The Walmart logo can be seen outside one of its stores in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.
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Walmart has started giving store-level employees body cameras as part of a pilot program at some of its U.S. locations, CNBC has learned.
It's not clear how many of Walmart's stores have the recording devices, but some locations now have signs at the entrance warning shoppers that “body-worn cameras are in use,” according to witnesses and photos posted online .
At at least one store in Denton, Texas — about 40 miles north of Dallas — an employee was seen checking receipts with a yellow and black body camera earlier this month, according to a customer who shared a photo with CNBC.
“While we don't discuss the specifics of our security measures, we are always looking at new and innovative technology used in retail,” a Walmart spokesperson told CNBC. “This is a pilot we are testing in one market, and we will evaluate the results before making any longer-term decisions.”
Walmart, the largest nongovernmental employer in the U.S., is testing the technology after smaller retailers began trying out body cameras in their own stores as a way to deter theft. Body cameras and the images they collect are often advertised as a way to prevent shoplifting, but Walmart plans to use the technology for employee safety — not as a loss prevention tool, according to a person familiar with the matter. program.
A document titled “providing great customer service and creating a safer environment” instructs staff on how to use the devices, according to a photo of the document posted to an online forum for Walmart employees and customers . It instructs employees to “record an event if an interaction with a customer escalates” and not to wear the devices in employee break rooms and bathrooms. After an incident occurs, employees are told to discuss it with another team member, who can help them record the event in the ethics and compliance app, the document said.
The body cameras at Walmart come during the holidays, when store associates work long hours and deal with awkward interactions with customers that can be more tense and hostile than usual.
“There's too much harassment happening all year round, but especially during the holidays… it's even worse,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “Everyone is stressed. When they can't find the item they're looking for, they get upset and who do they blame? They blame the store clerk.”
However, it is unclear whether body cameras actually help de-escalate conflicts. Appelbaum, whose union does not represent Walmart workers but does represent staff at retailers such as Macy's and H&M, said the RWDSU is concerned that body cameras are more about surveillance and deterring theft than about making employees safer.
“Employees need training on de-escalation. Employees need training on what to do during a hostile situation at work. The body camera doesn't do that. The body camera does not intervene,” Appelbaum said. “We need safe staffing and we need panic buttons.”
Bianca Agustin, the co-executive director of United for Respect, an employee organization for Walmart and Amazon executives, said the group has asked Walmart to provide more training for its workers, but the company has not met those demands. She said body cameras can be part of the solution, but cameras alone are “not a substitute” for proper training.
“The claim is that the bodycams will organically promote de-escalation. We don't think that's true,” Agustin said. “You're seeing a lot of violence against employees at the self-checkout kiosks when they're even trying [deter theft] … there is a possibility that this could hurt, that … it could also provoke people.”
Plus, “There are already cameras in the stores,” Agustin said.
Body cameras from Motorola Solutions are set up at the docking station.
Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert | Photo Alliance | Getty Images
David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations for the National Retail Federation, the retail industry's lobbying arm, offered a different perspective. He said the retailers he works with have said body cameras have helped reduce conflict because people behave differently when they know they're being recorded, especially when those cameras are right in front of a person.
“A lot of these body-worn cameras have rearview monitors, so… there's a little video screen where you actually see yourself on the camera. That in itself can be a really big deterrent,” Johnston said. “The moment you see yourself is probably [when] you're going to change your behavior, and that's what I think using a body-worn camera can do.”
While customers complain about goods being locked in suitcases, body cameras are another technique retailers are trying to discourage theft and make stores safer, Johnston said.
“Walmart has tremendous notoriety,” said Mark Cohen, former CEO of Sears Canada and former director of retail studies at Columbia Business School. “Walmart probably has a sales force that is very dissatisfied with what they are exposed to… [and] feeling like the store is not doing enough to protect the store and itself. And this is a test to see if it has any positive effects, both in deterring criminals and in allaying the fear and irritation of their associates.”
Still, it's not clear whether employees will feel better wearing body cameras. A longtime retail employee, who worked at Hot Topic for about a decade and has since left the industry, told CNBC that being threatened with violence was a regular part of the job, and they're not sure body cameras would have stopped that.
“When these people look us in the face and act like they are going to hit us or threaten to meet us in the parking lot, they are not thinking rationally,” the former prime minister said. mall employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Even if there's a camera on them, I don't think they care at this point.”
The former employee said a body camera wouldn't have made them safer in those interactions either, but that having police nearby would have helped.
Last year, the NRF's annual security survey found that 35% of retailers who responded said they were investigating body cameras for store associates or loss prevention personnel. While no respondents said body cameras were fully operational, 11% said retailers were piloting or piloting the solution.
TJX Companies is one of them.
Earlier this year, the discount giant said it had started using body cameras in its stores, including TJ Maxx, Marshall's and HomeGoods banners. On a call with analysts after the company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings in May, Chief Financial Officer John Joseph Klinger said the devices had been effective in reducing shrinkage or inventory loss.
“One of the things we added – we started wearing body cameras on our [loss prevention] employees,” Klinger said. “And when someone comes in, it's kind of – it's almost a de-escalation where people are less likely to do something if they're being videotaped. So we certainly feel that this also plays a role.”
In a statement, a TJX spokesperson said the loss prevention employees who have body cameras have “undertaken rigorous training on how to use the cameras effectively in their roles.”
“Video footage is only shared at the request of law enforcement or in response to a subpoena. Body cameras are just one of the many ways we work to support a safe shopping environment. This includes a variety of policies, training and procedures,” the spokesperson said . “We hope these body cameras will help us de-escalate incidents, deter crime and demonstrate to our associates and customers that we take safety in our stores seriously.”