Fostering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Diversity is a source of energy and innovation here at The Hershey Company. We have a long-standing commitment to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees around the world can bring their whole selves to work each day.
Diversity is a source of energy and innovation here at The Hershey Company. We have a long-standing commitment to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees around the world can bring their whole selves to work each day.
This starts with our hiring practices and extends to each area of our business—from consumer insights to representation in advertising, our supplier diversity program and the many organizations we support—to create a positive impact on communities around the world.
Our values of togetherness, integrity, making a difference and excellence have helped us build a uniquely Hershey approach that enables us to hire the best candidates, understand our diverse consumers, create more diverse and inclusive communities, and ultimately live our purpose of making more moments of goodness. We know, however, that we have more work to do, with room to improve and grow.
Progressing our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Framework: The Pathways Project
In 2020, we took time to reflect, and engage employees across every function and level to understand how they were feeling, listen to their experiences and find out how we could make the greatest impact on advancing inclusion in our workplace and our communities. A diverse group of employees across every part of the business engaged in a co-creation process to refresh our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy with the goal of making it more actionable and part of our daily work. The result is The Pathways Project, our five-year plan to make our workplace and communities even more inclusive:
We have prioritized increasing overall representation and advancement across minority groups including women, those living with a disability, LGBTQ+ employees and veterans, with an accelerated focus on closing the representation gap for Black and Latinx employees. We will focus on maintaining our leadership in female representation but work to increase representation of women of color. These areas of focus include developing our workforce, especially in Sales, Finance, Information Services and Supply Chain, as well as continuing to increase the diversity of our suppliers to impact our entire value chain. Inclusion is belonging, respect, being ALL IN, and the great feelings we have about working at Hershey. Inclusion is #InAllOfUs.
Our Focus on Gender Equality
Less than 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies are led by women. We are proud to be one of these companies with Michele Buck serving as our CEO and Chairman of the Board. Our Board of Directors has 50 percent diverse representation, an executive committee with 44 percent diverse representation and a global workforce with nearly 50 percent gender representation. We also lead the industry paying U.S. salaried women and people of color a dollar-for-dollar aggregate compared to male colleagues.
Business Resource Groups Create Opportunities for Influence
Our eight employee-led Business Resource Groups (BRGs) provide a space for employees to discuss new business opportunities, influence company policy, and develop employees and communities where we do business. In 2020, one in six employees was actively involved in a BRG. The Hershey Company leadership frequently partners with BRGs to bring new initiatives to life and ensure the interests of all our employees are represented. These BRGs also play an important role in helping to attract and retain people from different communities, providing business insights and connecting people from different parts of the company.
Find out more about our approach and resources in our 2021 ESG Report.
Learn more about our remarkable people.
Awards and Recognition
Related Articles
As part of our holistic diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, The Pathways Project, supplier diversity is key to delivering our Pathways to Join pillar and driving a wider range of perspectives.
In Hershey’s 2021 ESG report, an expanded DEI section reflects our intentional progress and goals to make Hershey even more diverse and inclusive.
Hershey’s legacy as a company is rooted in supporting children and youth. To celebrate Women’s History Month, we partnered with two organizations whose impact aligns with our legacy of impacting the next generation.
Related Articles
As part of our holistic diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, The Pathways Project, supplier diversity is key to delivering our Pathways to Join pillar and driving a wider range of perspectives.
In Hershey’s 2021 ESG report, an expanded DEI section reflects our intentional progress and goals to make Hershey even more diverse and inclusive.
Hershey’s legacy as a company is rooted in supporting children and youth. To celebrate Women’s History Month, we partnered with two organizations whose impact aligns with our legacy of impacting the next generation.