Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

At Nestlé, our purpose is simple and direct: enhancing quality of life and contributing to a healthier future for everyone – and we truly mean everyone. We understand that in order to achieve this, we must have a workforce that represents our consumers. We must be diverse and foster a culture of inclusion to drive innovation and create products our consumers and their families love.

Culture

Nestlé’s Diversity and Inclusion starts with a culture of support and empowerment, aided by employee-led engagement groups, inclusive hiring approaches, and company-wide learning and development.

Innovation

Innovation starts with listening to diverse voices. Through unconscious bias training and workplace flexibility policies, we work to remove constraints that limit employees of diverse backgrounds.

Society

Our commitment goes beyond representation and partnerships – it’s about the way we treat one another. It’s an expectation that we all are acting in a way which fosters a society that is inclusive of all.

The reality is our consumers are diverse. D&I is right for our talent, it's right for our culture, it's right for our business and helps us build for the future. D&I helps drive change and pushes us forward.

Steve Presley Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Zone North America

Gender Balance

Gender Balance has been a long-term priority for Nestlé, and we have been successfully increasing the number of women at all levels in the organization. We strive to create the enabling conditions in our work environment in order for all women to be successful and achieve a gender-balanced organization.

Our global and local initiatives on gender diversity include leadership development training and unconscious bias workshops, as well as flexible policies that contribute to supportive work environments such as the Nestlé Parent Support Policy.

Our 2018 pay equity analysis found that salaries for male and female Nestlé employees have reached a 1:1 gender pay equity at Nestlé USA, an important benchmark for us to achieve because women nationwide continue to earn on average less than men.
We increased the portion of women hired for management roles by more than 50% while hiring talent for our new Arlington, Virginia, headquarters in 2018.
Bloomberg acknowledged our ongoing efforts to build a culture where women can thrive and grow by including us on its 2020 Gender-Equality Index, which gauges the progress of global companies’ equity and inclusion efforts.

Read stories about gender and an inclusive culture by our Chief People Officer, Judy Cascapera:

Having a network of smart, energetic women in my corner made all the difference as I navigated an environment that was rapidly changing for women in leadership. Today, when I meet with young women seeking career advice, I urge them to form their own peer networks.

Judy Cascapera Chief People Officer, Nestlé USA

Racial Equity

We are more determined than ever to stay true to our commitment to build an inclusive organization that draws strength and inspiration from our differences. At Nestlé, we have proudly affirmed that Black Lives Matter, and we are taking steps to make our workplace better for talent from all backgrounds in our community.

Over the past year, we’ve hosted employee listening forums and education sessions on race, inclusivity and allyship. Based on those conversations we’ve developed plans across several pillars to help us address racial inequity at our company and in our communities. Those efforts include:

Driving accountability and leadership by linking executive pay and performance to diversity and inclusion outcomes.
Reaching 1:1 pay equity for underrepresented minorities.
Enhancing learning and development by instituting mandatory unconscious bias training for all people leaders in 2020 and all employees in 2021.
Developing future talent by identifying and eliminating potential bias in our hiring processes.
Donating $1.75 million to The National Urban League, United Negro College Fund, and other organizations focused on racial equity.

LGBTQ Inclusion

Ensuring that our employees have the opportunity to work in an accepting and comfortable environment is a high priority for Nestlé, and we've been working directly with LGBTQ employees to enrich and improve our policies. This work has been recognized by the Human Rights Campaign, which awarded us a top score of 100% on the 2022 Corporate Equality Index.

Our Parent Support Policy is inclusive of same-sex parents, offering equal benefits for all primary care-givers regardless of gender and sexual orientation, and includes support for adoptive and foster parents.
All marriage benefits apply equally to opposite- and same-sex couples, including couples in domestic partnerships.
We offer unlimited financial support for medical costs to employees undergoing gender transition.
In 2019 we became a part of Virginia Competes - a collection of companies working with Equality Virginia to affirm a belief that workplaces and communities must be welcoming of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
Along with our partners in the Sustainable Food Policy Alliance we wrote an open letter to congress offering strong support to the Equality Act, which we believe is a strong step forward towards ensuring that all people, in all settings, are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect.

Read more about how we're building a more inclusive culture for LGBTQ employees:

Project Opportunity

Project Opportunity connects with, inspires, and prepares emerging and experienced talent to thrive as the future creators, farmers, and entrepreneurs of the U.S. It is a career exploration and acceleration initiative which shapes the future workforce through skill-building and access to opportunities. Through a dynamic network of partners, we're working to extend the impact of this initiative beyond Nestlé.

Future Creators: From supporting career readiness initiatives, to building a military friendly workplace - our goal is to equip and inspire the next generation of creators in manufacturing.
Future Entrepreneurs: Building on Nestlé's culture of innovation, we’re committed to helping future entrepreneurs build essential skills for a great career.
Future Farmers: Farmers in our supply chain are pioneering new sustainable practices. We provide technical training and professional development opportunities among the network of farmers who supply us.

Learn more about Project Opportunity.

Employee Engagement Groups

At Nestlé USA our employee engagement groups are a critical component of our diversity and inclusion strategy. These groups help foster an inclusive culture that enhances our employee experience while also contributing back to our communities and our business units, by acting as internal advocates for diverse ideas.

Here are our currently active employee engagement groups: