Walmart’s Senior Director & diversity champion Donald Fan highlights the findings of the latest McKinsey report on the US Black employee experience. He also outlines how the retail giant is improving the workplace experience for Black/African Americans and people of colour; and helping them to climb the managerial ranks more quickly to achieve talent parity.
A few days ago, McKinsey & Co published a report on Race in the Workplace: The Black Experience in the Private Sector. It addressed complex, systemic workplace issues impacting Black/African Americans in the private sector. The research for this report includes data submitted by 24 top companies across various industries, including Walmart. Its purpose is to drive transparency, honest dialogue, and action towards racial equity.
One of the most surprising findings from the McKinsey study is that it will take 95 years for Black employees to reach talent parity (or 12% representation) across all levels in the private sector on the current trajectory. Other key findings include:
- 43% of Black workers make less than $30,000 per year, compared with 29% of the rest of the private sector.
- Black workers are underrepresented in the highest growth geographies and the highest-paying industries. They are overrepresented in low-growth geographies and in frontline jobs, which tend to pay less.
- Almost 60% of the Black labour force is concentrated in the South, compared to one-third of the rest of private-sector workers.
At Walmart, our overall people of colour representation in the US workforce stands at 47%; with 37% in management and 27% at corporate officer level. Black and African American representation is 21% overall; with 12% in management and 9% at corporate officer level. The promotion rate for Black and African American management associates currently stands at 17%.
We are still on the journey to achieving racial equity in our workplaces throughout America, and have put in place several initiatives to help achieve it; and speed up talent parity for Black and African American associates.
RACIAL EQUITY PLAN
In June last year, our CEO Doug McMillon announced a five-year, $100 million commitment to establish a Center for Racial Equity to accelerate our efforts to achieve racial equity. The pledge is part of an ambitious effort to influence and lead change in society by investing resources and developing strategies to increase fairness, equity and justice in all aspects of everyday life.
The investments are particularly focused on achieving racial equity in our nation’s criminal justice, education/workforce, financial and healthcare systems. Our aim is to find the areas where our core business can help change systems that perpetuate racism and discrimination. This is in addition to the work we have been doing internally to build a more inclusive company.
CENTER FOR RACIAL EQUITY
The Center for Racial Equity funds research, advocacy, innovation of practices and tools. It also supports the work of Black philanthropic leaders and organisations that serve Black communities. It also provides counsel across Walmart to increase understanding and address the structural racism that persists in America to improve our efforts that promote equity.
We have early momentum with our Center for Racial Equity, which recently announced $14.3 million in grants for 16 non-profit organisations. Walmart is committing an additional $3 million to OneTen, a coalition of leading companies in the United States that are coming together to upskill, hire and advance one million Black workers over the next 10 years into middle-skill jobs, as reported.
Walmart also joined forces with America’s largest and top-ranked historically Black university, North Carolina A&T State University to launch the Equity in Education Initiative. The aim of this new programme is to increase the number of African American college graduates securing careers in fields critical to the nation’s workforce. The programme will support undergraduate students with tailored resources and assistance as they pursue degrees in business, engineering and other professional disciplines. Walmart has committed a $5 million investment into this initiative.
DRIVING RACIAL EQUITY
Additionally, we created a group of four Shared Value Networks (SVNs) to help society address the root causes of racial disparities. SVNs are teams of Walmart associates that come together to help solve societal problems by identifying the natural overlaps between Walmart capabilities (products, services, technology, sourcing, jobs, and advancement, etc) and opportunities to advance racial equity at scale.
In recent years, our CEO has been leading the way by committing to multiple national pledges to help achieve racial and gender parity across all levels in the workplace; not just at Walmart, but across Corporate America through his role as Business Roundtable Chairman.
McMillion is also heavily involved in driving the racial equity agenda within Walmart. In a recent email to all our associates, he outlined his vision and expectations for racial equality at Walmart. He stated: “As an associate at Walmart, you are expected to truly, authentically, and more deeply embrace inclusion. We must work together to actively shape the culture to be more inclusive and not just accept our differences but celebrate them – all the time – within every team. We have made a difference in the world in so many ways; we can make a meaningful, lasting difference in racial equity, too.”
CANDID & AUTHENTIC RACE CONVERSATIONS
As a part of the multitude of efforts in driving racial justice internally, McMillon has also initiated a video series, On the Journey: Conversations with Doug About Racial Equity at Walmart. He hosts candid conversations with Walmart leaders on various racial justice topics; and explores opportunities to build a culture of inclusivity and equity in our workplace, and beyond the four walls of our company.
Walmart also launched the RACE Ahead (Raising Authentic Conversations on Equity) series in June 2020, with a panel conversation featuring senior company leaders discussing Walmart’s response to racial inequity and the disparate impact of Covid-19 on communities of colour. Each session seeks to create a safe space for transparent, relevant and solutions-oriented conversations that are respectful and inclusive of all perspectives.
McMillon also chairs the President’s Inclusion Council to help improve our talent pipeline and diverse representation in senior leadership; by operationalising practices, principles and processes related to Walmart’s culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy. Our organisation proceeds with open and honest conversations that foster trust-based relationships; nurtures an inclusive environment; and regularly takes action to mitigate racial and gender inequity and injustice. Additionally, our Associate Resource Groups utilise monthly events and listening sessions as a feedback loop to surface their collective voice and connect with diverse talent.
TRAINING FOR RACIAL EQUITY
We believe training is also key to achieving equity. We were intentional and strategic in 2018 when we began working with the Racial Equity Institute (REI) to deliver training focused on examining systemic racial inequity in its institutional and structural forms. Hundreds of associates have completed REI’s two-day Phase I training to date; and the workshop is a requirement for all US officers. We also launched a self-paced race and inclusion curriculum in August last year, for all US associates. This includes learning modules on cultural competence, becoming an ally, inclusive leadership and racial equity.
Additionally, our new DE&I playbook ensures that equity and inclusivity is integrated across our business and talent processes. It adopts upstream thinking; and aims to explore and resolve the root cause of inequality through committed action and targeted change. It starts with cultivating an equitable and inclusive work environment. Our DE&I Toolkit introduces fair, equitable and bias-free processes, policies and practices during our talent life cycle from recruiting, hiring, talent review, promotion and performance evaluation; such as diverse slates, diverse interviewing panel, and posting open positions internally first to drive talent development and mobility. Investing in these critical moments enriches the career experience of our diverse talent, increases engagement, elevates performance and improves their overall experience at Walmart.
HOLDING LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE
Finally, we hold all leaders accountable for enhancing diversity across all levels of the organisation. Each business unit has in-depth visibility of the talent pipeline and movement through our Enterprise DE&I Dashboard; and develops its own customised DE&I action plan to sustain the progress. Many functional areas have also established a Racial Equity Committee to strategise focused efforts and drive advancement.
All our leaders are also accountable for DE&I results. More than 72,000 of our managers have Inclusive Leadership Expectations (ILE) targets they must meet each year. They are required to mentor/sponsor at least two associates, participate in or lead DE&I training and conversations, and more. ILE is measured during the annual performance evaluations. Non-inclusive behaviours and violation of the Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy result in a reduction of management bonus payout and, if necessary, termination.
All our DE&I initiatives aim to create an inclusive culture at Walmart, which ultimately helps to improve the workplace experience for all associates. We believe we are stronger as a company and society when every associate is heard, included and empowered. We are not just hoping for that change, but taking bold action to create it.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Donald Fan serves as Senior Director of the Global Office of Culture, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Walmart Inc. In that role, he has been responsible for leading various functional areas at different times; including strategy development, marketing & communications, analytics, business insights, programme design and implementation, and stakeholder relations.
Prior to this role, Fan worked in Walmart’s Information System Division in various technical and analytical roles. Fan provides thought leadership in digital transformation, diversity, equity, inclusion, innovation through published articles, public speeches, and panel discussions at various venues.
Fan is also a Board Director of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) and Leadership Board of Diversity MBA Magazine. He also serves on the Chief Marketing Officer Council, Women Business Collaborative Advisory Council, Advisory Board of LinkedIn, Business Intelligence Board of the Chief Learning Officer Magazine, and others. He taught at a college in China before coming to the US for graduate studies.
Sign up for our newsletter
