People in Supply Chains

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Responsible Sourcing

Our Responsible Sourcing program sets expectations for product suppliers, monitors supplier performance against those expectations, and works through our business to continuously improve our product supply chains.

Program Foundations

Responsible Sourcing Policies

Associate Policies

Walmart’s Code of Conduct applies to all Walmart associates globally and reiterates our respect for human rights, prohibits the use of underage or forced labor anywhere we do business, sets the expectation that all Walmart associates know and uphold our Standards for Suppliers, and obligates associates to comply with all other relevant policies.

Walmart’s Global Responsible Sourcing Compliance Policy establishes requirements for our merchandising and sourcing associates to buy and source from responsible supply chains, including by:

• Knowing and understanding our Standards for Suppliers and other relevant policies and program requirements
• Not knowingly buying or sourcing from suppliers that are producing products for Walmart using forced, underage, or involuntary prison labor; suppliers with facilities with known safety issues that may result in significant loss of life; or suppliers or facilities that are not authorized to produce for Walmart because of past compliance violations
• Communicating expectations and holding suppliers accountable to the Walmart Standards for Suppliers and Responsible Sourcing Compliance Program requirements
• Considering how certain buying practices might create pressures on suppliers and facilities that may increase risk
• Escalating concerns through our Ethics channels  

Walmart’s Global Forced Labor Prevention policy sets requirements for all Walmart associates regarding the prevention of forced labor and conveys the expectation that our suppliers uphold the principles in the policy. The policy makes clear Walmart’s endorsement of forced labor prevention principles: that workers should not have to pay to get a job, that terms and conditions of employment should be communicated to workers in a language they understand, and that workers should have freedom of movement. It reiterates the expectation that merchandising and sourcing associates will not knowingly buy or source from suppliers producing products using forced labor—including underage labor or involuntary prison labor—in their operations or their supply chain. The policy also communicates expectations and holds suppliers accountable to the Walmart Standards for Suppliers and our Global Forced Labor Prevention requirements.

Supplier Policies

Walmart’s Standards for Suppliers apply to all suppliers that sell their products to us for resale or for Walmart’s own use. Suppliers are expected to cascade these requirements throughout their supply chains – including raw material, component or ingredient suppliers, and subcontractors and agents. These foundational expectations address fundamental issues such as worker safety, forced labor, and harassment and discrimination in the workplace. The Standards for Suppliers are updated from time to time, including in 2024 when Walmart clarified its expectations regarding child labor and retaliation.

Walmart issues and communicates more specific requirements as a condition of sourcing where doing so would help mitigate acute human rights risks. For example, we have issued and communicated specific policies relating to supply chain transparency and safety in Bangladesh and about our expectations related to child and underage labor. And we have published Supplier Requirements for Supply Chain Traceability, which establish expectations that Suppliers document their production and procurement processes, maintain strong management systems for gaining supply chain transparency, and manage compliance in higher-risk upstream supply chains.

Suppliers are also required to comply with Walmart’s Conflict Minerals Policy, including adopting mineral sourcing policies that are consistent with corresponding Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidance.

Seller Policies

Walmart’s Standards for Sellers specifies that our global prohibition against forced labor also applies to Marketplace sellers.

Responsible Sourcing Compliance Teams

To support our merchandising and sourcing teams and to build strong connections with suppliers, we have Walmart Compliance associates in 14 countries (as of the end of FY2024) to support the Responsible Sourcing program. Among other tasks, these associates:

• Help merchandising and sourcing teams understand and mitigate risk and train them on responsible sourcing expectations, processes, trends, and tools
• Provide merchants with a profile of the social compliance status of active, disclosed facilities and suppliers relevant to their business to enable informed decisions
• Work with suppliers to help create an understanding of our expectations and facilitate compliance with our requirements
• Collaborate with stakeholders on industry and regional responsible sourcing issues

Monitoring for Compliance

We monitor supplier compliance with our Standards, including by assessing risks and requiring risk-based third-party audits of suppliers’ facilities.

Assessing Risk. Responsible Sourcing conducts a regular risk assessment to better understand social compliance concerns in the supply chain and direct our resources to the places where they can have the greatest impact. In 2023, Walmart instituted a new supply chain risk assessment process using continuously updated data from Walmart's facility audits and investigations, along with publicly available data (e.g., U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, World Bank governance indicators, and British Standards Institute (BSI) risk indicators), to identify the prevalence of issues occurring in countries where Walmart has sourcing activity. These results inform Walmart’s actions to address key challenges and consider opportunities for improvement.

As set forth in our Audit and Assessment Policy and Guidance document, whether and when an audit is required for a disclosed facility is dependent on several risk-based factors:

• Region/territory risk. Regions and territories are assigned risk levels based on BSI indicators. Facilities in lower-risk regions and territories are typically subject to audits on a less frequent basis while facilities in regions and territories that fall into medium and higher levels of risk are typically subject to regular audits. Suppliers with new facilities located in higher-risk regions/territories are also required to complete a third-party audit for such facilities and receive a Green or Yellow assessment before the facility can produce for Walmart.
• Import channel. New facilities that produce products where Walmart will be the importer of record must be audited and receive an acceptable result prior to beginning production for Walmart.
• Prior audit results. Upon audit, facilities are given a rating from Red to Green (see Managing Non-compliance and Risk section below). Audit results determine re-audit requirements; for instance, an Orange rating may require reauditing more frequently than a Yellow rating.

Worker Voice and Responding to Allegations of Non-Compliance

Managing Non-Compliance and Risk

Most audited supplier facilities are found to be compliant with our foundational expectations (receiving a Green rating), or generally compliant (receiving a Yellow rating). By policy, suppliers are required to remediate any identified non-compliances with our Standards for Suppliers, even if the final assessment is Green or Yellow. Our re-auditing requirements allow us to monitor whether identified issues remain or have been corrected. Many auditing frameworks also require correction as a condition of producing the audit; for instance, SMETAs (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) produce corrective action plans, and WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production) audits do not issue final reports until all findings are remediated. This makes auditing an essential part of the remediation process.  

Audits and cases do surface more serious issues. For example, approximately 10.7% of audits in FY2024 resulted in a facility receiving an Orange rating. Where that occurs, Walmart compliance teams work with merchants and sourcing teams to engage the supplier to communicate the results and expectations for remediation, giving them limited additional chances to bring the facility up to a Green or Yellow rating. In FY2024, 83% of Orange ratings assessed were first Orange ratings, and the remaining were second or third Orange ratings, indicating facilities are generally successful in remediating major issues.

Where information received through an audit or allegation indicates a particularly serious issue may be present and/or we do not have sufficient facts to determine how to handle the matter, we deploy Walmart investigators to gather facts through on-site visits to facilities or through other means. Serious allegations that may warrant in-depth scrutiny could include indicators of forced labor, such as restriction of movement and payment of recruitment fees.

In addition to facility consequences, suppliers may also be given consequences for substantiated non-compliances. Suppliers may be assigned a “strike,” where the investigative review determines they are found to be directly responsible for non-compliant activities or for certain serious violations by their facilities. Ordinarily, three “strikes” within a two-year period will lead to the termination of a supplier relationship with Walmart. Between 2019 and 2023, Walmart has stopped doing business with 19 suppliers in response to serious violations of our standards.

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Collaborating to Address Systemic Risks to Worker Well-being

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation collaborate with suppliers, NGOs, experts, and others to address root causes of systemic risks to worker-wellbeing, foster innovative solutions, and accelerate adoption. We prioritize three issue areas—responsible recruitment, worker safety, and gender equity—across 10 retail supply chains.

Addressing the Dignity of Workers in 10 Retail Supply Chains

As part of our approach to human rights, Walmart has committed to address risks to the dignity of workers in a minimum of 10 retail supply chains by 2025.

To help prioritize key geographies and supply chains, we considered:

• Internal information: Walmart's salient human rights issues; Responsible Sourcing Compliance risk assessment results; sourcing and compliance data; and sourcing and sales data.
• External information: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators; Global Slavery Proportions Index; BSI Supply Chain Risks Reports; and government, NGO, and media reports.

While specific interventions depend on the supply chain and issues in play, approaches within the 10 retail commodity supply chains typically include:

• Engaging suppliers to reinforce expectations, build capacity, and continuously improve
• Collaborating with stakeholders in consortia or task forces to develop and share best practices
• Investing in data and technology to increase transparency around labor practices
• Strengthening demand for responsible labor practices
• Enhancing worker and community voices
• Engaging with governments to advocate for laws, regulations, and enforcement

To illustrate these efforts in practice, below we provide details on our approaches to responsible recruitment in seafood (covering our tuna and shrimp from Thailand initiatives); working conditions and responsible recruitment in North American produce; and worker safety in the apparel sector (touching on our apparel from Bangladesh, home textiles and apparel from India, and home textiles and apparel from Vietnam initiatives).

Responsible Recruitment in Seafood

While forced labor is a global problem, forced labor risks are most acute in certain geographies and supply chains. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have prioritized working with stakeholders to combat forced labor and other exploitative practices in global supply chains. Debt bondage, one of the most common forms of forced labor, can be caused by employers and recruiters charging vulnerable workers recruitment fees, which leaves workers indebted and unable to leave their jobs. 

In 2016, Walmart set an aspiration to help make responsible recruitment the standard business practice for employers throughout global supply chains within a decade. Since then, our business and philanthropic efforts have focused on setting standards for suppliers; collaborating to develop and share best practices; strengthening the supply of and demand for responsible recruitment; investing in tools and transparency; and enhancing worker voice.

Seafood is one sector where efforts have been concentrated.

Working Conditions and Responsible Recruitment in North American Produce

We work to strengthen systems in the North American produce corridor through investments that support fair labor practices and responsible recruitment, including by strengthening underlying systems.

Worker Safety in the Apparel Sector

Walmart expects our suppliers to provide a safe working environment, but safety challenges remain around the world. We have prioritized initiatives focused on the apparel and footwear industries in geographies with acute safety challenges to help improve worker safety in our supply chain and beyond. The examples below build on the long legacy of effort and investment to promote safety in Bangladesh, including as a founding member of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.

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• Human rights risks are complex and are often the result of systemic issues including deeply entrenched economic practices, workers lacking knowledge, support, or tools to safeguard their rights, and inconsistent government regulation and enforcement. These factors make it challenging for any single organization to have an impact.
• Progress in addressing human rights issues depends on the maturity, rigor, and efficacy of local and national infrastructure, supported by means such as third-party standards and initiatives, which requires a critical mass of suppliers and other businesses to align on common standards and best practices. Due to differences amongst nations and cultures there currently is no universal set of standards for responsible or sustainable production and/or certification beyond compliance with the law (e.g., responsible recruitment, hourly wages). Furthermore, there are limits to the efficacy of tools used to monitor compliance with expectations.
• The success of Walmart’s programs is dependent on a vast web of actors, not the least of which is suppliers’ capacity and willingness to meet high standards, as well as their performance. 
• Human rights risks are often localized and beyond the reach of traditional retailer oversight and monitoring tools. While the use of technology to improve transparency and traceability may help, further innovation is necessary to meet these and even then, adoption takes time.
• The breadth of Walmart's global product offerings and dispersed geographical reach of supply chains can present challenges for supplier engagement and risk identification and mitigation. Moreover, certain products can only be obtained from specific regions of the world, limiting options for alternative sources.
• Walmart’s ability to scale more sustainable options depends on customer preferences and demand (which can depend on the cost and convenience of such options), as well as the availability and cost of preferred products, ingredients, commodities, and inputs. Growth or changes in our business can challenge our ability to meet customer demands consistent with our aspiration.

1. Where a facility is required to be disclosed to Walmart, “Active” status denotes that the supplier can use the facility for Walmart production.

2. Facility color ratings denote the seriousness of findings identified in the audits.

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