March 2023
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), in principle and in practice, are central to our Common Grounds programme - to connecting people, to creating a better future, and to ensure the long-term success of our business. This article outlines our aims for improving DE&I in the workplace and beyond.
Connecting People
At JDE Peet’s we touch the lives of millions of people across the globe, from the farmers in our supply chain, to the people who drink our coffee and tea.
As an organisation, we want to reflect the world we live in. We are taking action to improve DE&I – standing together in our differences to positively impact our workforce of over 20,000 people spanning more than 100 markets, and the millions of people who enjoy our coffee and tea every second.
We are at the beginning of our Common Grounds journey but have already made great strides, working with our colleagues to help bring about our vision of a coffee and tea for every cup.
Our Global work is geared towards improving DE&I in the workplace and across our workforce. Our colleagues, including 240 DE&I Champions and Employee Resource Group members, are driving change across the business and in multiple markets, leading the development and implementation of local initiatives to tackle issues relevant to their colleagues and communities.
Shelley Roxas, Senior Finance Manager Supply Chain and Chair of the AAPI Committee (Peetnik Resource Group), USA
Our colleagues in Brazil have demonstrated what good looks like. The Leadership Team has taken an active role in creating a culture of DE&I across the business and demonstrated the business case for doing so and supported our DE&I Champions and colleagues in Brazil to research and put initiatives in place. As a result, they have been collecting data on their employee base to better understand which communities may be under-represented and to help mobilise their resources around specific topics.
We are proud to share that between 2020 and 2022, JDE Brazil increased the number of women in senior leadership positions by 10%, from 37% to 47%. This exceeds the company target of 40%, to reflect the workforce gender balance. We also increased the percentage of women hired by JDE Brazil by 11%, from 35% to 46%.
Brazil now has the largest group of DE&I Champions: colleagues who are embedding DE&I in day-to-day business activities, in both our retail and manufacturing sites, in people processes, in internal meetings and business updates. The Leadership Team has helped to govern this to ensure DE&I is fully embedded.
DE&I is central to our business, and we are working to ensure it sits at the top of our agenda, that it is tracked like any other KPI and used as a lens for business decisions. Embedding DE&I into our day-to-day work so that it is not approached as a separate issue is key to our success.