Diversity & Inclusion
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At Wrigley, Diversity and Inclusion is not a program - it is who we are and how we live. It is valued in the decisions we make on behalf of our company and inherent in our core values. By appreciating that each associate is unique and assuring that each associate feels connected to others in the organization, we are positioning our company for exceptional performance.
Our Vision
To create a culture where our associates' unique talents are maximized and they feel valued and connected to each other and to Wrigley through living our values.
Our Goals
Our belief is that as senior leaders align and own our strategy, lasting change will occur. In the U.S., our strategy consists of a four-pronged approach - focusing on our Workforce, Workplace, Marketplace, and in our Community. Current diversity and inclusion initiatives include Mentoring Circles, Executive Coaching, Lunch and Learns, and Guest Speakers.
"Life and business are rather simple after all - to make a success of either, you've got to hang onto the knack of putting yourself in the other person's place."
- William Wrigley Jr., circa 1891 Our Vision & Strategy Comes to Life by:
- Living our values
- Leveraging our internal / invisible and external / visible dimensions of diversity and our different perspectives
- Connecting with each other in meaningful ways
- Seeking and retaining different perspectives
- Believing Diversity (Differences) + Inclusion (Similarities and Connections) = Abundance AND Possibilities
- Activating the power of Diversity and Inclusion through sharing, learning, connecting and having fun
- Appreciating and leveraging differences by understanding what is important to each other and ourselves, so that we can leverage the best of who we are and achieve more together than on our own
Appreciating and Leveraging Differences:
- Generates more - an abundance of new possibilities that you could not create on your own. When fully leveraged, 1 + 1 = 10
- Creates a more complete picture with different experiences and perspectives
- Discovery grows out of opposing viewpoints
- Differences enhance problem solving and enrich decision-making
- Increases teams' creativity
- We are more fulfilled as individuals and as a member of a high-performing team
- Increases our ability to see more dimensions/facets of a problem
- We have an opportunity to learn and experience new things
- Diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams
We've made progress in talent acquisition and development, adding more diverse perspectives, including women and minorities, throughout the organization
Talent Development
Wrigley has a long history of growing and nurturing our talent. That legacy deepened in 2006 and 2007, as we continued to develop a more robust talent pipeline, adding to our executive management team and promoting associates from within our organization. And through participation in associations like HACE (Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement) and the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA), we've expanded our external recruiting network.
Women and Minorities
We are working to create a culture that appreciates and actively seeks individual uniqueness and differences in perspectives, experiences, and behaviors. That's why Diversity and Inclusion at Wrigley includes everyone. Through assessments made in the U.S. organization, we determined that including more perspectives from women and minorities / people of color will align us better with our core values. And we've made steady progress with our hiring and advancement of women and minorities. Through December 2008:
- Women represent 39% of Managers and Professionals and Minorities represent 20%. This is an increase from 35% for women and 17% for minorities at the end of 2005.
- In addition, in 2008, women represented 44% and minorities 27% of our external hires.
Women and Minorities
It is often said that the strength of leadership determines the future of a team. In that spirit, we have developed several leadership development programs, not only to grow our associates' leadership capabilities and potential, but to also best position our company for continued success. It's an investment in our future.
- Wrigley's Executive Coaching Program helps executives enhance their leadership skills and further internalize the power of both uniqueness and connective-ness. Nearly half of all participants are women and minorities.
- Mentoring Circles is a program in which our President and Executive Leadership Team meet bimonthly with a small group of senior associates. The goals are to:
- Expand leadership capabilities
- Increase knowledge sharing and transfer within the organization
- Build relationships across the organization
- Increase emotional intelligence within the organization
- Continue to build the soul of the company
- Develop a formal network of support
- An Executive On-Boarding Program for women and minorities who are new to Wrigley focuses on building early relationships and accelerating a successful transition to our company.
Familiarity, comfort, trust, and enhanced leadership and relationship skills are the intended outcomes of these programs. We believe that when our associates feel their future is linked to a company whose values they share, that it inspires belief in and commitment to our company's success.
At Wrigley, Inclusion is feeling valued and connected in our workplace. We work toward representing many perspectives at each level within the company.
Our plans include:
- Endeavoring to have diverse candidate slates for each opening - internally and externally;
- Growing and developing our people through individual development plans, succession planning, mentoring, and coaching;
- Implementing a learning program for our managers to gain new skills and behaviors to recognize, appreciate, and leverage differences; and
- Building communities for our associates to connect with each other.
We recognize and respect anyone who interacts with our company - consumers, customers, suppliers, benefactors, etc. - for their uniqueness and we want them to feel connected to us.
Multicultural Marketing
Our brands appeal to an extraordinarily diverse range of consumers, and they are sold by an equally diverse group of retail customers. Thus, understanding their different needs, perspectives, behaviors, attitudes, and experiences is a must. And while Wrigley recognizes the uniqueness of each one of our consumers and customers, we have recently focused our efforts in reaching them. Currently, marketing to key segments of the population is a competitive advantage in today's marketplace. The better we communicate with specific groups of people, treating them with trust, dignity, and respect, the more likely they will understand our products and purchase them. Multicultural marketing is not only good for business, but is the right way to approach the world today; it is the Wrigley Way.
Supplier Diversity
To truly understand the needs of our customers and consumers and succeed in the marketplace, we must work with companies and people who value and live diversity and inclusion as much as we do. Thus, Wrigley is committed to welcoming business partners who represent all people. Purchasing quality products and services from a diverse supplier base is "living our values," and we are increasing our emphasis on working with minority and women suppliers. Learn More »