Attracting & Developing Tomorrow's Leaders, Today

As a Fortune 100 company, operating more than 4,900 stores in nine countries, we work to attract, develop, and engage a wide range of talent to continue to support our off-price business.

We take a multi-faceted approach to recruiting for our stores, distribution centers, and home offices to reach a pool of candidates that has a diversity of races, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, abilities, experiences, and more. We are also committed to hiring from the communities we serve.

Building a More Diverse Workplace is a Priority

As we build a more diverse talent pipeline, we continue to use a variety of strategies to support our recruiting efforts and expand our outreach to better connect with diverse networks as well as widen our pool of candidates. For example, in Fiscal 2024, we attended several in-person, as well as virtual, career fairs for underrepresented groups; used tools and resources to improve how we networked and help us to engage with prospective candidates; promoted internal opportunities to encourage current Associates to seek jobs internally; and actively sought candidates with transferrable skills and nontraditional backgrounds for opportunities at TJX.

As part of our outreach efforts to increase diverse candidate representation for early career positions, we continued to broaden our relationships globally with schools and universities and partnered with non-profit organizations regionally. For instance, in the U.S., we continued to work with several organizations focused on increasing opportunities for underrepresented students, such as Bottom Line, Girls Who Code, Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA), The Posse Foundation, Thrive Scholars, and the United Negro College Fund. We also continued our outreach to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and partnered with diverse on-campus organizations for recruitment events. In Canada, we hosted a networking event with diverse students completing a Master’s degree in retail management. Based on the career interests of the students, the event offered opportunities for deeper insight into certain areas of the business and networking with Associates from various business areas ranging from Finance to Merchandising.

In Europe, we recruit from a diverse pool of candidates for our Graduate, Placement, and Apprenticeship Programmes and partner with organizations such as The Prince’s Trust and the UWV in the Netherlands to create career opportunities for disadvantaged young people, including many from underrepresented communities.

We are also committed to working toward increasing the representation of diverse candidates in management-level positions, including people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and women. In certain U.S. markets, we are mindful of the diverse demographics of the communities we serve as we continue to foster inclusion and diversity in our Field Management talent pipeline.

Enhancing Executive Diversity Policy Statement

At TJX, we believe that the continuity and stability of our most senior leadership team, which has decades of off-price retail and TJX experience, has been a critical factor for our success. We are also proud of our culture that prioritizes Associate development and advancement within our organization. In addition, we continue our work to build a more diverse pipeline of talent to support our efforts to improve diversity at all levels of our organization.

Consistent with our inclusion and diversity efforts, in 2021, our Board approved a policy that, in the event that our Board commences a search for a Chief Executive Officer from outside TJX, or if our management commences a search for an executive-level role reporting directly to the CEO from outside TJX, the initial list of candidates will include qualified female and racially/ethnically diverse candidates. If our Board or our management engages a third-party firm for such a search, that firm will be instructed to include qualified female and racially/ethnically diverse candidates in the initial list of candidates provided to TJX.

On-Campus Recruiting: From Their Campus to Ours

We offer TJX internship and co-op programs across our divisions worldwide in areas including Merchandising, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Store Operations, Distribution Services, and more. We seek candidates for these highly sought-after programs who are curious and have a passion for innovation, relationship building, strategic thinking, and global relations. Globally, many participants in these programs join us full-time after completing their college requirements. In Fiscal 2024, we were excited to have over 600 people participate in these programs.

To offer flexibility and widen our pool of participants, we also run a part-time internship program in the U.S. This allows us to attract students who may not be able to participate in our full-time program. Additionally, in Fiscal 2024, we launched an early identification program in the U.S. designed to engage with rising college sophomores for our Merchandising Internship program.

Proudly Hiring Those Who Have Served in the U.S. Military

Our long-standing commitment to the U.S. Armed Forces is highlighted by our dedication to hiring veterans and military service members, including active Guard and Reserve, as well as their spouses. We value their strong work ethic, professionalism, and loyalty and offer a range of career options to match their talents and expertise.

TJX has initiatives supporting military hiring, including in Fiscal 2024, participating in virtual networking events for those transitioning from military to civilian careers and working with military job boards to increase exposure and marketing efforts to military personnel and their families. We are pleased to report that we have hired more than 14,000 Associates who are members of the military, veterans, or their spouses since 2013.

Creating Personal & Professional Opportunities

For nearly 30 years, TJX has been working to provide employment and training opportunities for individuals with varying levels of skills and abilities, those who face barriers to employment, and those in underserved communities. We partner with a variety of organizations in our various regions where our support ranges from providing work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy skills for young people to creating training and employment opportunities for individuals that may have had difficulty obtaining employment opportunities in the past. As part of these efforts, in the U.S., we partner with the non-profit organization Best Buddies International. To date, we’ve been excited to hire more than 350 Best Buddies participants to serve in a variety of functions at our U.S. stores, including cashiers, dressing room attendants, greeters, merchandise organizers, and product assemblers.

Teaching & Mentoring Are Priorities

We believe our Associates are core to our success. Developing talent has been a global business priority for many years, and we are highly focused on teaching and mentoring to support the career growth and success of our Associates. We believe these efforts have promoted retention, stability, and increased expertise in areas of our workforce.

Training happens broadly throughout the organization, from informal mentoring and direct training to a range of career and leadership development programs, such as our TJX University for Merchandising. We are agile in our approach to creating learning opportunities: offering formal training classes online and connecting remote Associates through virtual formats, as well as continuing to provide in-person learning opportunities. No matter the location or format, formal or informal, our career development initiatives are designed to foster open communication and relationship building, which are both key parts of our culture.

Our Success

U.S. Store Managers

75%

were promoted into their role from other positions in the Company

We strive to foster career growth across the organization and our learning and development programs aim to support our Associates in building their careers. We are proud that many Associates choose to grow their careers at TJX, and 41% of people in managerial positions around the world have been at the Company for 10+ years.¹ Our efforts to support and develop our Associates reach all facets of the organization. In the field, we are proud that, as of the end of Fiscal 2024, more than 75% of current U.S. Store Managers were promoted into the Store Manager role from other positions in the Company. Additionally, in Fiscal 2024, 54% of managerial positions in our stores and field offices globally were filled with internal promotions.¹

U.S. Store Managers

75%

were promoted into their role from other positions in the Company

Our Approach

We believe in making investments today to cultivate our Company's leaders of tomorrow. With this in mind, we created Leadership Competencies and Cultural Factors, which help express our organizational values and promote consistency in leadership development. Recently, we developed a new leadership competency and cultural factor, both focused on inclusion-based values and behaviors. Over the course of Fiscal 2024, we continued to roll these out to our global organization, creating engagement and awareness, and providing managers with tools to have relevant conversations with Associates. We strongly believe our full set of competencies and cultural factors helps set Associates up for success, which benefits our business overall.

As part of our global development, we continue to support our managers and provide them with tools designed to effectively engage their Associates in meaningful ways and support them as they navigate today’s leadership challenges as the world continues to change both at work and outside the office. In Fiscal 2024, we began focusing on “Manager Core Essentials,” a collection of learnings and tools designed to help support managers develop the essential skills they need to manage effectively in today’s world.

Development Programs

Global Leadership Curriculum

35,000+

Attendance since 2017

Our Global Leadership Curriculum is designed to offer a consistent development experience focused on our leadership competencies and cultural factors. The learning experiences are designed to help Associates gain skills in communication, achieve their goals, enhance interpersonal dynamics, and more. We are continuing to update the materials in our courses in an effort to further align with our inclusion and diversity efforts.

Since 2017, the Global Leadership Curriculum has had Associate attendance of more than 35,000 across all of our divisions. We aim to offer development opportunities to Associates at every level, from hourly Associates to management and beyond, to help Associates build skills that we believe can enhance a fulfilling career. Recently, additional programs were added to provide development for higher levels of leadership that focused on leading differently, successful transitioning, and taking on new and expanded leadership responsibilities. Additionally, to further encourage Associates to take an active role in their own development, we have a Global Online Learning Library of over 2,000 digital, self-paced learning resources available for enrollment.

Global Leadership Curriculum

35,000+

Attendance since 2017

Although we take a global approach to development, each region aims to tailor offerings to meet their Associates’ needs. In Canada, we support development by hosting a National Learning Calendar that provides virtual workshops focusing on professional and leadership development, managing a vast set of online learning offerings, and offering a digital lending library. Our internal website offers home office and distribution center Associates support for building development plans, learning about our off-price business model, and enhancing personal growth through curated learning and enriched by storytelling from our Associates and leaders. Our Be Your Best Self developmental approach is also shared by our store Associates and was recently introduced through inspirational Associate videos, promotion highlights, and leadership messaging that supports our tuition assistance, scholarship, and other career development programs available to eligible Canadian Associates.

TJX Europe aims to enable our Associates to drive their development journeys. We offer Associates a range of learning and development options designed to provide skills and off-price knowledge through workshops, development programs, training, on-the-job learning, and the Graduate, Placement, and Apprenticeship Programmes. We also offer tools for self-learning and provide bespoke coaching for Regional, Country, District, Store, and Assistant Managers.

Also in Europe, we continue to create targeted development programs for operational roles in Stores and our Distribution Centers, equipping individuals with both the technical and leadership skills for their current role and, where appropriate, building readiness for career growth.

Leadership Development

In addition to our Global Leadership Curriculum courses, we offer many other learning and development opportunities. Our global Emerging Leaders program is designed to help high potential Associates at the managerial level prepare to expand their leadership roles. The process consists of targeted assessments, review of feedback, and the creation of an individual development plan. Once completed, these Associates have the opportunity to participate in the Emerging Leader Action Learning, a six-month-long journey focusing on the skills needed to effectively grow from a leader of others to a leader of leaders. Participants are placed on cross-functional teams, assigned self-directed learning, participate in peer coaching, and spend time with executives, who share their stories and experiences. The program consists of critical skills training and business case scenarios, and it culminates in the Associate creating a personalized growth plan. We also offer various mentoring opportunities which aim to connect Associates with leaders in our organization and to subsequently foster their development.

More senior-level Associates may have the opportunity to participate in our Global Strategic Leadership program—a 10-month, global development program designed to accelerate leadership readiness. The program offers a variety of opportunities, including gaining exposure to different leaders, TJX businesses, and business units. Participants receive feedback on their leadership style and interactions throughout the process, with the goal of incorporating those learnings into their leadership plan. Participants learn to navigate the organization, build strategic planning skills, and deepen their understanding of the business and of themselves as leaders.

Buyers and merchandising managers identified as having potential to rise to a leadership level may have the opportunity to participate in a specialized learning experience called the Off-Price Leadership Center (OPLC). It brings together Associates from across our global divisions to get exposure to the critical merchant and leadership skills necessary for success. OPLC’s focus is on understanding the merchant role; integrating strategic, business, and critical relationship skills; and building a diverse, global leadership perspective.

TJX Canada also offers training focused on deepening business skills and leadership capabilities. These programs include tiered onboarding programs in Distribution Services and Manager in Training (MIT) in our stores. Store Coordinator Development Days are also being planned, supporting the continued build for training support to a wider range of store Associates. Our home office support functions have specific training curriculums designed to prepare Associates at all levels for careers in Planning, Merchandising, Finance, and Information Technology. Our focus on “accessible development for all” means providing the tools and support Associates can use to drive their career.

TJX Europe’s Leader in Me program is designed to accelerate the leadership readiness of managers who show potential for more senior roles. Associates learn more about themselves as leaders, as well as how to use these leadership skills in their current roles and for future opportunities. We also have a Senior Leadership Development program in Europe for Vice Presidents and Assistant Vice Presidents, which cultivates leaders who champion and bring our culture to life. The program develops skills to help leaders thrive in unpredictable circumstances. Participants gain insight into themselves as authentic leaders and gain self-awareness and leadership perspective. We recently expanded this program to include specific workshops on inclusion and diversity. We believe the program builds stronger, more collaborative teams across the organization and elevates the capability of our senior leaders.

Merchant Training and TJX University

We are particularly proud of our merchant training programs around the world. Our programs are designed to support Associates interested in pursuing careers as merchants and develop them as future leaders in our off-price retail business. The Merchandising career path provides structured growth potential in Merchandise Planning and Allocation and Merchandise Buying, as well as potential management opportunities. The path consists of an initial, intensive training curriculum for a role as an Allocation Analyst. Afterwards, there are ongoing development opportunities and mentoring throughout the Associate’s career.

We are also proud to run TJX University, where we offer new Buying Associates or newly promoted managers in our Buying organization learning opportunities through a two-year-long, one-on-one coaching program. The program includes mentoring on negotiation skills, store exercises, and a curated curriculum to both further their development in their current role and prepare them for the next step in their careers. The coaching may take place in-person or virtually, in our stores, or in the marketplace. The University has a global reach to our merchants around the world. Our focus is to teach a consistent approach to our off-price business model, negotiating fundamentals, and building strong relationships—all of which have been a critical part of our success.

External Partnerships

In addition to our many internal development opportunities, we have established relationships with a variety of organizations to offer additional resources and learning opportunities. In the U.S., this includes National Hispanic Corporate Council, Catalyst, Diversity Best Practices, PFLAG, National Association of Asian American Professionals, Human Rights Campaign, and others. Our Associates also have the opportunity to participate in programs offered by some of our partner organizations. We belong to Conexión in Boston, Massachusetts, and, on a U.S. national level, The Partnership. Conexión pairs Hispanic/Latino Associates with seasoned mentors at organizations in various industries and provides workshops in leadership. The Partnership offers year-long programs in leadership and cultural navigation for Associates, as well as the Next Generation Executive Program, a five-month training course. We actively bring together Associate alumni of both programs to build a network that can support participants and encourage learning. TJX Europe is a member of the Business Disability Forum, and we partner with Purple Space and Business in the Community to support our efforts to help those who face barriers to employment thrive at work.

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