Our goal is to equip our Associates with the tools and support needed to further enhance a workplace culture of inclusion. Globally and across our regions, we have formal and informal initiatives underway to foster
this.
Our leadership competencies and cultural factors in our Leadership Development Toolkit help define the skills and behaviors that have led to long-term success for many of our managers, with personal character, integrity,
and relationship-building at the core. We are currently reviewing this toolkit and planning to add more specific inclusion-based components where applicable to further support our commitment in this area.
Treating each other with dignity and respect is one of our core values, and we do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind. These expectations are reinforced to all Associates in the TJX Global Code
of Conduct. Engagement and learning about our inclusive culture begins right away for our new Associates. Our global new hire orientation program includes a video and materials that discuss our approach to inclusion
and our Welcome, Valued, and Engaged goals. We are proud to deliver a unified message across the Company that lets our new hires know that inclusion and diversity are parts of our culture that we truly
value.
In 2020, we launched a series of new tools and trainings to better support our inclusion and diversity goals. This included a new global training, which educates Associates on our approach to inclusion and diversity
and creates better awareness of unconscious bias. In addition, we provided tools to support our managers in engaging their teams as we believe it is critically important to continue having conversations with
our Associates about this topic. We have also begun incorporating topics related to inclusion and diversity in our learning curriculum. For example, in 2020, we added unconscious bias as a topic in some of our
relevant online courses.
We are passionate about continuing to provide opportunities for Associates across our organization to fulfill their potential. We plan to continue to work on solutions that build on our existing Associate engagement
program to support the needs of our diverse Associate population.
In addition to these global efforts, our various regions have inclusion-related activities. Below are a few examples of our initiatives.
U.S.
Raising awareness of unconscious bias is woven throughout our U.S. operations, through onboarding, store communications, learning tools, processes, and more. In addition to providing all new hires and new managers
in our field organization with unconscious bias training and refreshing it periodically, we also keep the dialogue top of mind through ongoing conversations. For example, we have provided talking points and
scenarios for Store Managers to use during Associate shift huddles. In the U.S., Store Managers also have a tool called “Culture Pulse” available to them. Culture Pulse helps store teams gauge performance
in the areas of customer engagement and in their connections with each other, and is used to help determine where additional engagement with Associates might be needed.
In the U.S., we have formal groups established to support Associate engagement around inclusion and diversity. These Associate Resource Groups offer networking,
development, and support and are available to Associates in our corporate offices, loss prevention departments, and select distribution centers. In 2020, these Groups featured online events focused around mental
health, women’s leadership sessions, and multicultural music gatherings. We also created two new Associate Resource Groups, the Working Parents Group and the Black Associate Resource Group. Learn more about our Associate Resource Groups.
We aim to celebrate diversity in other ways as well. For example, our U.S. distribution centers fly the flags of countries represented by our Associate base and celebrate key holidays that are important to our diverse
Associates. And, although the pandemic forced events to be postponed in 2020, we typically have a large presence in annual PRIDE parades.
Our policies and practices also reflect our philosophy of inclusion. For example, prior to nationwide recognition of same-sex marriage in the U.S., TJX offered benefits to same-sex domestic partners who did not
have access to marriage. Today, we are pleased that our benefits program provides benefits to same-sex married Associates and their spouses. We also offer transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits and related
healthcare services, as well as Workplace Gender Transition Guidelines and a Workplace Gender Transition Plan template, which are designed to help transitioning Associates, their managers, and human resource
partners ensure that adequate support is in place prior to, during, and after transition for those Associates. Additionally, in recent years, we have updated our dress code policy to make it more gender-neutral
and enhanced our parental leave policy. We are currently reviewing our policies to ensure the use of gender-neutral pronouns. We are proud to have scored a 90 on the Corporate Equality Index of the U.S.-based
Human Rights Campaign in 2020.
CANADA
In Canada, we have inclusion and diversity committees that support the overall inclusion and diversity efforts in our home office, distribution centers, and stores. We also have a Values Committee in the home office
for coordinating inclusion-focused events. We offer formal programs, such as “A Winning Balance,” to help Associates better understand their teams and be more effective leaders. In addition, we have
informal processes across the organization, such as pre-shift huddle discussions and short “did you know” postings that cover topics that support our goals for driving inclusion and diversity. In
an effort to inspire, motivate, and reinforce Associate morale, TJX stores run The JOY Project, a customer service and Associate engagement initiative. This effort works to build strong connections between managers,
Associates, and customers, and recognizes behaviors that mirror important aspects of our culture.
We also aim to celebrate diversity. As in the U.S., the pandemic postponed events in 2020, but we typically support annual PRIDE events across Canada, and also host a diversity picnic at our home office that kicks
off with an Associate huddle around why diversity is important to us.
EUROPE
In Europe, we continue to invest in additional training related to inclusion and diversity, designed to continue to foster a creative, inclusive, respectful, and productive workforce. An important part of the process
is to seek feedback from a broad range of Associates, and we have listening groups across our organization to drive deeper insight into our Associates’ day-to-day work experience. We have established a
cross-functional inclusion and diversity team to fast-track certain elements of our existing strategy, including launching a toolkit to help Associates create inclusive Associate Resource Groups and delivering
a training and development calendar.