Diageo has been named as the number one employer globally for gender equality, according to the Equileap 2019 Global Gender Equality Report and Ranking.
The annual report is a 'cross-sector analysis of gender equality in 3,519 companies in 23 developed economies, representing 98 million employees.'
Currently 44% of Diageo’s board are women, and the company is working towards a senior leadership team of 40% women by 2025, the research showed.
“At Diageo we believe that gender equality is a moral imperative and a driver of business performance," Mairéad Nayager, Chief HR Officer at Diageo said.
"We are increasing the number of women in leadership roles across the company and have introduced new progressive family leave policies to support all our people throughout their careers."
Criteria
The publication ranks businesses based on 19 gender equality criteria, including gender balance across the workforce, the gender pay gap, paid parental leave and anti-sexual harassment policies.
"Our aim is to create a culture that ensures all our people thrive, as well as shaping market-leading policies and practices," explained Ivan Menezes, chief executive of Diageo.
"But there is much more to do and we are committed to championing diversity, to make Diageo stronger and to have a positive impact on society.”
Parental Leave Policy
Diageo’s global parental leave policy which offers female employees in all markets a minimum of 26 weeks of fully paid maternity leave.
Diageo has also set a global minimum standard of four weeks paternity leave on full rate of pay in all markets, with a significant number of Diageo’s businesses moving to 26 weeks fully paid paternity leave including the UK, North America, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Colombia, Venezuela, and Australia.
Closer to home, the paternity leave policy came into effect at the start of the groups new financial year, 1 July, 2019.
The drinks giant said at the time that looking ahead the business, 'hopes the policy will support employees to focus on the joy of raising a young family, while continuing to thrive at work, and ensuring women and men are supported to have time with their new baby regardless of where they live and work'.
In 2019 Diageo has also been recognised as the second most diverse and inclusive workplace in the Refinitiv Diversity & Inclusion Index (previously the Thomson Reuters Diversity & Inclusion Index), and is listed on the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
