Diversity & Inclusion
At Nestlé, we drive diversity & inclusion through our impact on:
Culture
Society
Innovation
So what is Diversity and Inclusion at Nestlé?
Diversity and inclusion is an integral part of our company’s culture and is one of the ways we bring our purpose and values to life.
Our values are rooted in respect: respect for ourselves, for each other, respect for diversity and respect for the future. We aim to embed diversity and inclusion across everything we do, focused on three core areas: culture, innovation and society. This involves building an inclusive culture that values the different talents and experiences of our employees, innovating to serve the needs of our diverse consumers and customers and engaging with society in the diverse markets where we operate.
We recruit competent and motivated people who respect our values, provide equal opportunities for their development and advancement and protect their privacy. We do not tolerate any form of harassment or discrimination. Our commitment to provide equal opportunities starts from the point of recruitment until the end of the working relationship.
We believe that a more diverse workforce with more women at the top will reinforce our inclusive culture and make Nestlé an even better company. We are setting measurable goals to hold ourselves accountable. We know that improving gender balance will lead to better decisions, stronger innovation and higher employee satisfaction.
Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO
Gender Balance
Nestlé India embarked on a diversity journey way back in 2010 with Project Harmony and we have seen multiple milestones through the years. Today, for us, diversity and inclusion is a way of doing business and we attain this through our three-pronged approach of Attract, Retain and Develop.
Attract:
1. To encourage women participation in Sales, safe territories for women have been identified
2. We offer all female candidates the chance to work with a Nutrition/Sales Officer for a day to clarify expectations understand the challenges in the role, before they join the company
3. Increased travel entitlements with respect to hotels & cabs for women in the field force
4. Sensitization trainings for hiring managers on how to reduce biaas in the recruitment and selection process
5. Enhanced internal and external communication leveraging social media platforms
In 2019, we have laid out an action plan to increase the number of women in senior executive positions globally. The Gender Balance Acceleration Plan includes the following specific actions:
- Supporting all managers to foster an inclusive workplace and ensuring that they are trained on unconscious bias;
- Encouraging the use of Nestlé’s paid parental leave program and flexible work policies in place in all Nestlé operating companies;
- Enhancing mentoring and sponsorship programs to prepare high-potential women for senior executive positions;
- Hiring and promoting more women in senior executive positions;
- Reviewing results with senior leaders to promote gender balance and ensure progress;
- Continuing our efforts to champion equal pay and eliminate conditions that create gender pay gaps;
- Reporting progress in the Nestlé’s annual Creating Shared Value report.
Nestlé part of the Gender Equality Index 2019
Cascading Unconscious Bias
One of the catalyst solutions for sustaining a long-term diverse and inclusive culture is minimizing the hindering effects of unconscious bias in our working environment. At Nestlé India, unconscious bias awareness has been a focus area since 2017. We believe change is driven by the employees and the most important for that is accountability. One area where we have been able to successfully achieve this is driving change on unconscious bias.
Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing.
· Unconscious Bias trainings in factories are facilitated by a group of trainers comprising of our colleagues on the shop floor. Through activities, case studies and ads, we made a module that was local, relatable and interactive. Today, over 4000 employees have been part of this training across factories. The module has been designed to initiate a journey of realization of inherent biases and subsequently actions that can help us overcome them. And through this module, we address not just bias towards gender, but also age, culture, physical appearance, abilities and personal choices.
· For the field force, Customized Gender Sensitization sessions were facilitated by Area Sales Managers to communicate why we need diversity and what benefits and initiatives we have undertaken. We understand that trainings are only effective when they are customized to the audience, so our examples are sales specific, videos are relatable and the content is crisp and number driven.
20%
Women in the field force
Gender balance for us is a business imperative. With 70% of our shoppers being women, it is important that we reflect similar diversity in our workforce. Over the years, we have made tremendous progress. Today, we have the highest percentage of women in field force in the industry.
The 3 M's are the main challenges for women in workplaces, Marriage, Maternity and Mobility. We handle these challenges with 4 E's: Empathy, Equity, Enablement and Environment.
Suresh Narayanan, Nestlé India CMD
Retain & Develop:
1. D&I Council anchored by Management Committee with Chairman & Managing Director as the sponsor and also an external member
2. Pre and Post Maternity Benefits – First in the industry and implemented for the all permanent women employees including those on the shop floor. Travel benefit for mothers till child turns 2 years old, is an industry best practice.
3. Day Care Reimbursement Policy – Best in class benefit for female employees, to claim reimbursement for use of day care services for their children <6 years of age
4. Unconscious Bias Trainings - interactive, relatable and local module facilitated by union members and other shop-floor employees in the factories ensuring ownership among the union members leading to greater impact and accountability
5. Customized Gender Sensitization sessions for the field force facilitated by Area Sales Managers
6. Project Sanjhi – menstrual hygiene sessions for women employees in factories including contractual employees coupled with provision of sanitary pad dispensing and disposing units
7. Providing sanitation facilities for women at the Distribution Centres – More than 90% of the distributor points have good sanitation facilities for women
8. Harmony Meetings, a platform for women employees in factories to connect, share and develop
9. Extended adoption leave that is more progressive than law by providing mothers and fathers 14 weeks of leave
