The Hershey Company recognized for DEI efforts

The Hershey Co.’s plan to increase diversity, equity and inclusion has been recognized by DiversityInc. 

The company said it landed sixth on DiversityInc’s Top 50 companies, up from 33 in 2018. 

Hershey said its program, The Pathways Project, a five-year DEI engagement plan, as well as its global #HerforShe campaign, are reflected in the recognition. The #HerforShe campaign is the company’s effort to elevate and support women and girls worldwide, Hershey said in a statement. 

 “Being recognized on DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity list amongst such prestigious peers reaffirms that our commitments to DEI go beyond words and promises, and our actions create measurable change,” said Alicia Petross, chief diversity officer, The Hershey Co. “That change is felt in our workplace and communities, and we’re not stopping here.“ 

Highlights of Hershey’s DEI strategy include: 

• Representation and Leadership: Hershey says it is committed to increasing representation of its employee base to be 30 to 40% people of color, and 15 to 22% of leadership roles occupied by POC by 2025. 

• Recruitment Diversity: Hershey said it makes it a priority to assemble candidates that are 50% diverse for every externally sourced role. It has expanded its relationship with diverse-owned talent search firms to 30% to help ensure the goal is achieved. In 2021, more than 40% of all talent acquisition search volume was led by diverse-owned firms. 
• Supplier Diversity: By 2030, Hershey says it will increase spending with diverse suppliers to $400 million, helping to promote economic equality and opportunity for diverse-owned businesses. This is a four times increase versus its baseline year of 2020. 
• Pay Equity: By 2025, Hershey aims to achieve pay equity for similar job categories across its global salaried workforce. In 2019, Hershey achieved 1:1 aggregate gender pay equity, and in 2021, 1:1 aggregate POC pay equity for salaried employees in the U.S.