Diageo employees celebrate fifth annual inclusion week

Diageo celebrated its fifth INC Week, an employee-led week that celebrates diversity, embraces inclusion, and encourages colleagues around the world to have open conversations about a range of important and challenging topics.

Inspiring and thought-provoking conversation about inclusion

INC Week was attended by colleagues representing over 20 countries and markets. The grassroots week brought together by members of Diageo's employee resource groups and their allies, saw a fantastic line up of more than 25 virtual panels, discussions, webinars and even a worldwide workout session.

With a focus on a broad range of topics from disability and mental health, to allyship and belonging, INC Week provided employees with inspiring and thought-provoking conversation about what it means to be truly inclusive, and how little acts of kindness and courage every day can make a difference.

Energy, commitment and passion for DE&I agenda

At Diageo, people are the foundation to the company's success, and Diageo wants to empower and encourage them to champion inclusion and diversity and identify opportunities to drive change and make a difference.

“INC Week is such a special week for Diageo, and the energy, commitment and passion for our inclusion and diversity agenda was inspiring, with thousands of our people joining live, from their offices, homes and supply sites alike. The array of sessions was truly global in nature and diverse in offering, creating conversation and buzz from all corners of the world," said Mairéad Nayager, Diageo Chief HR Officer.

Hosting inspirational external speakers

Alongside Diageo leaders and colleagues, a host of inspirational external speakers were also welcomed to address key topics and share their personal experiences.

The daughter of President Nelson Mandela, Dr. Makaziwe Mandela kick-started INC Week by speaking about the strides we can make towards equity, Linguistic Anthropologist Professor Nikki Lane explored what it means to be a true ally, and Fadi El Halabi, disability advocate and human rights activist talked about how he embraced diversity.

“INC Week 2021 was the perfect space for us to discuss issues that might be affecting our day-to-day lives without even realising. From Europe to Asia, South Africa to Australia we demonstrated that there are no geographical boundaries to showing our commitment to Inclusion & Diversity. The passion our employees and external guests brought to this year’s INC Week blew me away, and I’m so proud to lead the committed team which developed the week. I’m really excited to see what we’ll achieve together as we strive to be truly inclusive every day, everywhere," adds Christian Laya, INC Week Global Employee Lead.

Promoting Diageo's global inclusion campaign

Inc Week also saw the next phase of Diageo's #MyNameIs global campaign launch across channels and within the business.

The employee generated campaign, first launched in June 2021, reminded employees that inclusion starts with a name, and the importance of pronouncing names correctly.