| Every organization has its so-called humble beginnings. In the case of Frito Lay Canada, it started with a young farmer messing around in his mother’s kitchen and presto! the potato chip was born. Now 75 years and 5000 employees later, Frito Lay’s story is bigger, much bigger, than its successful entry into the snack food business.
“We operate in a very diverse landscape,” Maria Escobar, Frito Lay’s diversity and inclusion manager points out. “For us it is very compelling that by understanding differences, we are better prepared to serve our customers.”
Frito Lay Canada is a national operation, spanning the country from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, BC. And so getting the message out to and, more importantly, getting buy-in from a diverse workforce is a major challenge.
 So how do you solve this problem? Well, quite simply, like Maria.
Her job is to ensure that employees are given and attend diversity and inclusion training workshops that range from two hours to full days. That senior executives with the company sponsor grassroots initiatives such as the Asian and women’s networks. That employees understand that they also have the option of tapping into affinity networks through PepsiCo, the parent company in the US. And that those employees know their feedback is valued.
The latest employee opinion survey went like this: I am comfortable being who I am in this company, even when I’m seen as different is some way. Seventy-eight percent of the workforce agreed with that statement.
“What’s been good for us and why we’ve been able to get buy-in is because this is a journey where everybody has a role regardless of what your background is or what area of the country you’re from,” Escobar says.
Creating a culture of inclusion at Frito Lay, and working with outside organizations such as Career Bridge and InRoads, has enabled it to attract the best talent around. And the pay-off for the company is evident.
“Our source of talent is a lot more diverse than it used to be before,” she explains. “We continue to see more and more females and visible minorities entering the organization, and growing and developing throughout the organization.”
Frito Lay may be the largest manufacturer of chip snacks in Canada but its size never overshadows its humble beginnings or that it grew not just one chip at a time but one person at a time. And how each employee is part of the much bigger picture.
“(We are) very, very conscious that our workforce needs to reflect the communities where we operate,” says Escobar. |
