For over 90 years, we’ve been giving our customers the things they need to brighten up their homes and neaten up their gardens. And, when it comes to our people, we believe in offering the same support for the things that matter to them too.
So, take a closer look. Discover the history, values and commitments that make us who we are – and that you’ll become part of if you join us.
JK and Mary Wilkinson opened our first store in Leicester in 1930. Since then we haven’t stopped growing. And, although times and our product ranges might have changed, our commitment to giving our customers quality at fair prices has always stayed the same. To this day we still stand by what JK Wilkinson said, ‘I like to look at people and know in my heart that they are getting a good deal’.
Show we care is part of our core wilko values. And we extend this value to the world around us and the communities we’re in.
Everyone here is encouraged to get involved in local and regional charities. And whether you’ve ran 5km or done a bake sale, we’ll match your fundraising efforts. We give each of our stores a budget to do good in their local community too and we’re very proud of the work they’ve done.
We get right behind the important issues in every community we serve – employing local people from across the breadth and depth of that community in our stores and logistic centres and working with education partnerships to promote life-long learning.
We’re always on the lookout for new ideas and policies to help us reduce our waste, our emissions and recycle even more. And we only buy products from suppliers who have sustainable practices, materials, and who care for their people and the planet. We want everyone at wilko to share this passion.
We’re proud to be a place where everyone feels respected, accepted and valued for the unique individuals they are. That’s why, alongside our naturally warm, supportive and inclusive culture, we’ve taken our commitment to diversity and inclusion even further. We’ve signed up to a number of initiatives that will make sure we place the needs of our people at the heart of everything we do, both now and in the future.
This is a promise from us as an employer, to all of our current and prospective team members to be accountable for Diversity and Inclusion in our business. Our executive team take ownership of D&I, driving our agenda forward, ensuring an unbiased and transparent recruitment process.
We’re a Disability Confident employer. There are right now, 7.6 million working age people across the UK who have a disability or a health condition. As part of the government-backed scheme, we want to tap into this talent pool and make career opportunities with wilko even more accessible and achievable.
We’ve signed a campaign pledge promising members of the black community that they have the “freedom and security to wear all afro-hairstyles without restriction or judgment” at work. After all we encourage and embrace our team members to be themselves and are proud to be a part of this code.
We’re proud to have signed the Race at Work Charter, continuing our commitment of ensuring wilko is an inclusive employer with a clear approach to how we want to operate.
Our values are at the heart of everything we are and everything we do. They make our stores great places to visit, and they make our working culture really special. This is what they are, and what they’ll mean to you:
Learn and improve every day. Become better for yourself, for us and for the hard-working families we look after.
You’re part of the wilko family and we’re stronger when we all pull together. We’re a team. We share the same goals. And we’re all going in the same direction.
Go the extra mile to deliver what you believe in. Look out for each other and always do the right thing – for our people, products, suppliers, environment and business.
Be free to be the best you can be. Celebrate each other’s differences and accept that’s what makes us the unique people we are.
Enjoy life. Have a laugh. Love what you do and let it show. We want working and shopping at wilko to be fun for you and our lovely customers.
From a bright, fun and funky office in Hong Kong, our 50-strong team develops strong supplier relationships and delivers quality products at great prices from our nearby major manufacturing premises. And, we’re growing our abilities in sourcing, quality assurance and supply chain further with our office in Delhi, India and Turkey. Although we don’t recruit directly for our wilko worldwide operations, our UK team work very closely with them and some roles such as buying will see you hopping on a plane from time to time.