Walmart\u00a0has started giving store-level associates body cameras to wear as part of a pilot program at some of its U.S. locations, CNBC has learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear how many of Walmart\u2019s stores have the recording devices, but some locations now have signs at entry points warning shoppers that it has \u201cbody-worn cameras in-use,\u201d according to witnesses and photos posted online.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In at least one store in Denton, Texas \u2014 about 40 miles north of Dallas \u2014 an associate checking receipts was seen wearing a yellow-and-black body camera earlier this month, according to a shopper who shared a photo with CNBC.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we don\u2019t talk about the specifics of our security measures, we are always looking at new and innovative technology used across the retail industry,\u201d a Walmart spokesperson told CNBC. \u201cThis is a pilot we are testing in one market, and we will evaluate the results before making any longer-term decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walmart, the largest nongovernmental employer in the U.S., is testing the technology after smaller retailers started trying body cameras at their own stores as a way to\u00a0deter theft. Body cameras and the footage they gather are commonly advertised as a way to prevent shoplifting, but Walmart intends to use the tech for worker safety \u2014 not as a loss prevention tool, according to a person familiar with the program.<\/p>\n
In a document titled \u201cProviding great customer service while creating a safer environment,\u201d staff are instructed on how to use the devices, according to a photo of the document posted on an online forum for Walmart employees and customers. It instructs employees to \u201crecord an event if an interaction with a customer is escalating\u201d and to not wear the devices in employee break areas and bathrooms. After an incident occurs, staffers are told, they are to discuss it with another team member, who can help them log the event in the \u201cethics and compliance app,\u201d according to the document.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The body cameras at Walmart come during the thick of the holiday shopping season, when retail employees work long hours and face tough interactions with customers that can be more tense and hostile than usual.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s too much harassment that goes on throughout the year, but especially during the holiday season \u2026 it\u2019s even worse,\u201d said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. \u201cEveryone is stressed out. If they can\u2019t find the item they\u2019re looking for, they get upset and whom do they blame? They blame the shop worker.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s unclear whether body cameras actually help to deescalate conflict. Appelbaum, whose union does not represent Walmart employees but includes staff from retailers such as\u00a0Macy\u2019s\u00a0and H&M, said the RWDSU is concerned that body cameras are more about surveillance and deterring theft than making employees safer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWorkers need training on deescalation. Workers need training on what to do during a hostile situation at work. The body camera doesn\u2019t do that. The body camera doesn\u2019t intervene,\u201d said Appelbaum. \u201cWe need safe staffing and we need panic buttons.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bianca Agustin, the co-executive director of United for Respect, a workers organization for Walmart and Amazon staffers, said the group has asked Walmart to provide more training for its employees but that the company hasn\u2019t met those demands. She said body cameras could be part of the solution but cameras alone are \u201cno substitute\u201d for proper training.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a claim that the body cams are going to promote deescalation just organically. We don\u2019t think that\u2019s true,\u201d said Agustin. \u201cYou see a lot of violence against workers already at the self-checkout kiosks when they even are attempting to [deter theft] \u2026 there\u2019s a potential that this might hurt that [deterrence] \u2026 it also could provoke people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Plus, \u201cthere\u2019s already cameras in stores,\u201d said Agustin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations for the National Retail Federation, the retail industry\u2019s lobbying arm, provided a different perspective. He said the retailers he works with have said body cameras have helped to reduce conflict because people act differently when they know they\u2019re being recorded, especially when those cameras are directly in front of a person.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of these body-worn cameras have reverse view monitors on them so \u2026 there\u2019s a little video screen that you actually see yourself on camera. That in itself can be a very big deterrent,\u201d said Johnston. \u201cThe moment that you see yourself is probably [when] you\u2019re going to change your behavior, and that\u2019s what I think the use of a body-worn camera can do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As customers complain about\u00a0merchandise being locked up in cases, body cameras are another technique retailers are trying out as they look to deter theft and make stores safer, said Johnston.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWalmart\u2019s got tremendous exposure,\u201d said Mark Cohen, former CEO of Sears Canada and former director of retail studies at Columbia Business School. \u201cWalmart\u2019s probably got a sales force that is very unhappy about what they\u2019re exposed to \u2026 [and] feel like the store is not doing enough to protect the store and themselves. And this is a test to see whether it has any beneficial effects, both on deterring criminals and salving the anxiety and the irritation of their associates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s not clear whether associates will feel better wearing body cameras.\u00a0<\/strong>One longtime retail employee, who spent around a decade working at Hot Topic and has since left the industry, told CNBC that being threatened with violence was a regular part of the job, and they\u2019re not sure body cameras would have stopped it.<\/p>\n \u201cWith these people, when they\u2019re in our faces and they\u2019re acting like they\u2019re going to hit us or they\u2019re making threats to meet us in the parking lot, they\u2019re not thinking rationally,\u201d said the former mall employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. \u201cEven with a camera facing them, I don\u2019t think they would care in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n The former employee said a body camera wouldn\u2019t have made them feel safer in those interactions, either, but having a police presence nearby would have helped.<\/p>\n Last year, the NRF\u2019s\u00a0annual security survey\u00a0found that 35% of retailers who responded said they were researching body cameras for retail employees or loss prevention staff. While no respondents said body cameras were fully operational, 11% said the retailers were either piloting or testing the solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n TJX Companies\u00a0is one of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the off-price giant said it had started using body cameras in its stores, which include its TJ Maxx, Marshall\u2019s and HomeGoods banners. On a call with analysts after the company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings in May, finance chief John Joseph Klinger said the devices had been effective in reducing shrink, or lost inventory.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that we\u2019ve added \u2014 we started to do last year, late towards the year, wear body cameras on our [loss prevention] associates,\u201d said Klinger. \u201cAnd when somebody comes in, it\u2019s sort of \u2014 it\u2019s almost like a deescalation where people are less likely to do something when they\u2019re being videotaped. So we definitely feel that that\u2019s playing a role also.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, a TJX spokesperson said the loss prevention associates who have body cameras have gone through \u201cthorough training on how to use the cameras effectively in their roles.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVideo footage is only shared upon request by law enforcement or in response to a subpoena. Body cameras are just one of the many ways that we work to support a safe store environment. This includes a variety of policies, trainings, and procedures,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cWe hope that 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Walmart\u00a0has started giving store-level associates body cameras to wear as part of a pilot program at some of its U.S. locations, CNBC has learned.\u00a0 It\u2019s not clear how many of Walmart\u2019s stores have the recording devices, but some locations now have signs at entry points warning shoppers that it has \u201cbody-worn cameras in-use,\u201d according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}