Belonging at Walmart

Our Associates

Belonging starts with the associate experience. Around the world, we want associates to feel valued and know they make a difference that matters. We bring that to life by listening to feedback, investing in associates’ growth, supporting their well-being, and creating opportunities for connection and community.

Inspired by Associates

Across our markets, associates tell us what helps them feel welcomed, supported and able to grow, and we use that feedback to keep improving the experience of working at Walmart.  We provide multiple channels for feedback, including regular listening sessions with field and office associates and our annual associate engagement survey. 

We also remain committed to reporting key data about our workforce to enhance transparency: 

Creating Opportunity

We believe talent is everywhere, so we’ve removed barriers to joining and advancing in our company. Whether associates start in an hourly role or mid-career, we believe Walmart is a place where everyone can grow and belong. Our policies, practices, and programs promote fairness and access to development opportunities and advancement for all associates. We bring this to life through our People strategy by investing in associate growth, well-being and digital enablement across our markets. 

In the U.S.:

• Hiring From Within: In 2024, Walmart set a goal to fill 100,000 in-demand jobs with our own associates by 2027. Two years in, we have already exceeded that goal, and by the end of year three, we expect to reach 200,000 in-demand roles filled, doubling our original projection.

• Supporting Veterans: Introduced tools that help candidates discover Walmart roles that fit their skillsets, including a Skills Translator and Job Simulator that help veterans transition between military and civilian life.
• Live Better U: Removes barriers and provides associates with the education and training aligned to in-demand and higher-paying roles across the business. Courses have a growing focus on AI and emerging technology as part of our future-ready workforce strategy, with additional skill-building opportunities available in leadership and operations skills through the Walmart Academy.

• Starting Career Journeys: Launched an AI-powered interview coach to help candidates shine. 
• Walmart Academy: As one of the largest private training programs in the world, Walmart Academy has supported over four million training completions since 2016 in upskilling essential skills and leadership capabilities, all at no cost to the associate.
• Spark Growth: Launched a career development experience for Home Office associates across our office locations in both the US and India to help them grow, explore new possibilities, and navigate their next career move.

Learn more about opportunity at Walmart.

Around the world:

• Live Better U Global Expansion: After a successful launch in North America, Live Better U expanded to associates in 20 countries around the world.
• Walmart Mexico & Central America: After expanding from the U.S. in 2025, Manager Academy enrolled 1,000 associates across Mexico and Central America. Mexico Walmart Educación has also helped thousands of associates earn both high school and university degrees. 
• Walmart Canada: Approximately 10,000 associates have participated in Live Better U Canada since its launch two years ago.
• Walmart Chile: In 2025, nearly 700 associates participated in leadership programs such as Market Manager, Manager Academy, and New Leader Academy.
• Walmart China: The “Leader as Coach” program, which launched in July 2025, and the Leader Acceleration program have empowered more than 800 associates.

Learn more about associate paths to opportunity in our ESG Report.

Supporting Our Associates & Well-Being

Belonging also means helping associates feel supported in their everyday life: in their health, their finances, their families and their mental well-being. 

In the U.S.:

• Associate Benefits: In FY26, we expanded support for diabetes and weight loss, added a neurodiversity benefit, expanded bereavement paid time off, piloted an AI-supported medical plan, introduced $0 copay for certain anti-inflammatory medications, and continued to strengthen mental health access.
  • Walmart aims to provide enrolled participants with access to a virtual neuropsychological evaluation for conditions like autism in four weeks, in partnership with Lyra Health.
• Associate Discount: Associates can use their discount on more than 95% of our regularly priced items across the store.
• Quiet Rooms: Added quiet rooms – a spot to support moments of well-being or faith practices – to our new Home Office buildings and other corporate office locations in the U.S. and began piloting quiet rooms in select facilities.
• Sensory Friendly Closing Hour: Following associate feedback, launched a sensory friendly closing hour from 11 p.m. to midnight at U.S. stores, bringing a calm start to night shift. 

Around the world:

• Walmart Mexico & Central America: Invested 3.5 million pesos to provide hearing aids to associates, improving community, well-being, and connection. Launched Mexican Sign Language courses for deaf associates. 
• Walmart Chile: Announced a new annual bonus program for 30,000 store associates. 
• Massmart: Massmart supports associate well-being in practical ways shaped by associate feedback, from quiet rooms and shared learning spaces to associate-maintained gardens. Programs like “Holding the Space” and Wellbeing in Motion also help associates manage stress, connect with one another and reset during the workday. 
• Walmart China: In FY26, Walmart China upgraded associate benefits and held corporate-wide well-being sessions to promote well-being and benefits. 

Building Associate Community

Belonging grows in everyday moments of connection. Around the world, associates are bringing our culture to life.

• Associate Resource Groups: Our associate resource groups invite people of all backgrounds to connect with each other and provide key insights to drive our business, with groups in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Central America, South Africa, and Flipkart. These groups are open to all associates and have been building community at Walmart for over 20 years, including helping us celebrate key cultural events and holidays together. 

• Fostering belonging with leadership: Associates on the President’s Belonging Council and officer caucuses provide guidance to senior leaders on fostering belonging.

• Celebrating belonging during key moments: We celebrate cultural events such as Martin Luther King Day, International Women’s Day, Pride Month, Veterans Day and International Day of Persons with Disabilities. We also encourage associates to participate in volunteerism through our Spark Good platform and around the world.
• Belonging Champions: In 2026, we launched a Belonging Champions program to celebrate belonging moments that matter to our associates in facilities across the U.S. 

Connection Across Language

Language plays a critical role in helping people feel heard and understood. Across Walmart, we're breaking down language barriers and enabling stronger connections between associates and customers and members through innovative solutions. For instance, we launched a home-grown translation app for associates, added Mayan-language self-checkout options in select Guatemala stores, provide free American Sign Language interpretation services for associates and customers in U.S. facilities and offices, and offered sign language training for thousands of Walmart Chile associates. Associates have completed more than 1 million language learning hours through Live Better U. These efforts make everyday interactions clearer, more personal and more welcoming for everyone.

Our Business

Our culture of belonging shows up in the way we serve our customers and members every day: in stores that feel more accessible, in products that reflect their unique needs and traditions, and in opportunities for suppliers and entrepreneurs to grow with us.

Accessible Shopping Experiences

For many customers, inclusion is felt in the details: a quieter shopping hour, a cart designed for a family’s needs, or customer service in a preferred language. We use feedback from customers and collaboration with other retailers and accessibility experts to continue creating inclusive shopping experiences in stores, clubs and online.

Learn more about our accessible shopping experiences.

• Sensory Friendly Hours: After piloting sensory-friendly hours in Chile, the program expanded to the U.S., Mexico, Central America and Canada. This effort creates a less stimulating environment for a couple hours by changing the TV walls to a static image, turning off the radio and lowering the lights where possible. 
• Caroline’s Carts: Available in all Walmart U.S. stores, these carts feature a built‑in, forward‑facing seat with a five‑point harness—allowing caregivers and customers with disabilities to shop more independently using a single cart. 
• Blind and Low-Vision Navigation: We launched free navigation services for blind and low-vision customers in our U.S. stores and online through Aira and in 2026 began piloting NaviLens at select stores.
• Adaptive Products: On Adaptive at Walmart, customers can find a curated assortment of products for everyone and every need, from the first-to-market Wonder Nation adaptive backpack to mobility aids, tactile clothing, and even gluten-free foods. 
•  Accessible Customer Service: In 2025, we added agents who can speak in American Sign Language on 1-800-WALMART, helping customers speak to our customer service team in whichever language is most comfortable to them. 

Belonging at Every Table

Food has a unique way of helping people feel seen and connected, from cultural celebrations and holiday gatherings to everyday meals around the table. Walmart shows up with the foods, flavors and products shoppers need to celebrate in the ways that matter to them. That can mean adding local Lebanese favorites like garlic sauce and shawarma seasoning, sourcing Masala Magic chips after associates shared what their communities were missing, offering Indian brands and sweets for Diwali, or helping members pull together Easter brunch, holiday dinners and everyday meals with ease. Across every aisle, we’re helping people find what they need for the moments that bring them together.

Investing in Small Businesses

Small businesses employ nearly half the entire American workforce and represent 43.5% of America’s GDP.  We create pathways for more entrepreneurs, makers and local suppliers of all sizes to grow with us, helping us offer products our customers love, build supply chain resilience, and strengthen local communities.

In the U.S.:

• U.S. Grow with Us Program: Walmart and Sam’s Club U.S. spent $67.4 billion in FY26 with small businesses to bring innovative and exciting new products to our customers. Our U.S. Grow With Us Program strategically supports small business growth by providing access to education, supplier finance programs, and discovery opportunities.  
• Open Call: Provides an opportunity for small- and medium-sized enterprise owners to pitch their products to Walmart U.S. and Sam's Club merchants. In FY26, two-thirds percent of their pitches resulted in a deal for businesses to sell their items at Walmart or Sam's Club.

Around the World:

• Walmart Growth Summits: Provides opportunities for local entrepreneurs in our markets to connect with Walmart, including in India, Mexico and Central America, Canada, Chile, and South Africa. 
• Walmart de México Foundation’s Pequeño Productor program: Provides commercial and agricultural training for small producers and farmers. The program has helped participating agribusinesses increase their income up to 90% in the first year of sales and impacted more than 2,000 communities. 
• India’s Flipkart Samarth Program: Positively impacted 1.9 million livelihoods, preserved over 100 traditional art forms, and fostered the growth of thousands of marketplace sellers on its platform.
• Walmart Central America: The Tierra Fértil (Fertile Land) initiative supports local producers by providing access to formal markets, training, and technical assistance. In 2025, Walmart worked with more than 40 agricultural suppliers, benefitting over 1,500 families. 
• Walmart China: The “Produce from her Village” initiative has equipped more than 400 rural women with omnichannel retail skills to transform local products into nationwide brands and foster sustainable economic growth. 
• Walmart Chile: The Innova Challenge 2026 connected university students with Walmart to solve real world problems. Similarly, the #PotenciaBiobío program awarded grants to 200 entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses. 

Our Communities

Walmart has become a gathering place in many local communities, reflecting the local charm and culture of thousands of communities around the world. Helping people live better has always meant more than the products we sell. It also means supporting the well-being of the communities we serve through giving back. When we show up in ways that matter, we help communities thrive.

Associates Give Back to Local Communities

One of the clearest expressions of Walmart’s culture is how associates and customers show up for the communities they call home. Spark Good strengthens local communities by empowering associates and customers to support causes that matter most to them through an online platform that inspires a culture of local giving. Over 71,000 local organizations in the U.S. have registered to be a part of Spark Good. 

Spark Good includes programs like localized grants to community organizations, sharing Walmart’s space outside of the store with local organizations, facilitating associate giving and volunteerism, and providing the ability for customers to purchase products off nonprofit registries or round up purchases while shopping on Walmart.com for their favorite nonprofit. In FY26, our U.S. associates reported more than 282,000 volunteer hours through Spark Good.

Supporting Community Well-Being

More than 4,000 of our U.S. stores are in medical professional shortage areas, so Walmart can be a healthcare resource in communities.

• Hosting Wellness Days: We’ve provided free health screenings for customers since 2014 through Wellness Days at Walmart U.S. and Canada, including free access to glucose, cholesterol, BMI and blood pressure screenings, wellness resources, and affordable immunizations. 
• Investing in Global Health: Around the world, we’re investing in healthy communities through initiatives such as Canada’s expanded Autoimmune Care Program, and pharmacy delivery in the U.S. and PhonePe.

Addressing Global Food Insecurity 

Helping people live better also means helping address one of the most urgent needs communities face: access to food. 

• Fight Hunger Spark Change: Walmart’s 2026 Fight Hunger, Spark Change. campaign helped generate more than $18 million, the equivalent of more than 180 million meals, from Walmart, customers, members, and participating suppliers to Feeding America® and local partner food banks.
• Walmart Canada: Walmart Canada marked its tenth year fighting food insecurity; the campaign has donated nearly 99 million pounds of food to food banks and generated more than 235 million meals for Canadians who need them most. 
• Walmart Central America: In Costa Rica, contributed to feeding 200,000 people in vulnerable situations through a partnership with Obras del Espíritu Santo Association. In Nicaragua, Walmart donated thermal equipment to the Food Bank of Nicaragua to strengthen its distribution. 
• Massmart: Partnered with FoodForward South Africa since 2010 to support food security initiatives and reduce food waste. 
• Walmart China: The Community Food Bank Project, in partnership with Green Food Bank since 2021, served more than 650,000 people in 2025, contributing to a total of 2.46 million people serviced since its inception. 

Supporting U.S. Veterans

At Walmart, we take immense pride in our history of veteran leadership, starting with our founder, Sam Walton, who served in the U.S. Army during World War II. We are committed to serving veterans and military spouses during their service and beyond.

• Hiring Veterans and Military Spouses: In FY2026, we hired over 30,000 veterans and over 17,000 military spouses. We also offer a variety of benefits to support veterans’ well-being. 
• Investing in Veteran-Owned Businesses: We create opportunities for veteran-owned businesses, such as  The Ugly Company Inc. 
• Supporting the Military Community: We support community initiatives such as Wreaths Across America. 

Caring & Connected Communities

In many communities, Walmart is a gathering place where families and neighbors shop and spend time with one another. We believe people live better in communities where they feel they belong and can depend on each other.

In the U.S.:

• Community Champions Programs: Brings belonging to life with our customers and members during cultural celebrations throughout the year, including Native American Heritage Month, Pride, military appreciation, Hispanic Heritage Month, and more. 
• Philanthropy: Walmart.org— As part of a grant made to the Aspen Institute’s program, Weave: The Social Fabric Project, Walmart supported programming that connects, trains and invests in local leaders and organizations committed to building trust, bridging and belonging. 

Around the World:

Globally, our markets invest in initiatives important to their local communities:

• Walmart Mexico & Central America: In Mexico, the Comunidad 2K Volunteer Program was redesigned to align personal and company purpose, activating associates in reforestation, schools, green-area restoration, elder-care visits, and disaster relief. 
• Walmart China: The Big Dream Achiever program in Walmart China has provided more than 500 young people with intellectual disabilities with in-store internship opportunities and engaged more than 2,500 youth, parents, job coaches, and volunteers through workshops, training, and community events since 2019. The “Growing Together with Walmart” project, in partnership with the Beijing All in One Foundation, offers education and personal care resources to students in the Guizhou and Yunnan provinces.