At TJX, inclusion and diversity have been an important part of who we are for many years. We view diversity as inclusive of many facets—race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, experience, religion, perspectives, and much more—and we know that a diverse workforce can help us to think creatively, remain agile, and, importantly, be true to our values.
We are strongly committed to continuing to build a more inclusive and diverse workplace where all our Associates feel welcome in the Company, valued for their perspectives and contributions, and engaged with our business mission to deliver great value to our customers every day. We strive to treat all people with dignity and respect and do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or hate of any kind. These expectations are reinforced to all Associates in our The following pdf link opens in a new windowTJX Global Code of Conduct.
We appreciate that this work is a journey. As an important part of that journey, in fiscal 2022 we completed a global inclusion and diversity survey of our Associates and used the findings to help define three core areas of focus for our inclusion and diversity work:
Diversity Presents Itself in Many Ways
Adapted from Johns Hopkins Diversity Wheel from http://web.jhu.edu/dlc/resources/diversity_wheel/
While inclusion and diversity have consistently played an important part in who we are as a Company, we are aware that our work in this area is evolving and can be more effective with input from our Associates. We provide opportunities for our Associates around the world to share their feedback, thoughts, and personal experiences with inclusion and diversity at TJX. As such, we have taken time over the past two years to listen to our Associates and re-assess our Company-wide inclusion and diversity efforts.
Over the course of fiscal 2021 and 2022, we invited our global Associates—who numbered more than 300,000 at the time, across all facets and functions of our business—to participate in a global inclusion and diversity survey. While we found the overall results to be encouraging, the data we gathered has helped us define our global strategy to further support a more inclusive and diverse workplace.
To underpin our work in this area, we have expanded our Leadership Competencies and Cultural Factors, which help express our organizational values and promote consistency in leadership development, to include a new leadership competency and cultural factor focused on inclusion-based values and behaviors. By formally establishing inclusion and diversity as a core organizational principle, we continue to integrate inclusion into the fabric of who we are as a Company.
Additionally, to continue to hear from our Associates, this past year we launched Inclusion and Diversity Advisory Boards in the U.S., Europe, and Canada. The Advisory Boards include Associates representing a variety of functions, levels, and backgrounds across our stores, distribution and processing centers, and corporate offices. Advisory Board members are expected to provide recommendations and feedback to support our continuing inclusion and diversity work and guide us in striving to align our programming with the needs of various Associate populations.
Taken together, these actions are designed to further embed inclusion and diversity within our culture and business practices. They have helped inform our near-, medium-, and long-term global inclusion and diversity strategies, plans, and initiatives—including many of the activities we are proud to report on below. We recognize that as a global company, regional differences may require different approaches; therefore, as we enhance our global program, we are also empowering our regions across the globe to adjust their initiatives to meet local needs.
We recognize that having a diverse Associate base can help make us a stronger company and better able to serve our broad base of customers around the world. As we aim to increase the representation of diverse Associates along our talent pipeline, we are working to increase our efforts to recruit more diverse talent while continuing to focus on providing diverse Associates greater access to development opportunities.
To support our recruiting strategies, we continue to build on the training we offer to our talent acquisition teams, including through educational opportunities focused on inclusion and diversity. We use a tool in the U.S., Canada, and Europe designed to help identify and reduce potential unconscious biases in job descriptions and other recruiting materials. Our talent acquisition department has also established an inclusion and diversity committee that aims to increase proactive outreach to diverse communities, engagement with diverse candidates, and awareness and education with internal decisionmakers involved in hiring processes.
We are actively pursuing opportunities to increase minority candidate representation in early career positions, and we continue to work to expand the ways we approach our search for early career professionals. To inspire a broader range of candidates to consider careers at TJX, in fiscal 2022, we developed and expanded relationships with several nonprofit partners in the U.S.—such as Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, The Posse Foundation, Bottom Line, and Thrive Scholars—and have worked with them to support events, career development, and recruitment opportunities for underrepresented high school and college students. We have also enhanced our outreach to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and partnerships with diverse on-campus organizations for recruitment events. We believe these connections can help us create a pipeline of future diverse talent with TJX. Learn more about how we’re working to build a more diverse workforce in our Recruitment section.
Associates at TJX have the opportunity to access an array of development and retention opportunities internally and through external partnerships. TJX’s Global Leadership Curriculum and our Emerging Leaders program are among our strong internal professional development resources. We also have partnered with community-based non-profit organizations—such as The Partnership, Conexión, and a third-party leadership academy designed for Black executives and early- to mid-career managers in the U.S. and Europe, and through Business in the Community in Europe—to create access to external professional development programs for our diverse Associates. We are proud of our culture that prioritizes development and advancement within our organization, as we simultaneously work to build a more diverse pipeline of talent to support our efforts to increase diversity at all levels of our organization.
To support our efforts to fully integrate inclusion into our culture and business practices, we recognize that it is important that leaders from the very top and through every level of our organization exemplify and model a culture of inclusion. We have made it a priority to equip our leaders with the training and tools needed to better understand and embrace working with those who are different than themselves. By adding a focus on inclusion to our Leadership Competencies and Cultural Factors, we aim to formalize inclusion as a foundational value that represents who we are as a Company and how we expect our leaders and Associates to show up every day. As part of this, we are developing tools to support leaders across the Company in reflecting on and implementing inclusion-based values and behaviors. In tandem with this process, we are updating our Leadership Development Toolkit to help leaders across the Company deepen their understanding and implementation of inclusion-based values and behaviors. We are also enhancing our Global Leadership Curriculum to provide our newly hired and recently promoted leaders with tools to champion inclusion and encourage, empower, and engage their direct reports.
In addition to providing tools to support their own learning, we are also equipping managers with resources to help them engage in dialogue with their teams, including support for managers in our stores and distribution centers, to lead discussions with Associates around inclusion, diversity, and other challenging topics, such as unconscious bias.
Inclusion is an ongoing journey, and everyone can play a part. For many years, TJX has offered education to increase Associates’ inclusion and diversity awareness. We believe this helps our Associates better understand how to foster a stronger culture of inclusion in the workplace, and we expect to continue to focus on these foundational education and awareness-building initiatives. When onboarding new hires, our orientation materials emphasize the high value we place on inclusion and diversity, and current Associates have access to an array of online learning resources. In fiscal 2022, we enhanced our education efforts to include an inclusion and diversity awareness training program, which was completed by thousands of TJX leaders globally, as well as a “Standing for Racial Justice” webinar series for Associates in our U.S. home office. Some of our other activities in this area include rolling out an updated unconscious bias training globally, new inclusion and diversity trainings and materials in Europe, and a speaker series on inclusion and diversity in Canada, among many additional initiatives.
To promote awareness and align with best practices, we are also working to continue to encourage honest conversations and Associate feedback. Over the past two years, our inclusion and diversity teams in the U.S., Europe, and Canada have conducted Associate listening sessions and focus groups to help guide open conversations, solicit input, and grow our collective capacity to be champions of inclusion. In fiscal 2022, we launched Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Boards in the U.S., Europe, and Canada, which are intended to empower cross-functional groups of Associates from our stores, distribution and processing centers, and offices to advise on our current and future inclusion and diversity work. Across various functions within the organization, Associates are setting up committees to better incorporate inclusion and diversity into our everyday work—including in merchandising, where teams are finding opportunities to use an inclusion and diversity lens on product assortments as appropriate for our opportunistic buying and off-price business model.
This past year we also launched a new global mentorship pilot initiative to foster Associates’ development by connecting them with leaders in our organization. The pilot is focused on Associates in our Associate Resource Groups and includes formal mentoring relationships, informal mentoring, and facilitated mentoring roundtables that are designed to generate group conversations on topics that were identified during focus group sessions, including career guidance, executive presence, self-awareness, and authentic leadership.
Additionally, in fiscal 2022, we also launched our new Being Inclusive framework to support all Associates, including managers and other leaders, in becoming more self-aware, committing to supporting others, and championing inclusivity. In the U.S., we are bringing this framework to life through our Being Inclusive Every Day initiative that helps leaders facilitate conversations in our offices, stores, and distribution centers.
Being an inclusive organization—and making Associates feel welcome, valued, and engaged at TJX—is important to us as a Company, and we continue in our efforts to model and integrate inclusive behaviors, languages, and practices through our organization. One of the ways we do this is through our Associate Resource Groups (ARGs), which we have been proud to champion in the U.S. for many years and are excited to begin expanding to other regions. TJX’s ARGs are informal yet well organized, and they typically develop annual business plans that outline their goals and objectives. Many ARGs also manage their own annual operating budgets and have funds available for charitable giving and/or community programs. Our ARG groups often host a wide range of events each year, including educational programming for group members and for the general Associate population, volunteer opportunities, social events, and fundraising initiatives.
In the U.S., we have 11 active ARGs that support Associate networking, development, and connection. In fiscal 2022, TJX launched its newest U.S. ARG, the Black Leadership & Associate Coalition (BLAC), to help foster workplace belonging and build a stronger community for our Black Associates. Other ARGs in the U.S. aim to support Associates with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, multicultural Associates, women, working parents, and members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
We are proud to be expanding our ARG program globally. In fiscal 2022, we piloted our first ARGs in Europe and plan to continue rolling out additional groups in the near future. In Europe, our ARGs include groups dedicated to supporting Asian, Black, female, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities, in addition to a group dedicated to Wellbeing. Europe’s pilot ARGs include Associates in corporate offices, processing centers, and stores and are currently focused on developing their individual priorities, which will help TJX Europe continue to evolve its inclusion and diversity efforts moving forward as consistent with TJX’s global core areas of focus. In Canada, we have set up inclusion and diversity committees for home office Associates, distribution center Associates, and store and regional office Associates. Like ARGs, these committees aim to provide opportunities for Associates to share input, generate ideas, and develop annual plans regarding various inclusion- and diversity-related areas. As in Europe, TJX Canada’s committees will also help inform the region’s strategic inclusion and diversity initiatives in support of TJX’s global core areas of focus.
TJX is committed to doing our part to continue to support our many types of diverse Associates as well as to foster greater inclusion within our communities. Beyond ARGs, in the U.S., we enhanced our parental leave policy for benefits-eligible Associates to be more supportive of working parents, and we proudly offer transgender-inclusive healthcare, services, and transition support for benefits-eligible Associates. We also fly the flags of the countries represented by our Associates at our distribution centers; have a gender-neutral dress code policy; and, when not impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, typically have a large presence in annual PRIDE parades. We continue to stand by our 2020 commitment to stand up for our Black Associates, customers, and communities, and as we see examples of violence and discrimination, including against the Asian and Pacific Islander communities and other underrepresented groups, we are reminded that we need to continue to work toward a better future for all people.
The diversity of our Associates helps make us a stronger company and better able to serve our broad base of customers around the world. We are committed to continuing to execute our global inclusion and diversity initiatives to drive sustainable, organizational change while striving to increase diversity in our talent pipeline.
We are also proud of our culture that prioritizes Associate development and advancement within our organization and are pleased that 40% of Associates in managerial positions around the world have been at the company for more than 10 years.2 As we strive to create a more inclusive and diverse workforce, we recognize the importance of building out our talent pipeline with diverse talent and providing current Associates opportunities for growth and development at TJX.
Our workforce reflects a diversity of races, ethnicities, cultures, nationalities, and genders. Globally, in fiscal 2022, women made up 77% of our total workforce and held 68% of our managerial positions.1 We are proud of the strong representation of women across our workplace, including an increasing percentage of our leadership team. Women are strongly represented in our more senior ranks and comprised 47% of Vice President and above positions in fiscal 2022. In fiscal 2022, women earned 80% of our promotions across the globe. We are also proud that in fiscal 2022, 42% of our Board of Directors were women.
In the U.S. in fiscal 2022, people of color3 comprised 59% of our total workforce, held 35% of managerial positions, and 60% of non-managerial positions.4 Within U.S. leadership roles, people of color comprised 14% of Vice President and above positions. In fiscal 2022, people of color earned 49% of our promotions in the U.S. Additionally, in fiscal 2022, 33% of our Board of Directors identified as racially or ethnically diverse.
At TJX, we are firmly committed to pay equity and to fostering an inclusive and diverse environment that provides attractive and accessible opportunities throughout our organization. As a large, complex, and global business, we believe it is imperative that we attract and retain the right talent for TJX at all levels and in all functions. We have designed compensation structures intended to pay our Associates competitively in the market and equitably, based on their skills, qualifications, role, and abilities. We have long-standing processes in place to monitor and support the objective evaluation and approval of compensation decisions in the many geographies where we operate. Our incentive plans emphasize our core compensation objectives, including incentivizing and rewarding performance and sustaining our position of strength in a competitive and changing retail environment.
In 2019, we published our first pay equity analysis looking at gender of our U.S. workforce, and in 2020, we expanded our efforts to include race/ethnicity. We are pleased to report that our most recent analysis, based on 2021 data and accounting for job title, geography, and full- or part-time status, was consistent with findings in previous years. In the U.S., on average, there are no meaningful differences in base pay between Associates based on gender or race/ethnicity at TJX. We intend to monitor our processes and review our data periodically to support our goal of continuing to compensate our Associates equitably based on their skills, qualifications, role, and abilities.
1Managerial positions are defined as Assistant Store Manager (or equivalent level) and above across the Company.
2Statistics cited in this section are for TJX's Fiscal Year 2022, which ended January 29, 2022.
3People of Color includes, consistent with definitions used by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), the following racial and ethnic categories: Black or African American; Hispanic or Latino;
Asian; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; American Indian or Alaskan Native; and Two or More Races.
4Data on ethnic and racial diversity for the U.S. only. Statistics for U.S. Associates are based on racial/ethnic
designations used by the EEOC.
5Data based on our latest U.S. EE0-1 report.
Updated May 2022