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Costco

Known for Kirkland Signature

Costco is a membership-only warehouse club that includes clothing and accessories. The company employs around 273,000 people across its operations in eight countries. In 2020, it had a revenue of US$166.8 billion.

Summary

Costco ranks 23rd in this year’s Gender Benchmark with a score of out 19.4 out of 100. It displays leading practice in 3 out of 34 indicators and is ahead of industry peers on representation. However, the company lags behind on governance and strategy, particularly at the corporate level, and compensation and benefits.

Costco collects data on the gender balance of its workforce across several occupational functions, including technicians, sales workers, administrative support, and service workers. In the supply chain, it has a non-discrimination policy that explicitly protects both pregnant and married women workers, as well as prohibits pregnancy testing. The company also requires its suppliers to prohibit intimidation, harassment, retaliation and violence against trade union members and representatives. Moreover, Costco has made a public commitment to procure from women-owned suppliers in the communities where it operates.

While Costco screens for gender-related issues among its suppliers as part of its audit processes, the company does not display a commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment across its full value chain nor has it established gender-related targets. Moreover, the company fails to provide childcare or other family support, to support employees with their unpaid care burden, or offer them flexible work options. In the supply chain, the company fails to ensure that supply chain workers are provided with written contracts, a living wage or family-friendly benefits.

See detailed assessment

Ranking position: #23/35
Total score: 19.4/100

Measurement area	Score	Rank (0-35)
Governance and strategy	5.0 /20	#22
Representation	4.9 /17.5	#15
Compensation and benefits	0.7 /17.5	#28
Health and well-being	2.2 /17.5	#18
Violence and harassment	6.6 /17.5	#16
Marketplace	0.0 /5	#19
Community	0.0 /5	#30
Total score	19.4 /100	#23

Value chain element	Score
Workplace	7.5 /41
Supply chain	11.9 /41

See results for

2020

More about the company

Headquarters: Issaquah, WA, USA
Revenue: US$166.8 billion
Total number of employees: 273,000
Ownership structure: Publicly listed
Website: https://www.costco.com/