Working at Mars
Diversity and Inclusion
The varied backgrounds and combined talents of our Associates enrich our business. Each of our 71 country operations has the freedom to respond to local needs and build a workforce that reflects its customers and communities, while being united by incorporating our Five Principles.
Our goal is to increase workplace diversity, and though we have been successful in some areas, we recognize there is more we can do to promote diversity consistently across our business.
Supporting diversity within our supply chain is also important. Read more in the Supply Chain.
Gender Diversity
Women are underrepresented in many workplaces around the world, especially in senior positions. We are proud of our progress on gender diversity: increasing the number of female managers by one percent every year for the last 10 years. In 2010, 37 percent of our managers were women, beating our target of 30 percent.
Mentoring and support for female Associates has played an important part in exceeding our target. In 2010, we piloted a successful Women in Leadership program in the U.S., which we will further expand in 2011.
Supporting women in their wider lives helps them to succeed at work. Read more about some of our work-life initiatives in the Wellness section. We can improve female representation at more senior management levels and in certain functions, such as General Management. Reaching this goal remains an ongoing focus.
Promoting Local Talent
Our success relies on hiring great local people and giving our leaders the freedom to make the best decisions for local business performance, Associates and communities. This approach works because we are united by our Five Principles. It also offers our local leaders a high level of accountability.
Our target is for at least 80 percent of each local business unit's management team to be representative of its regional population. In 2010, 61 percent of our management teams achieved this target.
We are making great efforts to develop our local talent, both those already in leadership positions and those with potential for the future. For example, our Asia Leadership Forum is a development program that brings together the leadership teams of all of our businesses in Asia. Our Accelerated Leadership Program (ALP) is an intensive, challenge-centric program for high-potential managers, and we run the program in a manner intended to ensure a focus on homegrown talent. Read more about the ALP here.
Ethnic Diversity
Our intention is to ensure Associates represent the ethnic diversity of each market, which means that in markets like the U.S., where the consumer base is highly diverse, we place a significant focus on diversity initiatives, and in other markets we may do less. Measuring the ethnicity of our global workforce is a challenge as ethnic diversity varies widely between countries and regions and cannot be captured in a single metric.
