Under the premise: “The world we want tomorrow begins with our way of doing business today”, the global company Mars reaffirms its commitment to society, its value chain and the communities where it has a presence under five principles and purposes that they are at the center of everything they do.
According to the company’s sustainability plan, it works on three main axes that are: Healthy Planet, Promotion of People and Promotion of Well-being. “A fundamental work axis for our business strategy is inclusion and diversity and we recognize the importance of accelerating our commitment on these issues, both in our workplaces and in our communities. Our culture values and promotes diversity so that it is consistent with and representative of our business. We are working with clear actions to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to reach their maximum potential, because for Mars, in the world we want tomorrow, society is inclusive ”, highlighted María del Pilar Correa, Director of Sales and Marketing of Royal Canin Mexico .
And it is from this heading that the #MiVozSeEscucha campaign emerges, which with collective participation at a global level brought together the largest number of voices from both women and men to answer the question: What needs to change so that more women reach their maximum potential ? In order to obtain proposals that allow building a path for more women to achieve their highest performance.
Through the question, more than 10,000 voices from 88 countries, where Mexico was the second country with the highest participation, gathering a total of 2,616 voices, shared situations and behaviors that were grouped into eight dimensions, where the needs of women, seeking the answers to guide organizations, communities and individuals, and particularly the company, to be agents of change. The eight dimensions are:
- End systemic discrimination and harmful gender stereotypes, with 80 percent.
- Equal professional opportunities, with 79 percent.
- Greater decision-making power, said 65 percent.
- Support as heads of family, highlighted 30 percent.
- Greater work-life balance, with 26 percent.
- Physical and mental well-being, noted 19 percent.
- Learning with gender equality, highlighted the 24 percent.
- End harassment and gender violence, with 15 percent.
- The analysis was conducted by the Saïd School of Business at the University of Oxford, and these findings will guide actions both within the Mars value chain and in society at large.
Currently the initiative is in the second phase, where they seek to understand the problems they face as a company and society. “Part of our commitment is to seek spaces to share them with internal and external audiences, thus, from each front, we will help close the gender gap and promote the change towards a more inclusive society,” added Pilar Correa.
For Mars, #MiVozSeEscucha has made it possible not to assume the situation, but to really know the voices of women and men around the world and with this define the actions that generate real changes in the background. This initiative also helps to identify where partners and allies throughout the value chain can join together to generate large-scale changes.
For the board of directors, the magnitude and urgency that exists on the issue of gender inequality within society requires more actions, from companies to listen and take a step forward to broaden the conversation, reflection and encourage action. However, all parties are important (companies, government, society in general) because the issues of greatest impact usually fall on deeply ingrained cultural aspects that require breaking the traditional way of thinking, being aware of biases and working on them.
“For 100 years, we at Mars have helped women reach their full potential. However, this is only the beginning, because while we have come a long way, there is still a long way to go. We are aware of the importance of putting diversity and inclusion at the center of our efforts, valuing in this particular case, all the characteristics that make women unique: age, race, gender identity and abilities, to unleash all the potential that have. We seek to reach women with different contexts to mark the way forward through our initiative “My Voice is heard,” “said Pilar Correa.
The recommendation from the company is to all work to generate a culture in which women have the same opportunities and can reach their maximum potential. And they highlight the importance, for example, of realizing that in the business sector only 15% of companies have more than one woman in the upper management levels and only 10% of the members of the board of directors are women. As a result, men are currently 88 times more likely than women to be promoted to higher management levels.
Pilar Correa highlights some points that as a society we can carry out to generate change:
- Engaging with colleagues within the organization to make joint decisions that build a culture of Diversity and Equity.
- Identify and help those members who are not aligned, to meet the established objectives. Identify conscious and unconscious biases and work on them.
- Maintain a closer participation with human resources groups to participate in conversations aimed at understanding everything around the culture of inclusion and diversity and promoting equity in our workspaces, for example, in hiring processes, promotions and when it comes to salaries.
- If we are leaders, we can foster by example by listening and giving voice to the diversity of opinions.
- To read the full study you can visit: https://www.mars.com/heretobeheard
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Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx