Kellogg celebrates 100 years of D&I progress

Kellogg Company has announced the launch of its tenth annual Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Report: Features 2019.

The report highlights Kellogg’s many D&I accomplishments and goals achieved over the past year, and celebrates the diversity progress made during the past 100 years.

This year marks a decade of publishing reports on the company’s D&I progress. Kellogg made D&I a key corporate initiative about a decade ago, and since then it “has been singularly focused on recruiting and retaining diverse employees, creating awareness of diversity issues, fostering a supportive, positive environment where inclusive behaviours are the norm, and embedding accountability for diversity throughout the organisation,” according to the company.

“Through these efforts, we place value in our people and nurture their development while ensuring that all employees go through a consistent process and have equal opportunity for success,” it adds. 

100 YEARS OF D&I COMMITMENT

Kellogg’s commitment to diversity, however, goes back more than a century. Its founder WK Kellogg was a pioneer not only in employing women in the workplace, but also reaching across cultural boundaries. The company says it continues his legacy more than 100 years later by making D&I a top priority.

“Throughout our rich and proud history, we have made significant strides toward the more equitable inclusion of women, people of colour, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender individuals, people with disabilities, veterans and other demographic groups,” Kellogg states. “Our goal is to reflect the diversity of our consumers throughout our company. We have done much to achieve this objective, and we are firmly committed to making continued progress.” 

NOURISHING A DIVERSE WORLD

“Features celebrates the many ways our inclusive culture is nourishing the world, in every way possible,” says Priscilla Koranteng, Vice President, Global Talent & Chief Diversity Officer at Kellogg Company. “We know that fostering a diverse workforce and supplier base is the right thing to do, and it creates a real competitive advantage for us.”

The Features report includes many stories from Kellogg facilities around the world, showcasing employees from its eight Business/Employee Resource Groups, as well as local and regional organisations that collaborate with Kellogg to advance D&I in the marketplace and communities it serves. One such story includes an example from Latin America, where the team implemented KUBIC LA, an online brainstorming game that fosters collaboration and diverse thinking to surface the best ideas on cost-saving measures. 

“Our diverse workforce will help Kellogg bring our Deploy for Growth Strategy to life,” adds Koranteng. “When people feel a sense of belonging and empowerment, we can better meet our business goals and serve the needs of our consumers with fresh thinking, product innovations and quality brands.”

Nevertheless, despite the great progress made in D&I, the company is not resting on its laurels as it admits it still has “work to do and much to learn”.

For a full copy of the Features 2019 D&I report, click here.