WorkHardPlayHard #OurPeopleMakeTheDifference #LeadershipMatters #CultureEatsStrategyForBreakfast #Walmart #WalmartSupplyChain #AGreatPlaceToWork #Fortune100BestCompaniesToWorkFor

On the Monday 21st August we rolled out Mo, our brand-new employee reward and recognition platform, launched as part of an initiative to help everyone feel more connected, and to support the development of positive team habits. As a team, Lily Shippen love celebrating success! It is important to us that we recognise results and appreciate each other, and we feel that Mo is a way that we can do this. The most exciting part of this is its relevance to each LS individual, and what they will be able to do with their rewards (rewards are an amount of credit/spend)! Our team will now be able to utilise that credit to best suit them and their personal lifestyle choices, by choosing a retailer to spend it with. This includes the likes of:  Airbnb  Apple  Nike  Starbucks  Amazon  Virgin Tesco Sainsbury's We believe that by investing into our culture we can ensure that our team feel valued in a way that serves them as an individual. #employeeretention #employeerelations #employeehealth #rewardsandrecognition #peopleandculture #team #teamappreciation

Are you building real a #EmployeeExperience? Do you know your employee journey well enough to identify where to focus your resources and priorities? If you are in that quest, we can help. It is easier than you think.

Small, but meaningful detail of a special #EmployeeExperience... thank you Walmart! 🙏 Today, my personal inbox 📥 was hit by the email below... yep, came from Walmart with the subject: "It's time to celebrate, Ramon! 🎉 "... reminding me about what would have been my 18th anniversary with the company (I'm good with numbers so 3/29 was a special day I would have remembered though 🗓 ). I want to think that this was on purpose, as part of Walmart's Associate Experience Strategy... and not just a glitch or a spam. Perhaps for other former associates, this reminder may have come across as inappropriate or insensitive (like if you were laid off as part of a big reorg, or you left the company due to a poor manager/leadership experience); it was not the case for me, and for that, I really appreciate the note. When companies are purpose-driven ❤️ and realize the importance of the holistic #HumanExperience, that is, working maniacally to improve both, customers and employee experiences, you realize that in the case of employees, you have to understand the total journey, from recruiting to post-job, and create experiences for them not only when they are employees, but before or even after they left the organization. Today I may walk into my Walmart neighborhood market feeling a little bit special, and appreciated. HumanX Insights #HX #EX #CX