Supporting employee wellbeing and creating a safe and healthy working environment
Our people are our lifeforce and we care about their health and wellbeing. We take a holistic approach to health in the workplace, recognising that it is a complex blend of the physical, psychological and social.
Across our markets we offer a variety of programmes that support our employees’ wellbeing and encourage healthier lifestyle choices. These programmes provide support for life’s everyday moments – for example in Great Britain and Ireland we provide a dedicated employee assistance helpline available 24/7 to provide everything from guidance on handling the stresses of everyday life to specialist counselling and bereavement support.
So far, more than 30 employees in Great Britain have volunteered to be Wellbeing Warriors. The Warriors, who are based across our offices and sites, have been trained in all the support and services that Britvic offers and they are able to point colleagues in the direction of the right resources.
In 2020, Britvic provided 32 of its employees with training from Mental Health First Aid England so they could become mental health first aiders and support their colleagues and direct them to mental health resources.
We want our employees to mirror the richness of the markets and communities we serve. Being diverse and including the views of all enables us to keep pace with what’s changing, and stay relevant to our customers and consumers.
We’re a member of DIAL Global, an international community of well-known companies sharing expertise on diversity and inclusion and how they will shape the future workplace. DIAL Global recognises that diversity and inclusion expand well beyond gender, sexuality and ethnicity to embrace facets such as parenthood, age, background and disability. While Britvic’s formal diversity and inclusion agenda, Belonging at Britvic, has four action groups, our overall approach is intersectional. This was recognised in the UK by The McKenzie-Delis Packer Review in 2020, which looked at how companies respond to ten aspects of diversity and inclusion and ranked Britvic as one of the top 25 companies in the country.
We are making strong progress against our Healthier People agenda, fuelled by the incredible employee support for our Belonging programme.
The formal part of this agenda is directed by a steering committee that works across teams and markets, executive committee sponsorship and employee volunteers. Self-nominated working groups collaborate to ensure different aspects of diversity and inclusion are enshrined in our policies, procedures, communications and core ways of working.
Supplementing our more formal people strategy, our employee networks have gone from strength to strength, with more than 500 employees now active members. Each has its own dedicated expansion and engagement plan, fully aligned with our overarching business strategy.
Through these groups and their initiatives, we are working hard to create a culture where every employee feels like they can bring their true selves to work. This means listening to our employees and their ideas about how to create a more diverse and inclusive working environment.
Since the start of this programme, we’ve launched four network groups in Great Britain and are in the process of launching these globally.
The B-Diverse network promotes increased diversity and inclusion in the business and supports Black, Asian and minority ethnic employees in bringing their true selves to work.
B-Diverse has already changed Britvic by:
- Arranging an annual programme of events to celebrate and educate. This has included sessions on Windrush Day, Black History Month, Diwali, Chanukah, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Vaisakhi, Ramadan and Eid.
- Curating books, talks, podcasts and reports, as well as creating educational modules on Black history and Windrush – all highlighting the importance of Black history and how it has shaped today’s world.
- Introducing training to ensure managers have the tools they need to ensure they’re hiring amazing talent.
- Working with our Talent Acquisition team to increase the diversity of our candidate shortlists without compromising on quality.
- Updating our responsible marketing code to ensure diverse communities are represented in our advertising.
- Increasing the diversity of the influencers we use in our campaigns.
Traditionally our industry has been male dominated. We know this needs to change and we know change comes from the top. That’s why we set ourselves a target of 40% women in leadership by 2020 and, having achieved this, we’re working towards 50% women in leadership by 2025.
To increase the number of women who choose a career at Britvic, and diversity more broadly, we’re working closely with girls’ schools, faith schools and young people to showcase the range of roles available.
Everything we do in this area is shaped by our equality and diversity policy and the expertise of our women’s network, B-Empowered, which is focused on supporting, developing and retaining great female talent within Britvic.
Britvic has published gender pay gap reporting since 2017 and updates are provided in our annual report.
In France, Britvic has developed a three-year programme to support colleagues with disabilities. Partnering with different organisations over the years, the programme was introduced in 2005 and renewed in 2008, 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2021.
This long-term approach has included:
- Perfecting our disability policy with the help of Exéco.
- Working with specialised agencies to increase the number of candidates with disabilities.
- Helping our employees obtain recognition of disabled worker status and get the support they need.
- Ensuring disability inclusion when subcontracting – including cleaning, grounds maintenance and administrative duties.
In Great Britain, our B-Seen network reviews all Britvic policies to ensure maximum accessibility for everyone and we are proud members of The Valuable 500 – a global campaign aiming to eradicate the exclusion of people with disabilities from business.
The rainbow lanyards of our B-Proud and Allies networks are a simple yet powerful symbol of inclusion. The network offers advice and support to LGBTQ+ employees and straight allies. A full programme of inclusive events ensures that LGBTQ+ voices are always heard. Highlights include a panel discussion for Pride chaired by Stonewall with speakers from Britvic, Deutsche Bank, PepsiCo and Sainsbury's and a roundtable hosted by DIAL Global where Britvic employees shared experiences about LGBTQ+ families.
