We offer tailored training programmes to support this, including unconscious bias training for all Infineum colleagues and inclusivity training for leaders.
The health, safety and wellbeing of our colleagues is our highest priority. We understand that performance, creativity and innovation flourish in an environment where people feel safe, confident and supported.
Our online Global Wellbeing Hub provides resources to help colleagues nurture their own wellbeing and support one another.
In 2023, we continued to promote various wellbeing tools and our local sites organised activities to strengthen the social bonds between colleagues.
Recognising the economic challenges faced by colleagues
in 2023 due to rising inflation and the higher cost of living,
we took proactive steps to support the colleagues most likely
to be impacted. In 2022, we provided a resilience bonus to some colleagues to help mitigate the impact of high inflation. In 2023, we implemented further pay actions to improve the purchasing power of colleagues at the lower end of our pay distribution in places where inflation was particularly acute.
One of the significant moments in our colleagues’ lives is welcoming a new child into their family. We strive to be an inclusive organisation that provides the necessary support and adjustment period especially in locations where statutory parental leave is not particularly generous. Since 2019, all colleagues have been entitled to a minimum of four weeks paid parental leave for birth mothers, fathers and adopting parents, even in locations where local law or practices do not require it.
We encourage ongoing converstions with leaders about work progress, performance and development, underpinned by annual performance reviews and regular personal development planning mechanisms. This allows colleagues to discuss their skills and career development, and to identify the support and resources they might need to help achieve their ambitions.
“The experience with the remote coaching has been instrumental for my personal growth, providing me with new tools and insights to navigate both professional and personal challenges with enhanced self-awareness. The personalised coaching sessions have honed my leadership skills, boosted my productivity, and helped me cultivate a growth mindset that’s essential for long-term success. Being a coach myself, I’m a strong believer in the power of coaching and I’m grateful to Infineum for offering us this opportunity.”
Inclusion and diversity (I&D) has long been a cornerstone
of Infineum’s values. In 2023, we enriched our approach
by including equity to become diversity, equity and
inclusion (DE&I).
This has included the appointment of a new DE&I Director role reporting directly to the CEO, who has taken senior sponsorship
for our DE&I organisation. We will continue to further embed equity within our organisation during 2024.
“Embracing DE&I means a stronger focus on Equity in the workplace to help further accelerate our ambition to enable all colleagues to achieve their full potential”
Infineum DE&I Director, JR Wise
Historically, our industry has been male-dominated, especially at manufacturing sites. Infineum endeavours to attract and retain a more diverse talent pool, including through efforts to promote STEM disciplines with younger generations.
Indeed, we aim to reflect the diversity of our markets, communities and relevant local talent pools and are committed to identifying and removing potential bias in both recruitment and internal development processes.
Our recruitment materials emphasise our commitment to diversity and we use appropriate channels, such as women and diversity
job boards, minority recruitment agencies and partners, technical groups, networks and affiliations on LinkedIn to reach diverse candidate pools. We request that our recruiting partners provide
a balanced mix of candidates in terms of gender and other indicators of diversity. We then use diverse assessment panels and a structured interview process to create an objective and unbiased recruitment experience for candidates of all backgrounds.
We are increasing collaboration with educational institutions
to engage more underrepresented groups. In the USA, we
target schools with more diverse student populations and build relationships with affinity groups for engineers from diverse backgrounds.
In 2023, we started our partnership with Future of STEM Scholars Initiative (FOSSI), aiming at increasing the number of under-represented professionals in STEM by providing scholarships, internship opportunities and mentorship to students pursing STEM degrees at historically black colleges and universities. We also
aim to integrate our community outreach initiatives with our recruitment efforts at local universities ensuring that local minorities are included in these efforts.
We have set specific ambitions to ensure that our leadership population reflects the communities in which we operate and the talent pools that they derive from. We continue to focus on these and we will implement targeted initiatives and action plans to achieve our goals.
Affinity groups for women and for ethnicities were introduced in 2021, bringing together colleagues who share common interests, characteristics, or life experiences to meet and connect with others in a safe space that allows open and honest sharing.
They serve as an additional tool to overcome potential barriers to advancement among talented colleagues from under-represented groups. The groups are set up locally at our various sites and are open to all local colleagues. We are planning to introduce more affinity groups in 2024 including our first LGBTQ+ group.
In 2023, the US Women’s Affinity Group volunteered to mentor high school girls at a Women’s Future Leadership Academy event in New Jersey. The event was organised by Junior Achievement, the largest US organisation dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills to make smart academic and economic choices.
And this was part of a collaborative girl empowerment series. Our DE&I journey is ongoing and we continuously look for ways
to learn from the best practices, bring in new ideas and drive inclusivity. Indeed, we regularly engage external speakers,
experts, and charities in to expose colleagues to the latest insights on inclusion and keep our colleague community united and aligned on this key values.
Christina Salgueiro, Process Leader
