Hershey founder was company's first DEI advocate: Chief Diversity Officer

Hershey Chief Diversity Officer Alicia Petross appears on Yahoo Finance's A Time For Change to discuss how the company is focusing on increasing the representation of women and people of color in leadership roles.

Video Transcript

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ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: The Hershey Company is more than a century old, but regularly listed at the forefront of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In fact, "Forbes" ranked it number one in its inaugural list of the world's top companies for women. It also got accolades for being a top company for Latino executives and LGBTQ+ workers. I recently spoke with Alicia Petross, Hershey's Chief Diversity Officer, about the company's ongoing efforts which she says trace all the way back to Hershey's founder.

ALICIA PETROSS: Milton S. Hershey founded our company in 1894. And he is known as a confectioner, a philanthropist, and an innovator. And today, we believe in our founder's understanding that all people deserve to be treated fairly.

So as such, DEI has always been a core part of our enterprise strategies. And we believe a dynamic, diverse workforce is key to us and meeting the needs of our diverse consumers around the globe. So, Alexis, while we're proud of our legacy and of our progress, we know that we can and must do more.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And I want to talk about the must do more part, because Hershey was voted top female-friendly company in the world according to "Forbes." But I'm wondering-- and I also just want to show some statistics here. 48% gender diversity around the world, more than 30% of global leaders within Hershey are women, and your board of directors now 42% gender diversity there.

These are enviable numbers for lots of companies. But have you discovered any equity gaps that are maybe more difficult to tackle than others? Are there parts of the business that you think still have room for progress?

ALICIA PETROSS: Yeah. So we have a holistic enterprise strategy that we call the Pathways Project. And the goals and the commitments that we're focused on, Alexis, are equally important as how we are working to make notable and measurable progress. So prior to 2020, DEI was always at the forefront of our business agendas. And, clearly, it's been rooted in everything that we do back to the days of our founder.

However, after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, we realized that we had a responsibility to do more. So we decided to pause, really look inward, take a hard look in the mirror, and then work with our employees. And so through listening sessions, we develop the Pathways Project.

And this is our five-year plan to make our company even more diverse and inclusive. We're really focused on three pillars. We're focused on joining the organization. So here, it's about expanding talent pools, new practices of 50% diverse slates for candidates and interviewers, as well as increasing the diversity of suppliers within our supply chain.

When we're focused on growing careers and experiences, particularly of Black and brown talent, here, we're taking a unique focus on early in-career individuals. And what we know to be true is that the more commercial acumen and skill-building individuals are exposed to, the faster their careers can flourish. And one of the other things we're also focusing on is expanding unconscious bias awareness.

And so we have required training for everyone in the company, because we know that when we build these skills, we're able to improve our culture and our business results. And when it comes to reaching out, which is the third pillar of the Pathways Project, here, we're focusing on showing up to advance equity in New ways with our consumers and communities at large.

And so that pillar involves initiatives like working with key partners such as the Thurgood Marshall College Fund on first-ever endowment programs. And so we funded an endowment at $3 million. And this will really be a big benefit for diverse students that are studying food sciences. Now, within these major planks, we have identified some areas where we'd like to see stronger representation.

So we are keenly focused, Alexis, on continuing to advance the careers of women, of Blacks, of Latinx, and Asian individuals. Now, in truth, our focus on diversity and inclusion expands many different areas. These are ones that we're highly focused on because we know that they're going to make us more representative, and we'll be better able to sustain our business and meet our business needs.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So I know that one of the goals here is a commitment to equal pay at Hershey. Can you tell me about some of the progress you've made there? And what else do you think still needs to be done?

ALICIA PETROSS: Yeah. We are incredibly proud that today, we pay women and people of color at the aggregate, $1 for $1, compared to male counterparts. In 2020, we reached gender pay equity for US salaried women. And early in 2021, we achieved the same-- aggregate pay equity for people of color working in US salaried roles. But we're not done.

We have plans by 2025 to continue to reach pay equity across all verticals and geographies in our organization. And, Alexis, we are focused on attaining global pay equity by 2025 in a role by role comparison.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Now, as someone who has really dedicated her career to DEI in the corporate world, I'm wondering how you personally have seen the conversation shift around its value. I mean, has getting buy in from stakeholders become a little less challenging as time has gone on?

ALICIA PETROSS: Today, I think there's a true understanding that diversity, innovation really fuel businesses. And I know for us here at Hershey, it's really rooted in our values. Because without diversity and inclusion, we can't be open to possibilities, we certainly can't make a difference, we definitely cannot be all together, and we cannot deliver excellent business results.

What I have seen that has changed is the willingness to have really open, vulnerable, and transformative conversations, particularly conversations on race. And, Alexis, I'm sure you hear from many companies, these are touchy conversations to have. And I'm really proud of how our organization has met this head-on. Because today, we have a lot of business challenges and being real helps us meet and sustain our business.

And so if we're able to have these conversations in a way that nourishes and enriches our workforce while stimulating innovation and creativity within our commercial business, I think that's a win-win. So I think our company is seeing that, and I know many other organizations are seeing that as well.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Now, when Michelle Buck was named CEO of Hershey back in 2017, we had 6.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs that were women. And that number has risen to 8.2% in the five years since. So when do you think we're really going to see a material difference there in that gender gap at the highest c-suite?

ALICIA PETROSS: Yeah. I think that's something that we continue to aspire for. Michelle Buck is an amazing CEO and chairperson of our board of directors. And we really believe that there are more women out there like her who can be doing the same thing. Again, this is why we're focused on early-in-career and mid-career development so that we're providing commercial opportunities and building commercial skills so that our career plans can then take over.

And we have many women that we can see a bright future for in senior leadership roles. So I think we're seeing a trend that is going to continue.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Alicia, other companies looking at what Hershey is doing and wondering how they can do it themselves-- how, perhaps, Hershey can maybe be a blueprint for other companies looking to create similar change across their organizations, what would sort of the top thing or bit of advice that you could offer be to those companies?

ALICIA PETROSS: Yeah. Alexis, I think that's a great question. One thing that we really decided to do when we reset our enterprise DEI strategy, or the Pathways Project, is we realized that we really needed to be all in on this topic. And so we clearly understand the connection to business, and sustainability, and culture when we focus on this.

This topic is an executive committee big rock. And so it means we have frequent conversations, and we take a look at our progress. I think it's important that you set measurable, aspirational goals, as we have done. I think the linkage of those goals to executive committee compensation is also important. And I think being able to have really real, open questions about barriers and opportunities is really important.

One thing that I'm truly proud of is how we've embraced everyone in our organization around the goals of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. And it was really that co-creation with hundreds of employees that created the Pathways Project. And I believe that's why we're seeing such progress, because we have a lot of people that are working at this for all of the right reasons.