Promoting decent employment and diversity

Equal opportunities

Providing decent employment and equal opportunities is essential to helping people lead healthier, happier lives

Everybody is entitled to decent work. This means equal opportunities, a living wage, prospects for development, and the freedom to express concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives. As a major employer worldwide, we have an important role to play in providing a workplace that treats people with dignity and respect. We are also committed to offering opportunities to those who face barriers to entry.

Creating shared value...

For society

When people are in good work, society benefits in many ways: there is more money in the economy, lower healthcare costs and greater quality of life.

For our business

As a major business, we benefit from the greater productivity that comes from a healthy, secure, motivated workforce.

Why it matters

Nestlé employs more than 291 000 people around the world, from over 150 nationalities. Our products are sold in 193 countries, and we have more than 400 factories in 85 countries across the globe.

A business thrives when it has a healthy, diverse and engaged workforce that reflects society. Cultural diversity makes businesses stronger, bringing innovation and encouraging different ways of thinking. However, women continue to be under-represented across the world, in business management and agricultural communities alike. At the same time, levels of youth unemployment are high, contributing to global poverty, and damaging communities and their futures. For businesses like Nestlé, supporting young people to find employment, training and skills is essential to securing a pipeline of future talent to ensure long-term success.

Our contribution

Diversity and inclusion are embedded in our practices at all levels throughout our operations. They were defined as being among our priorities for 2019 and included as a stakeholder convening topic for the first time in March. Nestlé was also included in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index.

We have a particular focus on gender balance. Through our Nestlé Gender Balance Acceleration Plan, we aim to increase the proportion of women in top senior executive positions to 30% by 2022, championing equality throughout our business. We also run programs and initiatives designed to empower women throughout our value chain.

Youth unemployment is a priority issue for Nestlé: we participate in a number of initiatives across the world to help tackle youth unemployment, part of our ambition to help 10 million young people access economic opportunities by 2030. We believe this is very much an issue where the private sector can make a significant contribution. As a major employer globally, we are in a position to provide training and skills development to help equip young people for the workplace of the future.

Our Nestlé Global Parental Support Policy (3.1Kb), launched in 2019, is a progressive policy that recognizes the diverse structures of modern families. The new policy provides gender-neutral parental support for all employees. Primary caregivers will be entitled to 18 weeks’ support (an increase from 14), and secondary caregivers, who previously had no entitlement to leave, are now guaranteed 4 weeks’ leave.

Our work promoting decent employment and diversity contributes to SDGs 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16 and 17.