In commemoration of Global HR Forum 2015, to be held in Seoul between November 3-5, 2015, The Korea Economic Daily had e-mail interviews with several distinguished guests on various subjects. The followings are e-mail interview with Umran Beba, PepsiCo AMENA Sector Senior Vice President & Chief HR Officer...Ed.
(Reporter: Soon Shin Kim)
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PepsiCo has a long history in Diversity and Inclusion. PepsiCo’s milestones in the area of Diversity include:
· First company to have a woman on our Board of Directors
· First company to hire African-American professionals
· First company to engage in multi-Cultural marketing
· First company to link executive bonuses to diversity goals
Today PepsiCo has a global diversity and engagement agenda that all its markets adapt to their own needs.
2. When a global player like PepsiCo pays intense and sustained attention to diversity issues, its sole motivation surely isn’t about desire for equal opportunity, fairness, or good image. Why does your company place such high priority on D&I?
Diversity and Inclusion is critical for our business success. A diverse workforce better represents PepsiCo’s shopper and consumer base, fosters different ways of thinking, and helps create a workplace where different leadership styles are developed and encouraged. This in turn fosters an environment that drives innovation, healthy debate, and a richness of ideas.
3. In your former role as the President of PepsiCo Asia-Pacific, did you place a particular emphasis on certain D&I activities within your sphere of responsibility?
Absolutely. The Asia Pacific Region consists of 25 markets, and in those markets, there are many different nationalities and business models. Our D&I programs focused on making sure that the make-up of our Leadership team represented the make-up of our consumers, in terms of different nationalities and gender. We also focused on female representation and improved our female executive ratio from 26% to 39% in 3 years. And we had many programs for attracting and developing local talent.
4. Again, PepsiCo is considered as a pioneering corporation in the field of diversity and inclusion; its ceaseless effort to make the workplace diverse and inclusive is certainly exemplary and incomparable. It is not surprising, then, for a female member to be in the top executive position. on a personal note, what is the most important aspect of D&I for you? Is gender the most important priority on your diversity agenda? What makes gender equality so important in workforce?
Our diversity agenda has four pillars: gender, local talent, millennials and talent with different abilities. We have great programs in all four areas. Given the war for talent, gender becomes critical. Women represent half of the population, more than half of the new graduates in some countries, and more than half of our shoppers.
5. In your opinion, how is gender diversity viewed differently around the world? Where in the world is it particularly easy or difficult to advance gender diversity?
Gender diversity at the workplace is impacted by the country’s culture, child support mechanisms, and family support relationships. For example, in China we have close to 50% executive female representation. It is very much part of the Chinese culture that women work and are a key part of the family income. Also, grandparents support working mothers by looking after their grandchildren during the workday.
If you go to Saudi Arabia or Pakistan you need to develop special programs to support gender representation in the workplace. PepsiCo does so. For example, we have a child care center in Pakistan, and we have special attraction and retention programs in Saudi Arabia.
If you focus on the subject there is always a solution.
6. Before you were appointed to your current position, for 16 years, your scope of responsibility at PepsiCo included Turkey, your home country, and a number of world media, including Forbes magazine, have recognized PepsiCo Turkey as the best company in which women have the most opportunities for advancement. Over fifty percent of the management at PepsiCo Turkey is made up of women. That is certainly remarkable in a country, which has not been widely considered as a model of equal opportunity for women. Didn’t you find it frustrating when you had to start again from scratch in Asia-Pacific?
In Turkey, during my tenure as General Manager and President, we reached equal representation numbers. That was great! When I moved to Hong Kong there was 26% female executive representation. This was a good start but there was room for improvement. So my team and I agreed on targets and action plans, and we increased the representation to 39% by the end of my third year. It was very motivating.
7. I’d like to hear your opinion about the differences in corporate culture and working style between Asian companies and companies from the West. What do you think are pros and cons of Asian companies’ culture and work patterns?
Western companies started their diversity journey earlier, given the external and legislative frameworks in many Western markets. They started programs in their head offices, and then rolled them out internationally.
Some Asian companies may have a focus on diversity but I see it just starting as an agenda item. The trigger for this may be government programs, or leader-led programs, or sometimes it is the globalization of the Asian companies that drives this element and focus.
8. You mentioned coaching and mentoring as important ways to improve the environment for gender diversity. What are the main reasons you think that way?
Mentoring and coaching are regular development tools for talent. In the case of diverse talent I believe such tools are even more necessary. They bring support to diverse talent, and give them the chance to think about possibilities, and to gain sponsorship. They also create reverse mentoring that brings learnings into the organization.
Ultimately, the objective is to create sponsorship for diverse talent that will speed up their development and achieve retention.
9. You named professional development as the third important point in the D&I agenda. Have you initiated specific programs for women?
We have specific development programs for our diverse talent, programs for Asian talent, and programs for females at different levels. All these programs aim to speed up the development of the individual and make them think further about the opportunities. General training and awareness- building is also critical.
10. Do you think that your diversity and inclusion programs have made PepsiCo a more attractive employer in your various markets?
Definitely! We have flex policies, we have special development programs, and we have recognition programs and mentoring.
11. With regard to targets and driving the agenda, is the executive team in the region on the same term with these targets? Do the leaders share the same vision in both mature and emerging markets?
Our targets, which are adapted to the position and needs of each of the markets, are cascaded down via the leadership and through the organization. This applies to both mature and developing markets.
12. When you move people around globally, what kind of integration support do you provide in order to help people learn to manage different cultural contexts?
We have culture programs that can be taken before and during the assignments. Some are online; some are delivered in face-to-face format.
13. You spend a significant portion of your time participating in external forums, sharing the success story of PepsiCo’s strong inclusive culture, etc. But for many companies in the region, this is still a new idea. Has your advocacy helped to inspire other companies to do more in this area?
We share this responsibility among different leaders in PepsiCo. Where relevant and possible, we dedicate time to build networks, give messages and examples, and share ideas. When I was a Board member of Calbee, based in Japan, we had great programs developing and sharing our knowledge about diverse workforces. Over time, this helped Calbee improve the female representation across their workforce.
14. How far do you think you have actually progressed towards achieving your diversity and inclusion goals, and what do you see as the main challenges ahead?
We have good programs and good focus. Some markets respond faster than others -- given the culture and factors such as the affordability and availability of child care -- and some markets take more time. In general, China and markets in South East Asia respond very well, while India and the Middle East need more focus. In all markets, however, there is always opportunity for improvement.
15. (If you have ever researched about Korean companies) What do you think about the competitiveness of Korean companies such as Samsung and Hyundai? What are their weak points?
When I was the President of Asia Pacific I worked with our Korean team and partners. I saw a lot of global understanding and growth vision and targets. I also saw diversification in their business.
My only recommendation would be to have a more global workforce to compete globally.
16. How can Korean government, companies and universities improve their diversity? Please give some advice on improving their ranking.
· Develop and state some goals
· Develop and execute awareness-building training programs
· Focus on talent acquisition with targets
· Develop and execute culture-change programs
· Introduce flex policies
17. How can companies improve their employee’s attitudes about diversity?
Awareness-building and education will be key. At PepsiCo, we have held many such training sessions over a long period.
18. What do you think are the biggest problems facing Korea companies about diversity?
Female representation at the workplace and in senior roles is still low in Korean companies.
Culture and low availability and affordability of child care support may be among the factors that contribute to this. However I believe with focus from the government and companies things can definitely improve.
This Global HR Forum is a great opportunity to discuss these challenges and agree on actions.
19. Is this your first time visiting Global HR Forum hosted by The Korea Economic Daily? Could you explain what you want to highlight in this Forum?
Yes this is the first time I have participated in the Global HR Forum hosted by KED.
I would like to highlight the power of diversity in the war for talent, how we can improve diversity in the workplace, and the crucial role the private sector must play in driving this agenda forward.
