The Weetabix Food Company -

weetabix banner

The Weetabix Food Company

About Us

Employee inclusion is an important part of any workplace. Enabling employees to bring their whole selves to work and encouraging and empowering individuality is key. A CIPD blog post explained that inclusion at work occurs “when people feel valued and accepted in their team and in the wider organisation, without having to conform.” The post went on to explain that “inclusive organisations support employees, regardless of their background or circumstance, to thrive at work.”

Being able to thrive in an inclusive organisation that celebrates individuality is something that today’s candidate-led recruitment market is increasingly on the look-out for. And rightly so. A survey from Deloitte found that 80% of workers said that inclusion efforts were an important factor when choosing a company.

From the above data, it is clear that workplaces that promote and celebrate diversity and inclusion are important to current and prospective talent but, in addition to this, having a genuinely inclusive workplace environment can also bring about a range of benefits for both HR and employers. Take staff retention for example.

At a time where employers are grappling to keep hold of top talent amid the ‘Great Resignation’, having an inclusive culture can help with retention. For example, 2019 data from Limeade Institute found that, when employees feel included at work, they are 28% more engaged and three times more likely to stay. Additionally, with the above data from Deloitte highlighting that most jobseekers are looking to join diverse and inclusive companies, this could help with HR’s talent attraction strategy too. But this is not all.

Inclusive Cultures

Separate data has highlighted that inclusive cultures can boost employee happiness, morale and overall business performance. A Boston Consulting Group survey found a correlation between inclusiveness and happiness on the job; of the employees who reported that they work in an inclusive working environment, 81% also said that they are happy in their jobs – three times more than those who don’t feel included. Additionally, a Deloitte study found that diverse companies enjoy 2.3 times higher cash flow per employee, while Gartner stats found that inclusive teams improve team performance by up to 30% in high-diversity environments, as cited by an Achievers article. Given the plethora of benefits that diverse and inclusive workplaces can have both for staff and the business, employers and HR would be wise to prioritise this agenda at work.

Making Weetabix A Great Place To Work

Meraki HR’s Purpose is to make very business we work with a great place to work, and one company who has that same purpose is Weetabix – I should have trademarked it! The cereal maker has around 1,100 employees, with its headquarters based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire.

According to Stuart Branch, Chief People & Digital Officer at Weetabix, D&I is about “making a great place to work”. In a recent interview with My Grapevine magazine, he explains: “We believe at Weetabix that better days start with better breakfasts and we believe that Weetabix is a great way to start your day. It’s fabulous that, at Weetabix, we have an exec team that believes that, to make better breakfasts, you need brilliant people.” He continues: “Our ‘brilliant people’ strategy is about making sure that we attract the best possible talent. And therefore, in order to do that, we need to appeal to everybody and we need to make sure that everybody has their chance of being their best when they’re at work.” As such, an acute focus on inclusion is key.

This is where Weetabix’s ‘Inclusion Without Exception’ strategy comes in. “‘Inclusion Without Exception’ is the branding that we’ve given to D&I,” Stuart explains. “We have a people strategy and obviously we have an organisational strategy, we then have elements of that organisational strategy that kind of break down into certain teams and certain functions. And within the people strategy we have an element which is D&I.” He says that after various considerations, the firm then hooked onto the concept that, “if you have inclusion, you will attract diversity.” He continues: “If you chase diversity, you can have diversity, without inclusion” – the thinking being that, just because a company has good workforce diversity, it doesn’t mean that employees will feel included and feel like their voices are heard. Additionally, a famous quote from the diversity advocate, Vernā Meyers, sums this notion up too. She says: “Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. So, Weetabix deliberately branded their EDI work as ‘Inclusion Without Exception’

Our Focus On Diversity & Inclusion

Danny Singh, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, shares the Weetabix ‘Inclusion Without Exception’ vision and the work that he’s been leading to achieve it.

“It sounds like a real cliché but we have been on the most incredible journey in our diversity and inclusion at Weetabix.

“I became the D&I Lead about a year ago, and was so privileged to inherit a D&I programme that is part of the company’s overall business strategy. The leadership team at Weetabix recognise the importance of inclusion in realising the business’ strategic commitment to ‘brilliant people’, believing people do their best work when they can be themselves. Every Executive Leadership Team member now has a personal objective linked to inclusion. Having that kind of endorsement right from the top of the business is a brilliant starting point for a D&I programme that can actually make a difference.

“Two problems that diversity and inclusion programmes often run into are a lack of senior support and a lack of resource. As well as our inclusion steering group made up of senior leaders, we have a cross-functional inclusion forum which brings together passionate people from all levels within Weetabix.

“We realised this year that we needed to protect the time that these fantastic people are dedicating to their D&I work, as well as giving them an opportunity to be recognised for their efforts. We developed an official ‘Inclusion Champion’ role, which has a job description and objectives, as well as time allocated to it. We now have eight official ‘Inclusion Champions’ who play a huge role in keeping the momentum up.

“We’ve also benefited from third party expertise. Our ‘Inclusion Without Exception’ strategy was heavily influenced by the advice of D&I consultants, who showed us compelling evidence to suggest that if you focus on inclusion, making sure everyone can be their true self at work without facing prejudice, you’ll attract and develop a diverse workforce.

“That strategy has already started to pay off. This year we ran our second annual Inclusion Maturity Survey, and were delighted to see we’ve improved across every metric. Nearly two thirds of our respondents now agree that Weetabix is an inclusive workplace.

“There’s still progress to be made. Learning from the survey results, we’re currently focusing on ‘inclusion for all’, taking
a wider perspective so all our employees understand how inclusion relates to them. We’ve had some fantastic stories from all kinds of people who have felt the benefit of our inclusive culture, such as a working father who’s used our flexible working policy and feels he’s been a better dad because of it.

“We do all of this because we truly believe that it’s our differences that make The Difference at Weetabix.”

Diversity and Inclusion Jobs