Nestlé Pakistan signed the CEO Statement of Support for the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs), signaling the support for gender equality and the guidance provided by the principles.
The event was organized with the facilitation of UNWomen. WEP is a set of considerations to help businesses, like Nestlé, achieve key elements which are imperative to ensue gender equality at the workplace.
Becoming a WEP signatory is part of Nestlé Pakistan’s commitment to the advancement of gender equality to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5. The organization has several initiatives aligned with the principles. Nestlé launched the Lahore Chapter of the “Lean In” circle in 2016. An effort to encourage and support women to speak up, to be heard and to get a seat at the table.
The organization also has a 6-month maternity leave policy and provides continued support to new mothers through its “maternity champions” to help settle in work and achieve work life balance. It’s Healthy Women Program is an initiative aimed at young women and equips them with the necessary knowledge to make smart nutrition choices so that they can have a better quality of life and contribute to the national economy and thus the country’s development.
Speaking on the occasion, Bruno Olierhoek, Managing Director Nestlé Pakistan commented,”
I commit that Nestlé Pakistan, will aim to increase the number of women at managerial and senior level positions. Additionally, we will aim to train over 500 of our line managers on “Unconscious Bias” by the end of 2018. So far we have trained 160 line managers. Lastly in order to create enabling conditions to ensure more women come back to work or take up work full-time, we are improving facilities like Day Cares and Women Hostels in our factories and other site”.
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