D&I in Grocery has two big announcements for 2024, the launch of its 2023 Impact Report and the appointment of Simon Smith (Go to market Operations Director at Kellanova), as chair of its Strategy Steering Group for 2024.
The D&I in Grocery Programme is managed by GroceryAid, with the support of the Strategy Steering
Group and three workstream steering groups. Together they ensure the Programme is meeting both the current and future needs of its Partners. In 2023, the Programme raised more than £950,000 for GroceryAid, the charity that provides free and confidential support to colleagues 24/7 365 days a year. The remaining £500,000 was invested back into the programme.
The D&I in Grocery 2023 Impact Report demonstrates the exponential growth and progress the programme has made both as a whole and within its three main workstreams, Shared Learning, Mentoring and its annual sell-out D&I in Grocery LIVE! event.
In 2023, the D&I in Grocery Programme increased to 91 partners, a growth of more than 300% since 2020. The partnership comprises some of the UK’s most well-known and influential FMCG brands with an estimated collective UK employee base of more than 1.2 million. Collaboration remains a unique benefit of the partnership, and across the year the programme saw over 300 partner connections made, enabling these organisations to support each other in the development of D&I practices and policies.
Over the last 12 months, the programme delivered more than 12,500 learning hours, covering 64 D&I topics. Two hundred senior leaders from the grocery industry participated in the cross-industry mentoring programme, bringing the total number of participants to 400, a 589% increase from its 2020 total cohort of 58 mentors and mentees.
Simon Smith says, “The Impact Report has highlighted how the collaborative effort of our Partnership is accelerating a truly diverse and inclusive grocery industry, and we’re really proud of it.
As the new Strategy Steering Group Chair, I am excited to continue driving this momentum forward. Our new Maturity Model will provide invaluable insight into the grocery industry, and our Partnership, providing us with learnings that we can put into practice – ensuring we continue to move from education to action. I would encourage organisations to be a part of this growing partnership because together we can drive progress towards a more diverse and inclusive future.”
In addition to raising money to support GroceryAid, another benefit of the 2024 partnership is the D&I in Grocery Maturity Model. The purpose of the model is to annually measure the maturity of D&I in the grocery industry and its partnership, comprising of more than 90 FMCG organisations. Results will be used to identify key areas of focus across the industry to collectively accelerate change and track tangible progress.
Richard Stratton (Group Sourcing and Commodities Director at Tesco) who has been appointed Strategy Steering Group deputy chair in 2024, says” I am delighted to be part of the Programme. My real passion lies in driving a more inclusive culture across our industry – we are so much more impactful when we come together, share ideas, and learn from each other to drive change collectively. Whilst we are all at different stages of our DE&I journeys, it’s great to see that as an industry we are making good progress particularly with our office colleagues – I’m looking forward to seizing this momentum to accelerate that progress across our stores, factories, depots and wider supply chains, where we can have an even greater impact.”
Partnership opportunities are still available for the 2024 D&I in Grocery Programme. For more details visit www.diversityingrocery.co.uk or email [email protected].
