This Black History Month, Nestlé UK & Ireland CEO Stefano Agostini writes about the steps the company has taken to be a more inclusive workplace.
The Eradicating Racism Network (ERN) was set up in 2020 to support ethnically diverse colleagues and to challenge us all to take more action to level the playing field. It was the first and most important step in broadening the conversation around race and making Nestlé more inclusive and more diverse.
I am grateful to our ERN colleagues for the fantastic work they have done these past two years. We've listened and learned as we've moved forward on our journey to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive culture for everyone.
Whilst there is certainly more to do, we have started to make some progress over the last year.
Our ambition for the company is to reflect society representation by 2025. To help achieve this, each area of the business has been asked to set an ethnicity key performance indicator in their business plans.
I am pleased to share that we have improved our percentage of new hires who identify as ethnically diverse from 16% last year to 26% this year.
In the Nestlé Academy, we have made a step change and 40% of our hires this year identified as ethnically diverse.
Within procurement, we have partnered with MSDUK as part of being a force for good so that we can improve and increase our supplier diversity and proportion of spend.
The ERN has continued to raise awareness and educate colleagues through the network events and resources, bringing in external speakers to challenge us. We have continued to offer ‘safe space’ conversations to colleagues to help build a community and connect people together. Anyone can raise their questions or get advice on how they can improve.
As part of our mentoring programme, we have trained mentors on supporting ethnically diverse colleagues and also ethnically diverse mentees on how to get the most from the partnership.
But I feel we need to do more. Now is the time for each of us at Nestlé UK and Ireland to take action. I want Nestlé to be a place where everyone feels like they belong; we don't tolerate discrimination or harassment, and I have asked all my colleagues to speak up if they experience or witness racism in any form.
