Company: GWW
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-015730
Chunk: 6

Company: W.W. GRAINGER, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 6
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 foundational framework for the Company and its employees in an effort to consistently serve customers and gain share. The Board understands that top talent is necessary to achieve these goals and supports the Company’s commitment to providing employees with resources designed to help them succeed. The Company’s culture and principles advance the Board’s role of ensuring that the Company attracts, retains, motivates and develops top talent across the Company. The Board routinely conducts in-depth reviews of senior leaders and their development. This engagement gives the Board insight into the Company’s talent and succession plans. The Board believes a culture of legal and ethical behavior is essential to positioning the Company to achieve its goals. Our Business Conduct Guidelines apply to all Directors, officers, and team members and were updated in February 2024. Grainger team members are required to complete Business Conduct Guidelines training and certification. Delivering business results and creating a sustainable business that does the right thing has guided the Company for nearly 100 years. The continuing commitment to these objectives is illustrated by the Company’s environmental, social and governance initiatives. The Board believes that a thoughtfully articulated ESG approach can help build resilient processes, keep employees more engaged and enable quicker decision-making. These benefits have positioned us to build a sustainable end-to-end supply chain to continue to serve our customers well. See Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) beginning on page 26. Collectively, the activities of the Board and its Committees in reviewing strategy, ESG initiatives, culture, talent, and ethical behavior enable the Company to help millions of customers worldwide keep their operations running and their people safe.

| ​ | CORPORATEGOVERNANCE | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 1:ELECTION OFDIRECTORS | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 2:RATIFY THEINDEPENDENTAUDITOR | ​ | ​ | EXECUTIVECOMPENSATION | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 3:SAY ON PAY | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 4: APPROVALAND ADOPTION | ​ | ​ | QUESTIONS ANDANSWERS | ​ | ​ | APPENDICES | ​ |

TABLE OF CONTENTS

| ​ | invest.grainger.com | ​ | ​ | 3 | ​ | ​ | ● | ​ |

Corporate Governance Highlights The Company has a history of strong corporate governance. A key priority of the Board is to set the “tone at the top.” This is reflected in the Board’s commitment to governance policies and practices that serve the interests of the Company and its shareholders. Key aspects include:

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