Global trends such as urbanization, demographic changes, and technology developments are changing the talent landscape. These trends are contributing to a shift in the supply of talent at a time when demand for skills is increasing sharply. In such an economic environment, we need to continuously reevaluate and reimagine every aspect of our business — pushing ourselves to out-innovate our competitors today so we can out-perform them tomorrow. We will also need to empower our associates to act as owners as they meet their own individual responsibilities while embracing a collective responsibility for the success or failure of our company as a whole.
One of the biggest challenges facing corporations today is attracting, developing and retaining highly talented leaders. PepsiCo aims to engage creative and innovative employees who can fuel short-term success, while simultaneously fostering new capabilities and the growth of the next generation of leaders whose skills, experiences and understanding of new technology will help drive our long-term success.
LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
PepsiCo’s workforce is bolstered by some of the best leaders and most effective associates in the industry, thanks in part to a global community of learning led by PepsiCo University. We encourage associates to embrace a “learn it all“ mentality, consistently striving to be our best at what we do each day. Our leaders are actively engaged in the teaching process, supporting learning in both formal and informal settings.
Effective learning experiences – whether they happen in a classroom or in the flow of work – require high-quality content, and in 2020 we have augmented our collection of videos, podcasts, articles, blogs, job aids and more. Our goal is to “mix the modalities” to keep engagement high and ensure learning retention over time and in the moment of need. For example, an outside perspective could give associates the insight to make a strategy adjustment, while a quick internal document might answer a process question. By equipping PepsiCo associates with the right learning resources at the right time, we aim to help them solve the business challenges they encounter in their roles.
PepsiCo’s internal global learning resource, PepsiCo University enables a culture of continuous learning and development. In consultation with PepsiCo leaders, PepsiCo University sets priorities for global classroom and online curriculum needs. Our curriculum is organized by topic across three categories:
- Leadership and Management,
- Future-Ready Workforce, and
- Functional Skills
Learners can mix-and- match electronic and face-to-face content from these three areas to suit their learning styles and objectives. PepsiCo University leadership programs are rich, hands-on experiences in which leaders solve real business problems alongside global peers. Our learners walk away empowered to work in new ways, engaged in our global strategy and better connected to great leaders from across the business.
In 2019, PepsiCo associates again completed more than 1 million hours of learning. In 2020, we expect this number to grow as we launch a new learner experience platform that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver the right learning to the right person at the right time.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
We respect the right of freedom of association, and this principle is embodied in our Global Code of Conduct, Human Rights Workplace Policy, and Supplier Code of Conduct. This means that, consistent with local laws, associates have the right to assemble, communicate, join associations of their choice.
PepsiCo fully complies with all laws regulating collective bargaining. In 2019, 52 percent1 of employees worldwide, eligible to be covered under collective bargaining agreements, were represented (2018: 55 percent). PepsiCo maintains positive working relationships with union representatives.
1Due to COVID-19 interruptions, this figure relies on 2018 data for our APAC Sector. All other data is based on 2019 Sector data.
TALENT ENGAGEMENT AND GROWTH
We continue to take a holistic approach to employee growth and engagement by deploying a variety of tools aimed at enhancing the employee experience, and seeking opportunities to improve employees’ engagement in their career at PepsiCo. We follow the 70-20-10 model for employee development, which suggests that growing one’s capabilities stems mostly from experiences, followed by coaching and mentoring, and lastly from formal training. Our career tools, learning maps, and development planning resources follow this framework. In addition, our leaders have performance objectives related to advancing our culture and developing talent, which helps to hold leaders accountable for increasing employee engagement and employee satisfaction and emphasize that how work gets done is just as important as what gets done.
We continuously listen to employees to ensure we are providing the best experience possible. Our internal Pulse survey results show that PepsiCo associates feel high levels of pride in working for PepsiCo, are energized by their work and are confident in PepsiCo’s future success. As a result of the feedback we received from employees, we continue to leverage our strength in leadership to set future direction. We are equipping our leaders to engage in critical conversations about the kinds of growth and development opportunities and resources that are available at all levels of the Company, and to help employees navigate their careers as both PepsiCo and the world around us evolve.
CAMPUS RECRUITING
At PepsiCo, we are constantly connecting with students around the country in our effort to identify tomorrow’s leaders. We value our partnerships with colleges across the US and in 2019, we held nearly 7,000 on-campus interviews. In addition, we continued to build upon our partnerships with external organizations focused on developing diverse undergraduate and graduate students, such as Management Leadership for Tomorrow, The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, National Sales Network, Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), the Society of Women Engineers, and The National Black MBA Association.
In 2019, these efforts yielded 2,523 student job offers with 1,800 acceptances, a 71% offer acceptance rate. Of the 1,800 total acceptances, approximately 40% were full-time hires and the remainder were intern or co-op hires.
TALENT ATTRACTION
To attract the best and brightest in a competitive talent landscape, we strive to maintain our reputation as a great place to work. Our employer brand showcases both our market successes and a collaborative, dynamic work environment through which our associates make impactful contributions and win with purpose. Through this platform, we are engaging with our current associates, and inspiring our teams to move faster, stronger and better with PepsiCo. In addition, we are focused on continuing to attract top talent and encouraging candidates to bring their unique skills and experiences to our global stage.
In addition to bolstering our attraction and engagement strategies, PepsiCo’s global Talent Acquisition team has continued to deploy a balance of both traditional and progressive recruitment methods in order to attract and retain a diverse and engaged workforce. We continue to grow our reach in traditional channels such as campus recruiting, while also pursuing proactive pipelining strategies tapping into alternative sources of talent to reach future prospects.
Attracting and retaining female leaders across global sectors remains a key component of our recruitment strategy, and we’ve partnered with leading female-focus platforms such as Fairygodboss in order to advance these efforts. In 2019, PepsiCo remained on the Fairygodboss "Best Companies for Women" list.
More broadly, we continue to embrace advancements in mobile technology and have made significant mobile and digital enhancements to our external careers site, pepsicojobs.com. In addition, we’ve sustained continued growth on social media platforms with an active presence on key channels including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. As of May 2020, our PepsiCoJobs Twitter handle held an 80 percent positive/neutral sentiment rating. We also have a strong overall culture rating on Comparably, receiving “Best CEOs for Diversity” in 2019. We are proud to see our highest marks coming from the gender diversity, retention, and compensation categories. Our LinkedIn followership has soared to more than 4.2 million since the start of 2019, while also landing the #11 and #47 spots for Brazil and the U.S., respectively, for the 2018 LinkedIn Top Employer list.
Finally, PepsiCo is proud to be named on Fortune’s 2020 “World’s Most Admired Companies” list for the 15th consecutive year.