Walmart: Insufficient Support of LGBTQ

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Current Situation
Relevant Measures
Implementation
Timeframe
Monitoring
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The concept of diversity continues to gain importance in modern society. The main reason for this is the further spread of the idea that gender, sexual, racial, or any other identity of a person does not determine her or her professionalism. Therefore, corporations begin to focus more closely on creating friendly environments, where no one of the employees would experience any kind of discrimination.

LBGTQ presumably are the category of the population that still is facing one of the highest degrees of xenophobia, for which reason the need for inclusion initiatives remains considerable. It is worth noting that they should not presuppose relying on sexual orientation or gender self-identification as the only hiring or promoting criterion since such an approach is counter-productive in terms of business performance. Rather, workplaces are to eliminate open aggression towards homosexuals as well as Trans persons, so that there are no barriers for competent specialists with such identities. This requires intensive promotion of awareness that needs to target at communicating that LGBTQ people are not worse professionals by definition, hence should not be considered unequal to the heterosexual and cisgender.

Current Situation

Walmart is among the companies whose behavior in terms of gay right protection has been ambivalent throughout the recent decade. It its first half, the retailer was silent about the cases of discrimination, “citing a corporate mandate to remain neutral on controversial issues” (Lybarger, 2016, para. 2). It would be impossible, however, for a nationwide company to avoid participating in social discussions for a long period, as its well-being depends strongly on the values and preferences of its customers. Therefore, since the mid-2010s, Walmart has shown its support of LGBTQ, in particular, by opposing anti-gay legislations.

Nevertheless, the ambiguity still exists, which actually is normal in the short run. In 2016, Lybarger characterized Walmart’s protests against the local laws that threatened the social security of LGBTQ people as “purely symbolic” (para. 10). In 2021, McKay reports a considerable difference between the image of the retailer in mass media and the actual situation. According to her, although “the company was designated a 2021 Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality”, its real friendliness is around 3 out of 5 (para. 6). These calculations rely on the response by the employees, both those who proclaim their homosexual identity and heterosexual. The former, however, are quite few, which, as the author recognizes, may partly discredit the outcomes.

In one respect, the small amount of gay respondents is quite natural because such people make a statistical minority in society as a whole. Along with this, it may be a marker of certain issues that actually are possible to guess from the replies. Thus, the survey has shown that LGBTQ employees of Walmart are less satisfied with career opportunities in comparison with their heterosexual coworkers; the overall rating is 3.2 versus 2.7 stars, respectively (McKay, 2021, para. 10). The picture of such a kind allows assuming that the former may be unwilling to disclose their identities due to the fear of poorer promotion prospects and possibly improper attitude.

Relevant Measures

Walmart’s initial policy of silence, which actually lasted several decades, along with the outcomes of the above survey shows that the company prefers to behave as if homosexuals did not exist. Another possible, although indirect, confirmation of this is the fact that the owner of Walmart, Jim Walton, supported the proponents of anti-gay political initiatives. Among those was Jay Dickey who stated that “there were no homosexuals in his district” (“Walmart and the Walton family”, 2021, para. 4). Consequently, non-hetero individuals, and non-cis apparently as well, may be invisible in the corporation, which determines the need for appropriate inclusion initiatives.

The main purpose, as said above, lies in promoting awareness, which, in turn, has to cover the following aspects. First, the employees of the retailer at all levels, beginning at the highest, have to realize that homosexuals are different from heterosexuals neither in personal nor in professional terms. It is not reasonable, therefore, to prevent them from career promotion, as competence does not depend on orientation. One of the most apparent ways to communicate this idea is making the personnel acquainted with the biographies of famous gay and bisexual people, for instance by spreading thematic booklets. Realizing that a talented artist or scientist not necessarily is hetero would allow for better representation and gradual but stable change in the public opinion.

Another problem in the case under review apparently lies in mixing personal and work relationships. In other words, the management of Walmart appeal to their negative attitude towards homosexuals, which most probably rests on stereotypes and prejudice, as to an argument against promoting those. Such an approach is as much destructive as employing LGBTQ exclusively by this criterion since the resulting quality of the company’s performance may decrease seriously. Teams where personal motives prevail over business goals cannot be productive, and accomplishing the latter is impossible in case bosses value sexual orientation more than competence. It would be reasonable, therefore, to teach the personnel mutually respective behavior regardless of their opinions about each other. A possible way to do this is trainings that target at improving teamwork skills.

Implementation

As said above, one of the ways to improve the visibility of LGBTQ is popularizing the gifted and outstanding representatives of this category of population. A comfortable channel of spreading such information is brief but informative booklets, ideally with illustrations and of pleasant design for maximal attractiveness. It would be relevant to leave those in personnel recreation rooms, canteens, and other areas where employees spend their free time and may need reading to abstract themselves from work. An essential nuance is the need for focusing not solely on the support staff, but on the management as well since they are responsible for corporate policies, hence the friendliness of the workplace.

Regarding the above tolerant behavior trainings, they are quite compatible with any other forms of team building. It may be sufficient for noticeable progress in a certain period to devote 10-15 minutes of each meeting to the topic. Modelling conflict situations and their resolutions, emotion-control techniques, theory-based activities such as prioritizing the factors of productive teamwork – tasks of those kinds do not require much time and effort but can be helpful. Similar to the previous solution, it is critical to involve the administration because employment and promotion decisions depend on them.

Timeframe

Lasting improvement, which is the main purpose of the initiative, cannot be rapid; it requires regular repetitions throughout a relatively long period. In the case under review, it is unreasonable to count on less than 2-3 years. Within those, each corporate meeting, whether they occur weekly or monthly, has to involve a tolerance component, and the booklets need replacing every 1-2 months to allow for a constant flow of new information.

Monitoring

It is not sufficient to offer a solution, as it is senseless without a proper implementation that, in turn, requires close supervision. In the given case, it is most reasonable to appeal to the activists of gay right movements because, as mentioned above, the owners of Walmart are not quite enthusiastic about promoting LGBTQ. Cooperation with local authorities is possible solely in democratic states, while republican governments, including that of the retailer’s home state of Arkansas, will hardly support the initiative.

The activists are to not only prepare booklets, receive permissions for spreading them in Walmart stores, and provide sufficient amounts. Finding competent team building coaches and sharing the contacts of those with the administrations of the stores is their responsibility as well. Then, it is critical to collect reports on a regular basis to ensure that the solutions have been implemented successfully and sabotage is minimal, if any.

Conclusion

The insufficient visibility of LGBTQ remains a big problem, primarily due to the inadequate stereotypical perception of this group of people. This not only discourages its representatives from disclosing their identities, but also can reduce their chances for career promotion. Considering the data on the latter, Walmart apparently is among the employers that are less LGBTQ-friendly in fact than they may seem to be from their media images. Therefore, there is the need for promoting awareness, for instance, by making the staff at all levels acquainted with the achievements of talented and famous LGBTQ people. Another relevant solution is team-building trainings that would help Walmart workers, especially the management, avoid extrapolating their personal attitude to the other on work relationships.

References

Lybarger, J. (2016). Why Walmart became LGBT-friendly.Advocate, Web.

McKay, S. (2021). Walmart ranked 6 on LGBT support.Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Web.

Walmart and the Walton family: not friends of the LGBT (despite the PR). (2021). Making Change at Walmart. Web.

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