Diversity, equity & inclusion

Culture

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We build an inclusive culture leveraging the differences of our employees

Gender balance

We have been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2001, and signed up to the UN Women's Empowerment Principles in 2013 to advance gender equality and empower women in the workplace, marketplace and the community. Through our Gender Balance Acceleration Plan, we are working to balance the gender makeup of our workforce, with a strong focus on gender-balanced leadership.

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 Nestlé's annual Creating Shared Value report.

End-2022, we achieved our goal to increase the proportion of women in our top 200 senior executive positions to 30%. Currently, women hold 45% of our managerial positions. Achieving a gender-balanced organization is a continued focus of our work. We will continue to prioritize it across our business on the path to gender parity across all management levels.

We are also promoting gender equity within suppliers' workplaces and in the agricultural communities we source from.

People with disabilities

Through membership of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network we promote the inclusion of people with disabilities across our global workforce. In 2020, we signed The Valuable 500, committing to:

• Provide equal opportunities for all, and continuously advance accessibility for people with disabilities within our operations.
• Promote awareness and understanding of the experience of people living with disabilities, in order to mitigate unconscious bias and create an even more inclusive workplace.
• Leverage our Nestlé Needs YOUth initiative to positively impact the lives of young people living with disabilities, helping them develop the skills they need to thrive.

LGBTQI+ community

As a member of the Partnership with Global LGBTI Equality (PGLE), we are helping accelerate equality and inclusion for LGBTQI+ people in the workplace. We empower our workers to be their authentic selves at work and have implemented strong policies, guidelines and reporting systems to reinforce our culture of respect and support. This includes efforts to provide gender-neutral benefits.

We support the UN's LGBTI Standards of Conduct and also partner with LGBTQI+ civil society groups in many countries to advocate for civil rights and workplace protections. Our Employee Resource Groups operating in numerous markets also encourage a safe space for employee conversations around LGBTQI+ topics. For example, in Nestlé UK and Ireland, the network counts more than 220 LGBTQI+ employees and allies, and has been nominated among the top networks by the British LGBT+ Awards.

Race and ethnicity

Nestlé has advanced racial and ethnic inclusion for a long time. We were one of the founding members of the World Economic Forum's Partnering for Racial Justice in Business initiative. We pride ourselves on being a global company with a strong local anchor. Today, our global workforce represents approximately 177 nationalities and more than 85% of the management committee positions in the countries we operate are held by local employees who are truly representative of the communities we serve.

We reinforce our workplace culture of respect and zero tolerance across all four of our inclusion pillars with corresponding policies and guidelines, such as our Nestlé Policy Against Discrimination, Violence, and Harassment at Work (pdf, 3Mb); the Global Guidance for Providing Support to Employee Victims of Domestic Violence or Abuse (pdf, 1Mb); and Nestlé Global Parental Support Policy (pdf, 3Mb), which offers equal gender-neutral parental support benefits to same-sex and different-sex couples. We also have a confidential reporting system - Speak Up - that enables employees to report their concerns. We continually review our policies and guidance documents to ensure they reflect the latest research and expectations in these areas.

We are also increasing employee understanding and awareness by training our employees on unconscious bias and sexual harassment prevention. Globally, close to 95% of our people managers and approximately 90% of all employees have undergone these trainings.