Walmart employees wear body cameras

Walmart has begun requiring its store employees to wear body cameras as part of a pilot program at some of its U.S. locations, CNBC has learned.

It’s not clear how many Walmart stores have recording devices, but some locations now have signs at entrances 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 wearing a yellow and black body camera was seen checking receipts earlier this month, according to a shopper 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 technologies being used across the retail industry,” a Walmart spokesperson told CNBC. “This is a pilot that 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 body cameras in their own stores to deter theft. Body cameras and the footage they collect are often promoted as a way to prevent shoplifting, but Walmart intends to use the technology to keep workers safe — rather than as a loss prevention tool, according to a person familiar with the program.

A document titled “Providing Great Customer Service While Creating a Safer Environment” instructs employees 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 the interaction with a customer escalates” and not to wear the devices in employee break areas and restrooms. After an incident, employees are instructed to discuss the incident with another team member who can help them log the incident in the “ethics and compliance app,” the document says.

Walmart’s body cameras come in the middle of the holiday shopping season, when retail employees work long hours and face harsh interactions with customers that can be more tense and hostile than usual.

“There’s too much harassment all year round, but especially during the holiday season … it’s even worse,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “Everyone is stressed. When he doesn’t find the item he’s looking for, he gets upset and who does he blame? He blames the store employee.”

However, it is unclear whether body cameras actually help de-escalate conflicts. Appelbaum, whose union does not represent Walmart employees but rather employees of retailers such as Macy’s and H&M said the RWDSU is concerned that body cameras are used more to monitor and deter theft than to ensure employee safety.

“Workers need de-escalation training. Workers need training on what to do in a hostile workplace situation. The body camera doesn’t do that. The body camera doesn’t intervene,” Appelbaum said. “We need safe staffing and we need panic buttons.”

Bianca Agustin, co-executive director of United for Respect, a labor organization for Walmart and Amazon employees, said the group had asked Walmart to provide more training for its employees, but the company had not met those demands. She said body cameras could be part of the solution, but cameras alone are “not a replacement” for proper training.

“There is a claim that the body cameras will only promote de-escalation organically. We don’t think that’s true,” Agustin said. “Already at the self-checkouts you see a lot of violence against workers if they even try to (deter thefts)…there is a possibility that this could harm (the deterrence)…it could also provoke people.”

Plus, “there are already cameras on the market,” Agustin said.

David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail at the National Retail Federation, the retail industry’s lobbying organization, offered a different perspective. He said retailers he works with have said body cameras have helped reduce conflict because people behave differently when they know they are being recorded, especially when those cameras are right in front of a person.

“A lot of these body-worn cameras come with rear view monitors, so… there’s a little video screen where you can actually see yourself on the camera. That alone can be a very big deterrent,” Johnston said. “The moment you see yourself, you’re likely to change your behavior, and that’s exactly what I think using a body-worn camera can do.”

As customers complain about merchandise being locked in boxes, body cameras are another technique retailers are trying to prevent thefts and make stores safer, Johnston said.

“Walmart has tremendous exposure,” 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 unhappy with what they are being exposed to … (and) feels like the store is not doing enough to protect the store and itself. And this is a test to see if there are any positive effects, both in deterring criminals and in alleviating the fears and annoyances of their employees.”

However, it’s not clear whether employees will feel more comfortable with body cameras. A longtime retail employee who worked at Hot Topic for about a decade and has since left the industry told CNBC that threats of violence were a regular part of his job and they weren’t sure whether body cameras would have prevented that.

“When these people come face-to-face with us and act like they’re going to hit us or threaten to hit us in the parking lot, they’re not thinking rationally,” said the former mall employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity . “Even if the camera was on her, I don’t think she would care right now.”

The former employee said a body camera wouldn’t have made them feel safe during those interactions either, but a police presence nearby would have helped.

Last year, the NRF’s annual safety survey found that 35% of retailers who responded said they were looking into body cameras for retail associates or loss prevention staff. While none of the respondents said body cameras were fully functional, 11% said retailers were either piloting or testing the solution.

TJX Company is one of them.

Earlier this year, the discount giant announced that it had begun using body cameras in its stores, which include its TJ Maxx, Marshall’s and HomeGoods banners. In a call with analysts after the company reported first-quarter results in May, Chief Financial Officer John Joseph Klinger said the devices were effective in reducing shrinkage, or loss, of inventory.

“One of the things we added – we started wearing body cameras on our (loss prevention) staff towards the end of the year last year,” Klinger said. “And when someone comes in, it’s kind of like a de-escalation where people are less likely to do something if they’re caught on video. So we definitely feel like that plays a role as well.”

In a statement, a TJX spokesperson said loss prevention employees who have body cameras have undergone “thorough training on how to effectively use the cameras in their duties.”

“Video footage will only be released at the request of law enforcement or in response to a subpoena. Body cameras are just one of the many ways we support a safe store environment. This includes various policies, training and procedures,” the spokesperson said. “We hope these body cameras will help us de-escalate incidents, deter crime and show our employees and customers that we take safety in our stores seriously.”