Company: Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc.
Innovation: The “Diversity in Action” Program
Award Recognition: Honorable Mention

The “Diversity in Action” program’s goal is to give leaders and managers an accurate understanding of what is going on regarding diversity & inclusion in their own business areas so that they can take action accordingly.

The program provides sites with concrete D&I action plans based on check-ups or self-assessments. Seven D&I dimensions are covered: gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and work/life balance. Different internal processes are also reviewed: recruitment, talent management, training, rewards, communications, and working conditions.

Both the check-up and self-assessment use the available D&I metrics. In addition, while the check-ups involve focus group interviews with a crosssection of employees, the self-assessments use self-assessment surveys completed by the local management team.

A robust follow-up system is in place to ensure the action plan’s implementation: after the initial check-up or self-assessment, follow-up meetings take place every six months for two years.

Leaders and managers are key stakeholders of an effective D&I strategy. The program holds them accountable and provides them with a tangible tool to make a difference in D&I. The program allows them to understand their D&I performance in different areas, to better communicate about their own strengths, and to build their own action plans aligned with their own business challenges.

From a group perspective, the D&I checkups and self-assessments allow the company to identify good practices to be shared and to understand where corporate policies and culture can be improved.

Three pilots were carried out in 2012. Feedback was so positive that a European-wide program was set up for 2013, covering twenty-one sites or functions in France, the UK, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Belgium. So far one check-up and nine self-assessments were carried out in 2013.

The program is only one year old, but it’s already showing positive results. For instance, surveys carried out before and after the check-ups revealed that they considerably raise managers’ awareness on how to promote D&I. Positive answers about how to promote D&I within the company increased from 17 percent to 87 percent. At Sidcup site, one of the sites who piloted the program, the proportion of temporary works from ethnic minorities increased by 30 percent after the check-up.

Other sites and functions will benefit from the program in 2014, and follow-up meetings will continue to take place for sites and functions that already benefitted from the program. They will also analyze the overall trends that come out of the different checkups and self-assessments in order to improve group D&I strategy and programs.