Ana Meléndez Rivera
Veronica Morales
Myrna Maricela Hernandez Robledo
Lourdes Godines
Alejandro Vazquez Nava
Héctor Patricio González
EGADE Business School Tecnologico de Monterrey
Consuelo Garcia-de-la-torre
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Vanessa Escudero (People & Organizational Development Director, Heineken México), said during the interview:
"Me as a woman I do not want to be hired for being a woman, I want to be hired for the ability and for what I can contribute and I believe that most human beings would say the same, man, woman, blue, yellow, whatever, frankly we want that. So I believe the vision of Heineken at a global level and my own vision I think it is a much more equitable world, how to do so that everyone can participate in the same table, not trying to make democracy in action, but by now to have equal opportunities."
Vanessa Escudero (People & Organizational Development Director, Heineken México), said during the interview:
The company is clear about its objective: “Become the Brewing Leaders Again” and they know that to achieve this they need to make some changes on the way they do things, by creating an inclusive and diverse (R&D) organization, in order to:
Respond to a dynamic environment
Be more Innovative
Develop our People & Leaders
Have a High Performance Culture
Be more Agile
Because of that they began by creating a simple but high impact “Inclusion & Diversity strategy”, called “2 + 2” and the structure to support that strategy:
Several initiatives are launched in order to support their Strategy:
- Life Balance: Its purpose is to help men and women to have other activities and hobbies, and at the same time to be able to work and be productive. For this reason, the home office scheme was launched (8 hours a week), and extended the length of maternity and paternity permissions. Work meetings cannot be scheduled after 5 pm. Breastfeeding rooms were built in all of their work centers, although women are not hired in all work centers.
- Recruitment and selection: We did not want to set gender quotas, since the progress is going little by little. But the rule was set that in every vacancy that exists, there is always a woman in the candidates. In the last year and a half, it has been possible to increase 2.4% of women hired in work teams.
- Internal communication: a week of inclusion and diversity is held during the year, where various specialists are invited to talk about what inclusion and diversity means.
- Government certificate: There is an accreditation that is called "Standard of labor equality and non-discrimination". To obtain this accreditation, profound changes are required, for example, all internal policies must be written in Braille and have audio, even if a person with these disabilities is not currently hired; prepare all offices so that staff can enter with a wheelchair, etc. An equality and non-discrimination committee was set up, which is in charge of analyzing and evaluating any related issue, not only for direct employees, but also for external ones, such as suppliers, contractors, etc.
- Woman @ Heineken: It's an affinity group, in which women empower other women. In this group there are workshops, leadership talks, economics, etc. Its purpose is to support women in the stage of life in which they make decisions of great importance for themselves, so that they feel supported and provide them with more information when making those decisions.
- Learning and development: It is a program in which men are also invited to participate in this inclusion initiative, by taking a workshop in which they live a point of view of another person, to analyze what he/she felt and if the participant was really inclusive or not. The idea is that the participants can realize that we all discriminate: due to the way someone dresses, because of age, the way of speaking, etc. The goal is to help everyone to be aware that we all discriminate and how to make everyone see things differently. An inclusive leadership module was carried out, where the main needs of society were studied and where we (Heineken) want to lead our staff.
- Mentoring Program: The objective of this initiative is to have a qualified mentor to help in the growth and career development of manatees.
- External communication campaign: Some advertising campaigns were completely changed, for example the Tecate campaign, which showed how to leave the prototype of "machismo" and change to the women's defense scheme. This campaign served to make people realize how 2 out of 3 women suffer violence.
Vanessa Escudero (People & Organizational Development Director, Heineken México), said during the interview:
"Fortunately, I have done very well, but I have always been in minority groups: I studied Business Administration and we were 4 or 5 women at the time I studied (from '90 to '95). In my work, there were never female executives: it was always men who occupied those positions. I lived some time in Australia, I went to study a master's degree there and saw a lot of diversity of everything, religion and different forms. When I returned to Mexico, I realized that we are very behind, and for me it was not possible that we continue thinking in the same way. I was also working in the United States: Being a woman and a Latina, I have always been on the side of minorities. I believe that this has touched my heart in some way, so I seek to expand and share my knowledge and help people who are in a situation similar to that I was and "pull them", because I think it is the only way we can grow.”
"In Heineken, there is a well-commented phrase: 'Brewing a Better World' and it is in some way how we build a better world, and a better world is to have equal opportunities for all. It does not mean that women are better or that men are better. That is one of the reasons why we did not want to put a gender quota (percentage of women who must be hired by area). As a woman, I do not want to be hired as a woman, I want to be hired for the ability and for what I can contribute and I believe that most human beings would say the same thing, man, woman, blue, yellow, whatever, frankly we believe that. According to the vision of Heineken (at the global level) and my own vision, I think it is a much more equitable world: how to do, so that everyone can participate in the same equality of conditions, not just to make democracy in action, but you have for now equality of opportunities."
Vanessa Escudero (People & Organizational Development Director, Heineken México), said during the interview:
The phrase: "Brewing a Better World" is some way how we build a better world and a better world means having equal opportunities for all. It does not mean that the woman is better or that the man is better. Me as a woman I do not want to be hired for being a woman, I want to be hired for the ability and for what I can contribute and I believe that most human beings would say the same, man, woman, blue, yellow, whatever, frankly we want that. The vision of Heineken at a global level is a much more equitable world, how to do so that everyone can participate in the same table, not trying to make democracy in action, but by now to have equal opportunities.
Vanessa Escudero (People & Organizational Development Director, Heineken México), said during the interview:
Heineken has been rewarded with the certification of the Mexican Standard NMX-R025-SCFI-2015 in Labor Equality and Non-Discrimination
Also, have rewarded within the organization for being inclusive and for going to the vanguard with these programs.
Currently, the talent of women in relevant positions in the company has been recognized. For example, Vice President of Marketing, after 126 years a woman is part of this level and at the senior level there are 3 women in different areas.
Innovation has been benefited, since there is greater diversity in the work teams. It is encouraged in the day to day by means of brainstorming, which is a new way of operating, and by taking risks.
Vanessa Escudero (People & Organizational Development Director, Heineken México), said during the interview:
Heineken has worked with "network of shelters" where they take care of women who suffered violence, take them to a shelter and then supported with advice. In addition to that, Heineken began advertising through different media communications. This action increased 80% calls from women at risk, making an impact on society. Other brands are being added to their program, such as the product that took away the promotion of machismo and supported more the integrity of women, but each with a different purpose.
A group called "Talent Network" was created, with approximately 15 companies from the state of Nuevo León, in which they meet every two months and the objective is to share best practices related to this topic, since unfortunately there is not much information available for companies. Likewise, talks are held and they participate in forums to share the history of Heineken Mexico, what they have done and where they are going.
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Vanessa Escudero, People & Organizational Development Director, Heineken México
