Coca-Cola Europacific Partners - Celebration and education beyond Black History Month

Created by VERCIDA for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

 

Louise is committed to building on the work Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has been doing to improve inclusion and diversity at all levels in the company.

 

 

I’ve been with CCEP for just over 10 years, starting off as a field sales rep. This was a great role and a good way to understand the business. After 18 months, I moved into HR – now known as People and Culture – initially on a three-month project and I just never left! I am now in a business partner role, with Finance as my client group.

When I started this role I was looking forward to travelling for work, but we went into lockdown two months later. It has been a different experience, but it still varied and I really enjoy it – there is no such thing as a typical day.

I am proud to be involved in our Inclusion, Diversity and Equity work, especially as part of the team leading on Black History Month (BHM). BHM is important to me for so many reasons - I’m a Black employee, I’m a Black woman, I’m a Black British person, so for me, being Black is my everyday life. It’s important in our organisation that we understand the challenges and barriers underrepresented groups face but also to celebrate our differences. The way we do that is by listening, sharing stories and doing whatever we can to make colleagues from all underrepresented groups feel included in the business.

This is the third year that we have celebrated BHM at CCEP. It has been incredibly positive, but we still need to do more to be as inclusive as possible for our underrepresented employees all year. On a personal level and from a work perspective, it’s critical to continue that journey of conversation and education. 

During BHM, the activities sit under four key categories – education, celebration, allyship and contribution. For education, we have held lunch-and-learn sessions with guest speakers on important topics such as the significance of the Windrush Generation, the Evolution of Anti-Racism and understanding microaggressions. These are just a few examples.

 

 

Under Celebration, we brought ‘Candy’ by Cameo to life across CCEP by sharing a video tutorial on the moves, then challenging our colleagues to share their dance attempts to this well-known song within the Black community. Other celebrations include Cultural Cuisine, weekly themed menus in our restaurants and canteens, virtual cocktail masterclasses, and an in-person Sip N Stroke social painting class. 

 

 

We end BHM with a final showcase – a night of entertainment including music, dancing and other performances. This has been done virtually for the past three years, but next year we hope to be able to host the event in person. 

Under Allyship, we have an internal Equity Programme that runs outside of BHM. This is about ensuring our managers understand the challenges faced by employees from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds and support them to manage for difference. 

Our allyship group meets every two weeks. There’s usually a topic that the host brings to the session, then we have a group discussion and talk about how allies can actively drive change. Anyone in the business can be an ally volunteer to host or provide a discussion topic. There is a Friday film and book club where anyone can suggest a film or book that people can go and check out, then we have a discussion afterwards.

The Black Experience (TBE) is a CCEP network specifically for Black employees to connect. The group started in 2020 following George Floyd’s murder – there was a huge spotlight on racism and the treatment of Black indiviudals, but feedback from within the business was that we were experiencing challenges on a daily basis, inside and outside work. TBE was created following various conversations where a safe space was wanted and needed for Black colleagues to connect and support each other in the workplace. The TBE Allies group was an evolution of this.

The contribution part of BHM is about giving back to the community. At CCEP, everyone gets two days per year to volunteer, so this year, 18 colleagues used one of our days to volunteer at the Brixton Soup Kitchen in South London. It was really fulfilling work. We also made donations to a couple of chosen charities that do incredible work supporting Black communities in the UK.

We do a lot of work in recruitment to bring in more diverse talent. It’s not just about attracting diverse people and people from disadvantaged backgrounds, but retaining them and giving them career paths. At the entry-level, there is a lot of diversity, but this decreases as you look up at the leadership roles, so we need to do more to promote from within. It is important to think differently about how we support people from underrepresented backgrounds at all levels. 

And let’s not forget Notting Hill Carnival – this does not sit within BHM, but it is a significant part of Black history in the UK, which is what we wanted to highlight across the business as part of our culture and heritage journey. This was the first year that a group of colleagues headed to Carnival to experience the community, food, drink and, importantly, the sense of togetherness that Carnival brings. We are looking at how we can get more involved for next year – we would like to see as many people from CCEP there as possible!

 

 

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