The success of a business depends on its people, therefore we are committed to providing every employee and potential employee with equal opportunity in all areas of employment. This is underpinned by our Equality and Diversity policy which can be downloaded here.
The Group recognises the communities in which it operates and the benefits of having a diverse workforce at all levels. The Group takes its responsibilities with regard to equality and diversity seriously and expects all colleagues to also observe this.
The senior management teams in our markets comprise predominantly of local nationals who understand the cultures in which we operate. We have an Equality and Diversity policy which applies to all colleagues as well as a recruitment policy which is inextricably linked to the Equality and Diversity policy to ensure that we recruit high calibre individuals matched to the requirements of the role we wish them to undertake, irrespective of gender, age, race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin or disability. As a consumer-focused business, we recognise the value that a diverse mix of employees provides us with, particularly in terms of consumer insights.
As an example of our diversity, at 31 December 2017 we had a diverse mix of age with 18% under 30 (17% in Poland and 19% in Plzeň) and 12% over 50 years old (12% in Plzeň and Poland). In the bottling area 3 out of 5 shift leaders in Plzeň and 3 out of 16 shift leaders in Poland are women. In our production plant in Czech Republic 60% of the managerial positions are held by women.
As at 31 December 2017, at Board level, 100% (8 out of 8) of the Directors are male, while at senior management level 91% (10 out of 11) are male and across the Group 59% (556 out of 930) of all employees are male.
Diversity is key to the success of the Group, with emphasis placed not only on gender but also on culture, nationality and experience, and our Board continues to demonstrate diversity in the wider sense, with Directors from Poland, Canada, and Italy as well as the UK, bringing a range of both domestic and international experience to the Board. The Board’s diverse range of experience and expertise covers not only a wealth of experience of operating in FMCG but also extensive financial, marketing and commercial expertise.