Human Rights

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Human Rights Commitment and Governance

Human Rights Commitment and Salient Issues

Our Human Rights Statement serves as the foundation of our human rights efforts. It confirms Walmart’s respect for human rights and articulates how our culture and values, as well as international instruments—including the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labor Organization’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights—guide our approach to human rights due diligence. The principles set forth in the Human Rights Statement have also been embedded in our Code of Conduct (applicable to Walmart associates) and Standards for Suppliers (applicable to Walmart suppliers).

The Statement and Walmart's list of salient human rights issues were developed by a working group consisting of leaders from Walmart's associate relations, communications, diversity and inclusion, government affairs, legal, and responsible sourcing functions, among others. 

We first updated our approach to human rights due diligence in 2018. In alignment with UNGP guidance, in 2022-2023 we (with the support of a third party) reviewed our human rights due diligence approaches, including salient issues and focus areas, governance, policies, and practices. Our effort included internal and external stakeholder consultation, including human rights NGOs, academics, intergovernmental agencies, and the investment community.

Embedding Respect for Human Rights

Board and Management Oversight of Human Rights Issues

The Walmart Inc. Board of Directors and Board committees actively oversee and monitor the management of the most significant human rights issues relevant to our company. The Nominating and Governance Committee of the Board is responsible for overseeing Walmart's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda, including our overall approach to human rights, and receives updates on these initiatives from Walmart's Chief Sustainability Officer. Other Board committees, including the Compensation and Management Development Committee, and Audit Committee are also charged with oversight of certain salient human rights issues and company strategies to mitigate potential human rights impacts.

Salient human rights issues are often a topic of Board Committee discussion. Examples in recent years include:

• Wage investments, benefits, training, and pay equity;
• The company's belonging, diversity, and inclusion strategies and programs;
• Our ethics and compliance program; and
• Overall updates on our ESG priority issues, including human rights.

Walmart maintains a cross-functional human rights working group to support teams in advancing respect for human rights through our business.

Additionally, Walmart identifies, assesses, and assigns responsibility for managing issues raised in its annual enterprise risk management process, which includes topics related to Walmart’s salient human rights issues. 

Communicating Expectations

Walmart associates and suppliers are informed of our human rights positions and expectations through the dissemination of our Human Rights Statement, incorporation of principles into our foundational policies and standards, and training and awareness on those policies and standards.

Associates—Basic Beliefs, Code of Conduct, Policies, and Training

Walmart's culture is grounded in four core values: respect for the individual, service to the customer, striving for excellence, and acting with integrity. Walmart's Code of Conduct translates those values into standards and expectations for our associates. The Code:

• Reiterates Walmart's commitment to respect human rights
• Sets foundational expectations on each of our salient human rights issues
• Explains when to speak up and how to speak up, and prohibits against retaliation for speaking up
• Requires compliance with other applicable policies and our Standards for Suppliers

Company-wide training on the Code and targeted trainings on salient human rights issues like discrimination and harassment, freedom of association and labor compliance, and responsible sourcing helps to keep our salient human rights issues top-of-mind.

Read more: Ethics and Compliance.

Suppliers—Standards for Suppliers, Policies, Training, and Communication

Walmart’s Standards for Suppliers, which are embedded in our supplier agreements, set expectations of our suppliers on respecting foundational human rights issues like safe and respectful working environments and the prohibitions of forced, underage, or child labor. Suppliers are expected to cascade the requirements of our Standards to any parties involved in the process of providing products to Walmart. Walmart merchandising and sourcing associates are regularly trained on our Global Responsible Sourcing Compliance Policy, our Standards for Suppliers, and our Responsible Sourcing expectations.

Read more: People in Supply Chains.

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Human Rights Focus Areas

Due diligence across our salient issue set is guided by three factors:

• Connection between the issue and Walmart's core business activities
• The nature, severity, and prevalence of the issue and the current state of practices with respect to the issue
• Walmart's opportunity to have an impact through the deployment of business and philanthropic assets and capabilities

Factors and sources we use to assess the nature, severity, and prevalence of human rights issues include:

• Ethics, Open Door, and associate engagement data and insights, which can reveal gaps, trends, and emerging areas of focus.
• Findings and data from thousands of Responsible Sourcing audits and hundreds of cases and investigations. 
• Internal analyses, including Responsible Sourcing risk assessments; belonging, diversity and inclusion measurement and reporting; and pay equity analyses.
• Prevalence studies and external analyses, including studies produced by NGOs, governmental agencies, and industry groups such as the U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report, World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, Verité Forced Labor Commodity Atlas, Leadership Group on Responsible Recruitment findings and reports like Women in the Workplace and Race in the Workplace, and Seafood Task Force data.
• Stakeholder engagements like those described above through our third-party consultation help us obtain new insights, spot emerging issues, and confirm focus areas.

Where data or insights do not exist to help inform our approaches, we seek to fill gaps through philanthropy or our own studies. For example, the Walmart Foundation commissioned the first comprehensive study documenting the prevalence of forced labor on Thai fishing vessels. And, working with a third-party expert, Walmart is in the process of completing human rights impact assessments in two supply chains to supplement our view of risks and impacts. Consistent with Walmart's approach to systems change, these are designed to provide an overview of potential risks and recommendations for the broader sector and not simply Walmart.

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Management of Salient Issues: Walmart's Operations

We seek to respect human rights relevant to our associates by:

• Setting expectations through policies, procedures, and standards
• Engaging stakeholders and assessing their feedback, insights, and concerns
• Designing and implementing strategies to address an issue and relevant underlying systems

Example strategies relevant to our salient human rights issues are set forth below. For additional information, please see our ESG disclosures on Human Capital: Good Jobs & Advancement for Associates, Equity & Inclusion at Walmart & Beyond, and Ethics & Compliance.

Policies and Standards

As noted above, Walmart's Code of Conduct translates our values and human rights priorities into expectations for our associates. A set of complementary internal and external policies help to clarify expectations regarding salient human rights. Examples include policies related to:

• Treating workers with respect: Pay policies regarding overtime, family leave, and other issues
• Promoting a safe and healthy work environment: Safety & Health in the Workplace Policy; Violence-Free Workplace Policy
• Providing a fair and inclusive work environment: Global Discrimination & Harassment Prevention Policy
• Combating forced and underage labor: Conflict Minerals Policy, Global Forced Labor Prevention Policy  

Stakeholder Engagement

Feedback and insights we get from stakeholders—including Walmart associates, civil society organizations, customers, and communities—shape our approaches to managing salient human rights issues.

Walmart Associates

Listening to one another has been core to Walmart's culture since Sam Walton founded the company. Our approach to listening includes numerous channels to solicit associate questions, concerns, feedback, and ideas as well as approaches to ensure accountability and responsiveness. This includes channels such as Associate Engagement Surveys, Associate Engagement Pulsing Surveys, and our Ethics channels.

For more, see Human Capital: Good Jobs & Advancement for Associates.

Civil Society

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have consulted with human rights NGOs and civil society organizations to gain greater understanding of insights, ideas, and perspectives. These include areas like pay, health and safety, engagement, training and mobility, discrimination and harassment, and diversity and inclusion.

Read more: Human Capital; Equity & Inclusion; Ethics & Compliance.  

Customers and Communities

Walmart has a physical presence in thousands of communities and plays a strong role in helping those communities thrive. We hear directly from customers and community members through in-person dialogue, focused research and surveys, and online engagement. We also use a variety of channels to solicit feedback from our customers, including through focused research, social media engagement, in-person communication in our stores, and outreach through email and phone.

For example, in the U.S., Walmart’s State and Local Government Relations and Community Relations teams are deployed geographically throughout the country and partner with local operators to engage with state and local government leaders, community leaders, and local organizations to help ensure our business meets community needs. Teams engage in two-way sharing with constituent groups close to underrepresented and underserved communities. These groups include the National Urban League, National Congress of American Indians, The Association of University Centers on Disabilities, International Women’s Forum, AAPI, National Museum of the American Latino, and LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.

Strategies for Addressing Our Salient Issues

Assessing Impacts and Risks

As noted above , we assess the nature, severity, and prevalence of human rights issues through data and insights from our Ethics, Open Door, and associate engagement sources, internal analyses and reporting, prevalence studies and external analyses, and stakeholder engagement.

Practices to Embed Respect for Human Rights

We seek to promote respect for human rights relevant for our operations, including through:

• Practices: For example, enhancing pay, benefits, and mobility; promoting belonging, diversity, equity, and inclusion; maintaining open dialogue and listening; promoting associate and customer health and safety; and combating discrimination and harassment
• Advocacy: Public policy advocacy on issues relevant for our workforce, including workforce development, racial equity, and healthcare 
• Philanthropy: Advancing workforce development and belonging, diversity, equity, and inclusion

For additional details on our practices and initiatives, see our other ESG issue briefs including Human Capital: Good Jobs & Advancement for Associates; Equity & Inclusion at Walmart & Beyond; Ethics & Compliance; and Responsible Engagement in Public Policy.

Tracking and Reporting Progress

We track and publicly disclose our progress on salient human rights issues relevant to our operations, including:

• Treating workers with respect: Year-over-year reporting on starting wage ranges, average hourly wages, benefits availability and participation, full-time/part-time ratios; reporting on Associate Engagement Survey participation and results, as well as third-party representation.
• Promoting a safe and healthy work environment:  Ethics and Compliance (including health and safety, discrimination and harassment, and forced labor); annual reporting on training and practices.
• Providing a fair and inclusive work environment: Reporting on Belonging, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, including biannual reporting on representation and promotions, annual reporting on pay equity, and annual public release of EEO-1.
• Combatting forced and child labor: Reporting annually on efforts, including policy advocacy and raising awareness of human trafficking.
• Using technology and personal data responsibly: Digital Trust Commitments  provide a foundation for the company to earn and maintain customer trust in an omni-channel, data- and technology-driven world.

Grievance and Remedy

As noted above, Walmart maintains channels for raising concerns and grievances; each has an associated process for addressing grievances.

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Management of Salient Issues: Supply Chains

We work across industries, geographies, and stakeholder groups to help advance respect for human rights in supply chains with a focus on our salient issues by:

• Setting expectations through policies and standards
• Engaging stakeholders and assessing their feedback, insights, and concerns
• Designing and implementing strategies to address the issue and relevant underlying systems

Example strategies relevant to our salient human rights issues are set forth below. For additional details, please see People in Supply Chains.

Policies and Standards

As noted above, Walmart’s Standards for Suppliers  set forth Walmart's expectations on each of our salient human rights issues for product suppliers. Additionally, Walmart has developed more specific policies, standards, and expectations for suppliers on certain salient human rights issues, including our Global Forced Labor Prevention Policy and Bangladesh safety requirements.

Stakeholder Engagement

Walmart engages with stakeholders—including workers in supply chains and civil society organizations—to get feedback, perspectives, and insights that help us more holistically address salient issues. Examples include:

• We get perspectives from workers in supply chains through worker interviews included as part of supply chain audits, investigations and from workers contacting us via our Ethics channels, and via studies and, more recently, two ongoing human rights impact assessments.
  
• Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have supported studies and analyses that aim to improve understanding of the nature and prevalence of human rights issues in supply chains from the workers' point of view, including a study on migrant labor in Thai seafood industry; an IOM study on migrant labor in Thailand and Malaysia; and a Wilson Center study on wages, working conditions, and recruitment in North America.
• Walmart is currently undertaking two human rights impact assessments where we believe further study can help inform our strategy regarding salient human rights issues in certain apparel supply chains. These assessments include feedback and perspectives from workers, human rights NGOs, and civil society organizations active in the relevant industries and regions.
• Walmart has engaged in forums for the sharing of best practices and spurring action to help advance human rights in supply chains, including the Bali Process Government and Business Forum and the Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment.
• Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have engaged with civil society organizations on human rights topics, including: Avina Americas, CIERTO, Equitable Food Initiative, International Justice Mission (IJM), Issara Institute, Polaris, and Stronger Together.

For more, see People in Supply Chains.

Strategies for Addressing Our Salient Issues

Assessing Impacts and Risk

As noted above, we assess the nature, severity, and prevalence of human rights issues in supply chains through Responsible Sourcing audit and case management data and findings, Responsible Sourcing risk assessment and external analysis, stakeholder engagement, prevalence studies, and other means.

Read more: People in Supply Chains

To focus our efforts, we have identified 10 supply chains where human rights issues are most acute and Walmart has the greatest ability to make an impact. Walmart has committed to helping to address major risks in these areas by 2025.

For further details on our work in these supply chains, see People in Supply Chains.

Tracking and Reporting Progress

We annually publish information on the performance of our Responsible Sourcing program in our People in Supply Chains brief, including progress against the commitment to work on the dignity of workers in 10 retail supply chains, the number and results of supply chain audits, number and nature of non-compliance allegations, and how we work with suppliers to resolve issues. Typical issues include safety conditions, involuntary or underage labor, unauthored production, employment practices, integrity, and working conditions.

Grievance and Remedy

Because of Walmart's indirect relationship with workers in supply chains, the primary mechanisms for raising grievances are with the workers' employers, Walmart's suppliers, and relevant local authorities. As a retailer, Walmart's role is to promote the effectiveness of such grievance mechanisms and remedies by providing avenues for workers, human rights NGOs, and civil society organizations to raise issues. Walmart follows up on issues raised as described elsewhere in this brief. Walmart has also engaged with governments to advocate for strengthened laws and to encourage enforcement.

For more, see People in Supply Chains

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• Human rights risks are complex and are often the result of systemic issues including deeply entrenched economic practices, inconsistent government regulation and enforcement, and workers lacking knowledge, support or tools to safeguard their rights. Issues such as forced labor, unsafe working conditions, and gender inequity require collective efforts to bring about significant, positive, and lasting transformation for the well-being of workers. 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 require a critical mass of suppliers and other businesses to align on common standards and best practices. Due to differences among 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 depends on a vast web of actors, as well as suppliers’ and contractors’ capacity and willingness to meet high standards, and their performance. 
• Human rights risks are often localized and beyond the reach of traditional retailer oversight and monitoring tools. While use of technology to improve transparency and traceability may help, further innovation is necessary to meet these challenges, and, even then, adoption of new technology 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. 

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