Knowledge Transfer is about making the very best out of our huge intellectual assets and resources and ensuring that this information is shared with our partners and within our communities.
The research and business models that have proved of great success within Nestlé have been taken on into communities and used to enable and empower other businesses and initiatives.
The most recent example of this is the participation of Nestlé in donating funds for the drilling of deep wells and the installation of 22 community water supplies to provide clean and safe water for some 40 000 people. The funds are also being used to train community structures on maintaining the pumps and improve overall hygiene practices.
The project is under the umbrella of the International Federation’s Global Water and Sanitation Initiative (GWSI) launched in 2005, which has set a framework for scaling-up action and partnership to contribute to the UN Millennium Development Goals, in particular the goal to reduce by half the number of people without sustainable access to safe water and sanitation by 2015.
Listening and responding to employee views
Businesses throughout Nestlé listen and respond to employees. Nespresso globally conducted an independent survey, which provided constructive feedback from employees on a range of topics. A clear finding was that Nespresso employees wanted the business to take a fresh look at internal communication. Nespresso responded firstly by running structured workshops to help translate opinions into action. Various initiatives were implemented as a result. These range from new opportunities to meet and share ("mystery lunches" and monthly departmental meetings) to improved information sources (intranet and publications library). In addition to business-specific surveys like Nespresso’s, Nestlé is conducting a global employee survey. This is currently underway, and we will be able to report on it in future publications.