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Diageo creates a culture with inclusion and diversity at its heart

 October 15, 2020

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Diageo knows that the best performing businesses prioritise inclusion and diversity.

The company believes it is crucial to create a culture with inclusion and diversity at its heart.

Its commitment starts with its people and its aim is to ensure that all its people around the world thrive, by shaping market-leading policies and practices.

Supporting a variety of global employee groups

Diageo

Diageo celebrates diversity everywhere and supports a variety of employee groups throughout the world.

These range from its women's network Spirited Women, to its Asian and African heritage groups, its Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage group REACH, its LGBT+ Rainbow networks and our INC group which runs a yearly inclusivity week.

Diageo believes everyone has a vital contribution to make to its story and it wants all its people to feel part of it.

Receiving official recognition for its inclusion efforts

Diageo's work is benchmarked against its peers and the wider business community for its ongoing commitment to championing inclusion and diversity within its business and beyond.

This recognition includes being number one globally for gender equality in the Equileap 2019 Global Gender Equality Report and Ranking; achieving a perfect 100 score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index for 12 years running; and recognition in the 2019 and 2020 EMpower Ethnic Minority Role Model Lists.

Taking steps to narrow the gender gap

Diageo is also among the leading FTSE 100 companies for the number of women at the most senior levels. 50% of its Board and 40% of its Executive Committee are women.

The company offers all female employees a minimum of 26 weeks of fully paid maternity leave. In a majority of its markets, including across Europe, North America, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Colombia, Venezuela, and Australia, amongst others, it also offers 26 weeks fully paid paternity leave. Globally it has a minimum standard of four weeks paternity leave on full rate of pay.

Diageo is also committed to a target of 50% of its graduate intake to be women.

Building more inclusive and diverse businesses and societies 

Diageo inclusion

Diageo is a member of several cross-industry groups around the world working to accelerate inclusion and diversity in business and broader society.

This includes Open for Business, a global coalition of leading businesses championing LGBT+ inclusion, and the 30% Club, championing gender balance on boards and in senior management. In the UK, Diageo is among signatories of the BITC Race at Work Charter.

Beyond industry standards

Diversity and inclusion is enshrined in its Global Human Rights Policy. Every employee and person Diageo works with is entitled to human rights without discrimination.

In all aspects of employment, Diageo treats employees justly according to their abilities to meet the requirements of the role. The company will not discriminate based on factors such as race, religion, colour, ethnicity, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression or marital status.

However, its commitment goes beyond industry standards and policies.

Diageo is one of the few FTSE 100 companies to have made diversity and inclusion a business priority while all its markets have built-in diversity and inclusion plans within their talent and organisation strategies. These plans are supported by robust governance, with direct oversight and responsibility from the HR Director and Managing Director in each market.


Work for an inclusive company

For its business to thrive and for Diageo to realise its ambition, the company depends on recruiting, retaining and developing diverse talent with a range of backgrounds, skills and capabilities in each of the 180 countries in which it operates. Diversity of thought and experience fuels growth and innovation in the organisation and brings Diageo closer to its consumer base.

Contribute your diverse background, skills and capabilities to Diageo - search for a role within the company.

 

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Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.


                       

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