EXPERT
REPORT OF WILLIAM T. BIELBY, Ph.D.
Betty Dukes, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc.
I have been retained by Brad
Seligman and Jocelyn Larkin of the Impact Fund and by the law firm of Cohen,
Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, counsel for plaintiffs in Betty Dukes, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ("Wal-Mart"). I have
been asked to review materials pertaining to personnel policies and practices of
Wal-Mart and to address three issues.
The first is whether key elements of the personnel system at Wal-Mart
are uniform across the
I have testified as an expert
witness in both California Superior Court and Federal Court on cases involving
workplace discrimination. I have served
as an expert in several other cases involving issues of gender discrimination
in large, multi-establishment national and regional retail firms, including
class action cases involving Lucky Stores, Publix, Sherwin-Williams, and Home
Depot. A list of cases in which I have been
identified as an expert or have given expert testimony since 1998 is attached
as Exhibit A.
I received a Ph.D. in Sociology from
the
I have received national awards from
three different professional associations for my research on gender, labor
markets, social psychological aspects of work, and organizational personnel
practices. I have served on numerous
panels, advisory committees, and professional workshops on topics relating to
workplace discrimination, organizational personnel policies and practices, and
research methodology. I have served as an advisor, consultant, or reviewer for
the following organizations and agencies: the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the
U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Science
Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Academy of
Sciences, the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, Stanford
University, and the Writers' Guild of America, West. I have also served on the editorial boards of
leading social science journals, and I regularly review manuscripts for
scientific journals on topics relating to organizational behavior, employment
discrimination, gender and work, and research methodology. I have been elected to several offices in the
American Sociological Association. I
served for three years on the ASA Council, the organization's governing body,
and I am currently President of the Association.
My consulting rate is $275 per hour,
plus expenses. My rate for time spent in
depositions $550 per hour, with a four-hour minimum per day.
I have reviewed the deposition
testimony of Wal-Mart managers responsible for creating and implementing the
company's personnel policies, as well as the testimony of managers who made decisions
about compensation, hiring, promotion, job assignment, and related personnel
matters. I have also reviewed the documents
used as exhibits in the depositions of these individuals. Among others, in the human resources and
diversity areas I have reviewed the testimony of Kevin Harper, Vice President
of the People Division Wal-Mart Stores and Specialty Group; Coleman Peterson,
Executive Vice President, People Division; Charlene Jarrells Porter, Senior
Vice President, People Division; Jeffrey Reeves, former Sam's Club Vice
President of People; and several People Directors and Regional Personnel
Managers. At the senior executive and
operations levels, I have reviewed the deposition testimony of Thomas Coughlin,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Wal-Mart Stores Division; Don Harris,
Executive Vice President of Merchandising and former Executive Vice President
of Operations of Wal-Mart Stores; Jim Haworth, Executive Vice President of
Operations and Chief Operating Officer of Wal-Mart Stores; and I have also
reviewed the testimony of current and former Divisional Vice Presidents,
Regional Vice Presidents, District Managers, and Store Managers. A complete list of the depositions I reviewed
appears in Exhibit C.
The documents I reviewed included: organizational charts; correspondence, memos,
reports, and presentations relating to personnel policy and practice, diversity,
and equal employment opportunity issues, and documents describing the culture
and history of the company. In addition
to documents that are deposition exhibits, I was also provided with the expert
report of Dr. Marc Bendick and tables from the report of Dr. Richard Drogin.
In addition to the materials described
above, I have also relied upon a large body of social research on organizational
policy and practice and on workplace bias.
Social research conducted across many decades has generated considerable
knowledge about what generates and sustains workplace inequalities. That same research, either directly or by
implication, points to the kinds of workplace policies and practices that are
likely to minimize bias. The relevant
research has applied multiple methodologies in a variety of contexts, including
experiments in controlled laboratory settings; ethnographies and case studies
in "real world" organizations both large and small, public and
private, and in a range of industries; surveys done with representative samples
of workers and employers; and historical studies based on archival materials
from the United States and abroad. Thus,
the scientific evidence about gender bias, stereotypes, and the structure and
dynamics of gender inequality in organizations that I rely upon has substantial
external validity and provides a sound basis for analyzing the policies and
practices of Wal-Mart. My method is to
look at distinctive features of the firm's policies and practices and to
evaluate them against what social science research shows to be factors that
create and sustain bias and those that minimize bias. In litigation contexts, this method of
analysis is known as "social framework analysis."[1]
Below, I first summarize my overall conclusions
about gender bias and the effectiveness of anti-discrimination policies and
practices at Wal-Mart. Next, I address
the issue of uniformity in personnel policy and practice at Wal-Mart. After that, I describe the firm-wide policies
and practices at Wal-Mart that create and sustain barriers to women's career
success and the effectiveness of the firm's efforts to identify and eliminate
those barriers and guarantee equal employment opportunity.
Centralized coordination, reinforced
by a strong organizational culture, creates and sustains uniformity in
personnel policy and practice throughout the organizational units of
Wal-Mart. Subjective and discretionary
features of the company's personnel policy and practice make decisions about
compensation and promotion vulnerable to gender bias. Finally, I have concluded that there are
significant deficiencies in the company's policies and practices for
identifying and eliminating barriers to equal employment opportunity at
Wal-Mart. The basis for my conclusions
is explained below.
Wal-Mart's People Division is
responsible for corporate-wide human resource policy. Policies emanating from the Home Office in
Bentonville are overseen by the Executive Vice President ("EVP") of
the People Division, who described his duties as "overall responsibility
for getting, keeping, and developing Wal-Mart talent worldwide."[2] The EVP reports to the company's President and
Chief Executive Officer and sits on the corporate Executive Committee.[3] The senior human resources executives in each
of the company's divisions report to the divisional top executives, with a
"dotted-line" reporting relationship to the EVP of the People
Division. For example, in Wal-Mart
Stores Division 1, the Senior Vice President of People reports directly to the
division's President and CEO, and reports indirectly to the EVP of the People
Division, and a similar reporting relationship exists in the Sam's Club
division.[4] These senior human resources executives meet
weekly with the EVP of the People Division, where people activities in the
divisions would be discussed.[5]
A Primary Policy Committee with
representatives from each of the company's operating divisions as well as the
Home Office formulates and approves all new human resources policies. A Secondary Policy Committee that includes
representatives from the People Divisions of each of the operating divisions
and the home office also reviews the policies, and ultimately all policies are
approved by Wal-Mart's Executive Committee and Executive Vice President of
People before being disseminated throughout the company.[6]
The human resources function is
organized hierarchically within divisions.
For example, in Division 1, the company's approximately 2800 stores are
organized by six divisional areas, with five or six regions within each area,
and 80 to 85 stores within each region.[7] Each store has an hourly employee with the
title of personnel manager who coordinates hourly recruiting and "CBL"
and performs payroll functions.[8] Overseeing store-level human resources
activities, including staffing and compliance with government regulations and company
policies, are the Regional Personnel Managers ("RPM"), and most of
them work out of the corporate Bentonville Home Office. RPMs are responsible for the management
staffing of stores (e.g., participating in the recruitment and selection of
Store Managers and Co-Managers), overseeing the Management Career Selection
process, and evaluating store management teams.
Each of the thirty-five Regional Personnel Managers in Div 1 reports to one
of the three People Directors at the Home Office, who in turn report to the
Vice President of the Wal-Mart Stores People Division.[9] People
Directors meet weekly with RPMs, provide them with training, direction, and
support, and oversee training and orientation.[10] Mr. Harper, Vice President of the Wal-Mart
Stores People Division, testified that among the responsibilities of his office
are reviewing salary levels for district and regional managers, setting start
rates for Assistant Manager, Co-Manager, and Store Manager positions, and the rate of salary adjustments for hourly
employees.[11]
Sam's Club has a similar hierarchical
organization to its human resources function, with Regional Personnel Managers
reporting to a Vice President of People.[12] Former Vice President of People at Sam's Club
Jeffrey Reeves testified that 99% of the human resources policies of Wal-Mart
Stores and Sam's Club were identical.[13] Wal-Mart Stores CEO Thomas Coughlin also
testified that the policies of two operating divisions were generally the same.[14]
Wal-Mart's computerized information
system is a key element of the company's uniform personnel policies. The uniform policies and guidelines are
available throughout the company via the Pipeline intranet on-line database,
and information relied upon by managers is distributed centrally via the
Manager's Workbench.[15]
Wal-Mart is well known for its innovations
in using sophisticated information systems to maintain centralized
decision-making and control in its business operations. Writing in the Sloan Management Review, Thomas W. Malone, one of the leading
experts on this topic, described Wal-Mart's centralized system as follows:
By centralizing pricing,
buying, and promotional decisions on a national level, Wal-Mart was able to
deliver better-quality products for lower prices than most of its competitors -
with the result that small towns across the
Deposition
testimony is consistent with this account of centralized control in operations,
and it demonstrates that the same system of control extends to the human
resources area. For example, each store
manager receives a computerized daily recap for the store that includes
detailed information on both operational and merchandising factors such as
sales by department, price changes, inventories, and invoices, and personnel
factors like computer-based learning ("CBL") completions, payroll, attendance,
full-time and part-time hours, and evaluations.
District managers get a similar recap for each store in their district,
and Regional Vice Presidents get a recap twice weekly aggregated to the
regional level.[17] District managers rely on these reports to
intervene with store managers to address any exceptions that are not in compliance
with company policy and guidelines.[18] Each month, a "People P & L"
report is generated by the Home Office for each store, reporting information on
separations, turnover, and workforce demographics. Aggregated reports are produced at the level
of district, region, and division.[19]
In addition to acting upon
information generated by reports rolled up from the store, district, regional,
and divisional level, uniformity in human resources policy and practice is
monitored via frequent store visits by District Managers and Regional Personnel
Managers. District Managers are
expected to visit each store in their District once every two weeks and submit
reports about those visits to the Regional Vice President.[20] Each Regional Personnel Manager also travels
weekly to visit stores in their region, and reports from those visits are
submitted to the People Director responsible for the Region.[21]
An organizational culture is a
shared set of values and beliefs about how things are done in the organization.[22] A strong and widely-shared organizational
culture promotes uniformity of practices throughout an organization. Wal-Mart is widely recognized by social
scientists and management scholars as an organization with a strong culture,
with practices and policies typical of such firms. These include the emphasis on the company's founder
and its history, a mission statement defined by core values, frequent
communication about the culture to employees, orientation and training about
the culture for employees at all levels of the organization, promoting managers
from the ranks of hourly employees, and rotating managers among locations.[23]
Wal-Mart materials make frequent
mention of Sam Walton's personal
biography, the history of his founding of the company, and how his personal
values (and those of others in his family) became core beliefs and values for
the company.[24] Personal encounters with Sam are recounted as
significant events in employees' lives, and stories about them are an important
part of company lore.[25] The
company's "Three Basic Beliefs" and other core elements of its
mission and culture appear consistently in written, on-line, and video training
and orientation materials.[26] Corporate culture is also a topic covered
frequently in Wal-Mart World, the company newsletter distributed to all
employees of Wal-Mart Stores and Sam's Club.[27] Corporate culture is an important element of
company-wide meetings, including the annual shareholders meeting and events for
managers and associates held at the beginning and end of the year.[28]
New employees learn the Wal-Mart
culture by viewing videos about the company's history, completing CBL modules
about elements of the culture, and reading the Associate Handbook.[29] Employees in Wal-Mart stores attend a daily
meeting held at shift changes, where managers discuss the company culture and
employees do the Wal-Mart cheer.[30] Additional instruction and orientation on the
Wal-Mart culture is included as part of the training given to new managers and
ongoing training given to managers at all levels of the company.[31] Wal-Mart and Sam's Club managers at the Home
Office attend weekly Saturday morning meetings, and the first meeting of the
month is devoted to a culture topic.[32] According to Ms. Muzingo, the company's
30(b)6 deponent on corporate culture, the meetings are a deliberate effort to
sustain the culture as the company grows:
I think
as a company we recognize as we get larger that we are going to have to work
hard to make sure that the culture stays intact. And so we
look for lots of ways to do that.
And one of them is that you have this large group of people that comes
together on a weekly basis and so it's a good
opportunity
And certainly that audience of
people are largely comprised of individuals that travel out to the stores on a
weekly basis, and so that's a good way to make sure that they're being trained
and exposed to the culture in the hopes that when they go to the stores they
also will be training and developing people on the culture.[33]
In sum, consistent with the
organizational research on this topic, Wal-Mart's distinctive corporate culture
is sustained by focused efforts of the firm through on-going training and
socialization, communication specifically designed to reinforce its distinctive
elements, promotion from within and relocating managers from store to store, and
shared experiences among employees that build commitment to shared beliefs and
values. As a result of these efforts,
employees achieve a common understanding of the company's ways of conducting
business.[34] This can be seen in the way various
operational and personnel practices that might otherwise be coordinated solely
by written rules enforced from above become part of the company's culture. Examples of these, which are fully understood
by nearly all employees, are concepts such as SWAS ("store within a
store"), CBWA ("coaching by walking around"), "Grass
Roots," "Open Door," "Store of the Community,"
"Every Day Low Prices," "Ten Foot Rule," "Sun-Down
Rule," and "Servant/Leadership."[35]
At Wal-Mart in 2001, women
outnumbered men by nearly two to one in the hourly ranks (65.2% female for
Wal-Mart and Sam's combined, Drogin Appendix Table 5a) and men outnumbered
women by almost two to one in salaried management positions (33.2% female). At Wal-Mart Stores (Wal-Mart/Supercenter/Neighborhood
Markets) in 2001, women's representation among hourly supervisors (78.5% of
Team Leaders, job code 101) exceeded their representation among hourly
salespersons (64.4% of Sales Associates, job code 501; see Exhibit D). Sales Associate is the largest job
classification in the company, employing over 200,000 individuals, and there is
substantial segregation within that job category. For example, in 2001 women comprised over 90%
of those employed as Sales Associates in men's wear, infant/toddlers, health
and beauty aids, domestic goods, and ladies sportswear, and less than 25% of
those employed as Sales Associates in hardware and in Supercenter food
departments such as dairy products, meat, frozen food, and produce (Exhibit D). Few men work in the front-end position of Cashier
(job code 501, the second largest job category, with over 150,000 employees),
which was 89.5% female in 2001. Not
every department is sex segregated; for example, the gender mix is relatively
balanced among Sales Associates in automotive (43.6% female), electronics
(47.2% female), and candy, tobacco, and cookies (55.4% female).
In store-level supervisory and salaried
management positions, women's representation drops with each step up the job
hierarchy. Although women outnumber men
by nearly four to one among hourly supervisors, in 2001 they comprised only
45.1% of the Support Managers (job code 1050, "team lead"), the
highest-level hourly supervisory position (Exhibit D). Moving into salaried management, in 2001 they
comprised only 37.6% of Assistant Managers (job code 43000), 21.9% of Co-Managers
(job code 41000), and 15.5% of Store Managers (job code 40000).
A similar pattern holds at Sam's
Club, but at a somewhat lower level of segregation. In 2001, women comprised 54.1% of hourly
employees but only 31.2% of salaried managers (Drogin Appendix Table 5b). Among the hourly ranks, in 2001 women were
71.8% of Cashiers (job code 501, the largest job category, employing over
16,000 individuals). Four of the six
largest job categories are highly segregated, either done mostly by women (job
code 320, "demo ptnr," 92.7% female in 2001) or mostly by men (job
code 300, "shoe mngt," 19.1% female; job code 816, "tire
tech," 1.1% female; and job code 530, "cart ptnr," 2.3% female).
The hourly supervisory position at
Sam's Club is team lead (job code 910, 39.4% female in 2001). At Sam's Club, an Area Manager is a salaried
position below the level of Assistant Manager.[36] The largest Area Manager positions are Front
End (job code 43350, 64.8% female in 2001), Bakery (job code 49900, 58.2%
female in 2001), Receiving (job code 43360, 34.0% female), and Meat (job code 49950, 8.5% female). Assistant Manager-level positions are
Merchandising Manager 1 (job code 43370, 17.3% female in 2001), Merchandising
Manager 2 (job code 43380, 16.0% female), and Business Manager (job code 43390,
36.6% female). Men outnumber women by
almost four to one among Sam's Club Co-Managers (job code 41200, 22.0% female)
and by about 10 to 1 among General Managers (job code 40000, 9.2% female).
Dr. Bendick's benchmarking analysis shows
that there is a significant shortfall in women's representation in management at
Wal-Mart relative to other companies in the large-chain retail industry. He also shows that the shortfall is
consistent over time and across regions of the
In this section of my report I
summarize the scientific literature upon which my opinions are based. In footnotes, I provide citations to sources
in peer refereed journals, in important books and edited volumes in relevant
fields of social science research, and, whenever possible, to review articles
by leading experts who summarize the findings of social science research on
gender bias in organizations, stereotypes, and related topics.
Depending on the job, organizational
setting, and work environment, there are many reasons why men and women can
have different career trajectories. For
example, jobs may have job-related skill and experience requirements that
differ, on average, between men and women.
Gender disparities arising from such factors would not be considered
discriminatory, so long as the employer is not responsible for differences in
men's and women's qualifications (e.g., by not providing equal access to
training). Conversely, employers create
gender barriers when they make decisions about individuals' suitability for
jobs, training, and support or their compensation based on beliefs about a
person's gender rather than on his or her actual qualifications. Employers also create gender barriers when
they ignore (or encourage) an organizational climate that is hostile towards
women and inhibits them from performing to their full potential. Sometimes, practices that appear to be
gender-neutral have the effect of denying to women the same opportunities that
are available to men. For example, using
employee referrals as a recruitment mechanism is likely to reinforce a
workforce's existing gender composition.[37]
One way gender bias affects career
outcomes is when stereotypes are allowed to affect personnel decisions. Gender
stereotypes are beliefs about traits and behaviors that differ between men
and women.[38] For example, men are believed to be
competitive, aggressive, assertive, strong, and independent, while women are thought
to be nurturing, cooperative, supportive, and understanding. Men are assumed to place a high priority on
their careers, while women are assumed to be more strongly oriented towards
family, even though research demonstrates that the commitments of men and women
with similar job opportunities and family situations are virtually identical.[39]
These kinds of stereotypes are
relevant to how men and women advance in careers with Wal-Mart. For example, if women are believed to be
committed to and constrained by family circumstances, and men are not, women
will not be given the same consideration as men for management positions that
are believed to interfere with family obligations, especially if there is no
reliable and systematic way to assess employees' interests in management
positions.
When women perform successfully in
male-dominated contexts, their accomplishments are more likely to be attributed
to luck, help from others, or special circumstances rather than to their
ability, whereas comparable performance by men is more likely to be attributed
to their superior skills.[40] Moreover, stereotypical behaviors that are
believed to be typical of men are often viewed as inappropriate for women. For
example, it is less acceptable for a married woman with young children to place
a high priority on her career than it is for a married man. Similarly, a woman who behaves in an competitive,
assertive, and independent manner often elicits disapproval from those around
her.[41]
Because of gender stereotypes, individuals
tend to ascribe "masculine" traits to men and "feminine"
traits to women, and individuals tend to assume that the prevalence of
"masculine" traits among women and "feminine" traits among
men is rare. A large body of research
demonstrates that the tendency to invoke gender stereotypes in making judgments
about people is spontaneous and automatic.[42] As a result, people are often unaware of how
stereotypes affect their perceptions and behavior, and individuals whose
personal beliefs are relatively free of prejudice or bias are susceptible to
stereotypes in the same ways as people who hold a personal animosity towards a
social group.[43]
In the employment context, career
barriers resulting from gender stereotypes and gender bias are likely to be
consequential for women working in a traditionally male domains, such as the
middle to upper managerial and professional ranks of large corporations,
engineering divisions of firms, in the military, and in historically
male-dominated industries such as skilled crafts and construction trades.[44] At Wal-Mart, women comprise a majority of
employees overall and about two-thirds of those in hourly positions, but they comprise
only about a third of those in salaried management positions, and most higher
level management positions have a low representation of women.
A large body of social science
research demonstrates that stereotypes are especially likely to influence
personnel decisions when they are based on informal, arbitrary, and subjective
factors.[45] In such settings, stereotypes can bias
assessments of a woman's qualifications, contributions, and advancement
potential, because perceptions are shaped by stereotypical beliefs about women
generally, not by the actual skills and accomplishments of the person as an individual.[46] In decision-making contexts characterized by
arbitrary and subjective criteria and substantial decision-maker discretion, individuals
tend to seek out and retain stereotyping-confirming information and ignore or
minimize information that defies stereotypes.[47]
Social research establishes clearly
that the historical representation of women in a job has a substantial impact
on compensation and other job rewards, mobility prospects, and workplace
culture.[48] In retailing, management has historically been
viewed as "men's work" while women were viewed as appropriate for
cashier and clerk positions. Wal-Mart's
founder, Sam Walton, described the traditional view of men's and women's roles
in the industry as follows:
In the old days, retailers felt
the same way about women that they did about college boys, only more so. In addition to thinking women weren't free to
move, they didn't think women could handle anything but the clerk jobs because
the managers usually did so much of the physical labor -- unloading trucks and
hauling merchandise out of the stockroom on a two-wheeler, mopping the floors
and cleaning the windows if necessary.[49]
Experimental
studies on stereotyping show that male and female job applicants with identical
personal traits are matched according to their gender to jobs that are
considered predominantly-male and predominantly-female.[50] And studies done in both experimental and
natural settings demonstrate the impact of "sex role spillover,"
whereby gender-linked traits associated with male-dominated occupations can
profoundly affect the working climate for women.[51]
A large body of research in
industrial sociology, dating back to the 1950s, shows that individuals who find
their opportunities for advancement blocked respond by lowering their goals and
aspirations, and by lowering their commitment to their work compared to others
with more promising career prospects.[52]
Deponents ranging from store
managers to top operations executives testified that there are no written criteria
for selecting hourly associates for promotion into management or for promotions
into Co-Manager or Store Manager positions, beyond the minimum requirements. They also testified that managers who make
those selections have discretion to devise their own criteria, with no
monitoring or oversight over how those criteria are devised or applied.[53]
Wal-Mart managers gave similar
testimony about promotion to hourly supervisory positions such as Support
Manager. Company guidelines specify
minimum criteria based on discipline, tenure, and performance evaluations, however
there is no other written policy or guideline specifying the criteria to be
used to select among candidates who meet the minimum criteria. Store managers are allowed to consider other
factors and apply other criteria, and it is left to their discretion to devise
and apply them.[54] For example, Store Manager Arturo Mireles
testified that he was aware of no written criteria to be used in making
decisions about promotion to Department Manager or Support Manager. His practice was to rely on a range of
unwritten criteria, including subjective factors such as teamwork, ethics,
integrity, ability to get along with others, and willingness to volunteer to
come in to assist in the store or at another store outside of regular work
hours.[55] While factors like these might have common sense
appeal and some might in fact be appropriate to consider in making promotion
decisions, assessments will be biased unless they are assessed in a systematic
and valid manner, with clear criteria and careful attention to the integrity of
the decision-making process.[56]
The same kind of discretion is
allowed in decisions about compensation for hourly employees. For example, in Division 1, each job is
categorized into one of five job classifications, each with its own hourly
starting rate. However, according to
company policy the Store Manager can pay up to two dollars an hour above the
stated rate, based on his or her assessment of factors such as previous pay and
experience. There is no company
guideline and no training on when and how to adjust pay upwards, and while
overall payroll is monitored, there is no monitoring of these individual
adjustments.[57] In fact, at the Store Manager's discretion, a
new employee can be paid more than two dollars above the specified start rate,
and in such instances no exception report is generated.[58]
Annual pay increases in Division One
are tied to performance evaluation ratings, with a percentage increase
guideline specified by the Home Office. A
Store Manager can give a raise larger than the specified amount at his or her
own discretion. In addition, employees
can be given merit increases for "exceptional performance." The company guideline is that a merit
increase of four or five percent can be given no more than once per year, and
it cannot be granted within 90 days of an annual performance increase or raise
due to a promotion.[59] However, there is no guideline for assessing
"exceptional performance" and no monitoring of the number of people
who receive increases and how frequently they are given to any specific employee.[60] Managers can and do give merit raises more
than once per year.[61]
Consistent and systematic job
posting is an effective way to determine who is interested in and available for
promotion to higher-level positions. An
effective system also communicates clear and accurate information to employees
about the training and experience required to become eligible for a job, about
job conditions, and about how the job fits into a career path in the
organization.[62] Wal-Mart People Division Vice President
Harper agreed that the company benefits from posting, by allowing people to show
interest in a position. He added: "I think anytime you get the right
candidate into the right job, the success of that person would certainly
reflect in the performance of their area of responsibility." He agreed that posting benefits employees by
giving them "an opportunity for promotion or an opportunity for
diversifying their career by being able to work in different parts of the
store."[63] Coleman Peterson, the Executive Vice
President of the company's People Division, gave similar testimony: "Job posting ensures the company that it
is able to attract and identify as many talented people as possible for jobs
that are needed and for the individuals it provides an opportunity to apply for
positions in the company that can allow them to move forward in their
careers."[64] Mr. Peterson, who has been an advocate for
the adoption of posting policies at the company, has also testified about their
impact on workplace fairness. He testified
that posting reduces litigation expenses because it affects "the fairness
of how people get picked for jobs."
According to Mr. Coleman:
"People understand where the jobs are and they understand what it
is you need to do to qualify for the jobs."[65] The testimony of these two executives from
the company's People Division is consistent with the professional literature on
human resources policy. Unfortunately,
Wal-Mart's posting systems do not meet the criteria of effective and fair
policy and practice. Wal-Mart has
separate posting systems for hourly and management positions, and each has
identifiable deficiencies that make them vulnerable to bias.
Current company policy specifies
that openings for hourly supervisory positions are to be posted within the
store where the opening occurs. Online,
computerized posting began in the late1990s; prior to that there was paper
posting of some positions.[66] However, under current policy, Store Managers
have the authority to choose not to post a position. There are no written guidelines regarding
when to depart from the posting policy, and there is no monitoring or review of
exceptions to posting of hourly positions.[67] Store
managers also have authority to waive minimum requirements regarding time in
current position and coachings, and there are no guidelines specifying when
this is appropriate.[68] In addition, there is no requirement to post
openings that are filled by lateral moves, so, for example, a manager can
choose not to post an open supervisory position and instead informally approach
an existing supervisor and ask that person if he or she would like the
position.[69]
Prior to 1998, management positions
in Division 1 were not posted. Since
then, posting of Store Manager, District Manager, and some other positions has been
done via the computerized Management Career Selection ("MCS") system,
although an employee needs the approval of his or her District Manager before
applying via the MCS system.[70] Co-Manager, Assistant Store Manager, and
Management Trainee positions are generally not posted.[71] As with hourly promotions, the Regional
Personnel Managers have discretion to depart from the policy on posting management
positions, although there is no written policy on when that is appropriate.[72] An exception report shows whether or not a
position was posted and how long it took to fill a position, but no record is
made of reasons for exceptions to the posting policy, and no statistical
summary is complied regarding exceptions to the posting policy.[73] At Sam's Club, management positions are not
posted, and on-line posting of management trainee positions began just
recently, in early January of 2003.[74]
The company's practice of requiring
relocation across stores in order to move into salaried management positions
makes the promotion process especially vulnerable to gender stereotyping. While it may indeed be the case that, on
average, more women than men face family constraints that limit their ability
to relocate for a management position, stereotypes lead people to act on an
assumptions that overstate the extent to which that is true.. The absence of a systematic mechanism for
determining which employees are available for and interested in promotion from
the hourly ranks into management is especially problematic in this
context. In the absence of systematic,
reliable, and timely information on the interests and availability of
individual men and women, stereotypes about women's and men's family
commitments and constraints will lead decision-makers to overlook or discount
the availability of qualified women who want to advance into the salaried
ranks. Similarly, District Managers who
must give there approval before a salaried employee responds to a posting under
the MCS system are likely to be influenced by stereotypes in the same way.
Lack of clarity in the relocation
requirements associated with promotion to salaried management positions is
likely to discourage some women from seeking promotions. Managers consistently testify that hourly
employees usually move to a different store when they become management
trainees and are promoted to Assistant Store Manager positions, and promotion
to Co-Manager and Store Manager almost always involves relocation as well.[75] Less consistent is testimony about whether an
employee must be able and willing to relocate their place of residence in order
to be considered for a management position.
For example, in District Manager Daniel Carter's district in Northern
California, employees applying for the Management Training program have been
asked to certify in writing that they are willing to transfer "to any
location within the Wal-Mart trading area" to receive training and again
at the completion of training.[76] Former Regional Vice President John Butler
required Co-Managers to be willing to relocate "whenever and wherever we
need them."[77] Similarly, Store Manager Bernard Seaman
emphasizes the relocation requirements of the Management Training program when
speaking to hourly employees who express interest:
Q. What do you tell that employee about the
scope of that relocation requirement?
A. I say, you realize you could be relocated,
and it could mean from -- in my case now,
In con