Our Response to the Racial Equity Movement

The tragic killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2020 reignited the movement for racial equity and justice in the U.S. and across the world. With hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets in our communities globally, WBA publicly recognized its duty to be a catalyst for change, as a community and a company.

We aim to be an example of diversity and respect, with employees who are well cared for and passionate about the communities we serve. That is why we are listening to and learning from the experiences, views and feelings of our diverse employees, and taking specific actions to drive change and bolster our already robust diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

We’re listening and taking action

As part of an ongoing process, we’re continuing to introduce new and ongoing commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. This includes:  

• Issuing an open letter on racial injustice from our Global Chief Human Resources Officer
• Appointing the first African-American woman member to our WBA board of directors, and committing to further diversification efforts to ensure managers are held accountable for recruitment, retention and development of people of color at every level of the organization - from the boardroom to the store room
• Adding Inclusion to our corporate values, which are now: Trust, Care, Innovation, Partnership, Dedication and Inclusion. We have also changed the name of our D&I function to  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• Holding listening-oriented events hosted by our businesses, executive teams and diverse Business Resource Groups (and shared across the company), where people of color provide insights on their experiences, views and feelings
• Sharing podcasts, videos and learning opportunities from our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion function, amplified by our Business Resource Groups
• Introducing unconscious bias and diversity, equity and inclusion learning modules across our businesses.

For more information on our progress in these areas, please refer to the Equal Opportunities section of the 2020 CSR Report, as well as our recently published WBA Diversity & Inclusion Report (2018-2019).