Recently, more companies have been striving to demonstrate ways they positively impact the communities they serve.
As a result, consumers who shop at Best Buy wonder whether or not the tech retail is an ethical company. If you want to know whether Best Buy is an honest company, you should read on to see what I found out!
Is Best Buy an Ethical Company?
Best Buy maintains ethical standards through business operations involving the community, environment, sourcing, diversity, and wellness. While Best Buy may have received backlash in the past, the store prides itself in making significant steps towards ethical commitment in all aspects of its business operations.
Please keep reading to gain more insight into what makes Best Buy an ethical company, how it remains socially responsible, and how it treats its employees!
What Makes Best Buy an Ethical Company?
Best Buy has been striving hard to meet the ethical values and standards consumers expect.
For example, the company runs on a code of ethics that outlays the general expectations of employees, vendors, suppliers, and third-party business partners.
As a result, the multinational electronic retail store received recognition in 2020 by Ethisphere Institute as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies.
The recognition by Ethisphere Institute in 2020 marked the 6th time Best Buy was honored to be among the world’s most ethical companies.
As a global leader in ethical business practices, the Ethisphere Institute ranking of Best Buy clearly indicates that Best Buy’s efforts towards its social responsibility do not go unnoticed.
Is Best Buy Socially Responsible?
Yes, Best Buy is a socially responsible company.
While you would typically expect a major electronic retail store to be socially irresponsible, Best Buy goes above and beyond to remain one of the world’s most ethical companies.
With that, below are some of the ways in which Best Buy maintains its ethical and social responsibility:
COVID-19 Response
During the ongoing pandemic, Best Buy was recognized for upholding its social responsibility by putting the safety of customers and employees first.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Best Buy proactively closed all brick-and-mortar stores and progressed to implement a contactless curbside pickup model.
This way, Best Buy continued to provide quality tech services while minding the safety of both its customers and employees.
Once in-store shopping resumed, Best Buy put safety procedures like daily wellness checks on employees, wearing face covers for both employees and customers and frequent cleaning protocols.
Also, Best Buy limited the number of customers in the store to allow adequate social distancing for shoppers and employees.
Diversity Initiatives
Best Buy also maintains its social responsibility by taking a firm stand on inequity.
For example, the company is committed to creating systemic, permanent changes that highlight and address different forms of social injustices to improve the company and community.
In December 2020, Best Buy announced the following goals regarding a diversity initiative, which it hopes to achieve by 2025:
- Fill one out of three new non-hourly corporate positions with people of color, and women will fill one out of three new non-hourly field roles.
- It reaches 30,000 teens annually from across the United States and builds a network of at least one hundred Best Buy Teen Tech Centers to train teens and provide a talent pipeline.
- Providing $44 million to expand college prep and career opportunities for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), increasing scholarship funding for Teen Tech Center youth, and adding 16 scholarships for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Building an Ethical Culture
Best Buy strives to build an ethical culture by providing its employees with annual training on the Codes of Ethics.
With that, the Code of Ethics entails guidelines on values and behaviors and provides employees with resources for reporting any violation of the Code of Ethics anonymously.
Is Best Buy Environment Friendly?
Yes, Best Buy has implemented strategies for environmental sustainability.
For example, the company has made the following commitments to protecting the environment and conserving the community’s natural resources:
- Best Buy pledges to be carbon neutral by 2040
- Best Buy is currently running one of the most extensive e-waste recycling programs.
- Best Buy offers eco-friendly products for environmental sustainability
How Does Best Buy Treat Its Employees?
Best Buy employee reviews reveal that Best Buy treats its employees well, with most reviews highlighting the perks of working at Best Buy.
Although there are a few reports of employees who dislike working at Best Buy, most former and current employees enjoy their work at the tech retailer.
Does Best Buy Sell Good Products?
Best Buy sells high-quality new, refurbished, and opened-box electronics for almost anything you could imagine.
Moreover, the company allows customers to return most purchased products within 15 to 45 days after purchase, depending on the consumer’s membership.
If a customer returns an item, it undergoes strict testing to ensure it is functioning well before placing it in the open box or refurbished category or awarding it the Geek Squad certification.
More importantly, Best Buy provides a Trade-In service to ensure proper recycling of items and limit electronic waste.
To learn more about Best Buy, you can also see our posts on 9 reasons why Best Buy is so expensive, the Best Buy target market, and the Best Buy employee discount.
