QUESTIONS/ANSWERS
TAKING ACTION KROGER UNVEILED A FRAMEWORK TO PROMOTE DIVERSITY, INCLUDING HOW IT WORKS WITH SUPPLIERS OF ITS OUR BRANDS PRODUCTS
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ate last year, Kroger issued a new diversity plan that looked at how it worked with its half a million associates as well as its business partners. The plan aims at building a more inclusive culture at the retailer, develop diverse talent, help them be a better listener, advance diverse partnerships and more. Angel Colón, Kroger’s senior director of diversity, equity and inclusion, and supplier inclusion, spoke with Store Brands on how the plan will extend to suppliers of its Our Brands.
STORE BRANDS: START OFF BY TELLING US HOW THE FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION: DIVERSITY, EQUALITY & INCLUSION CAME ABOUT, WHAT WAS THE PROCESS IN DEVELOPING IT, HOW YOU DECIDED ON WHAT TO INCLUDE IN THE PLAN OF ACTION? ANGEL COLÓN: Kroger has always taken action to stand with our associates, customers and communities as strong allies in the fight against intolerance, injustice and racism and has long prioritized diversity, inclusion and equity across our business. However, after witnessing events of racial and social injustice in 2020, Kroger knew it could not remain silent and must double-down on its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. This year provided clarity, the opportunity for reflection and revealed how much more work we must do. In order to develop the framework, we stopped and listened. We surveyed associates from a variety of backgrounds, geographic divisions and verticals within the business and turned to Kroger’s African American Associate 14
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Resource Group for advice on how we can improve. Through months of listening and careful development, Kroger was then able to announce its Framework for Action: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Plan in October of this year. The plan features both immediate and long-term steps developed in collaboration with our associates and leaders to accelerate and promote greater change in the workplace and in the communities served by the company. The framework supports our commitment to educating and showing our leaders and associates how to be stronger allies — to be more empathetic, supportive and aware of our own unconscious bias. Together, we’re building a better, more inclusive Kroger. SB: Outline some of the key action items in this framework and how you expect to fulfill them. AC: Kroger’s Framework for Action: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Plan features five focus areas: Create more inclusive culture, develop diverse talent, advance diverse partnerships, advance equitable communities, and
deeply listen and report progress. I want to highlight a few foundational actions that have helped Kroger create a more inclusive culture for our 500,000-plus associates. First, Kroger established a DE&I Advisory Council, featuring associates from across its family of companies and headed by Monica Garnes, retail division president, in order to gather critical feedback and remain accountable to long-term DE&I commitments. The DE&I Advisory Council partners with senior leaders and longstanding associate resource and advocacy groups, representing Black, Latinx, Asian, LGBTQ, and physically and intellectually disabled associates as well as veterans, women, parents and millennials to drive organizational change. This council played an integral role in collaborating and developing the framework. Second, Kroger is providing Unconscious Bias training to every leader in 2020 and DE&I training for every associate by May 2021. We are committed to providing foundational and advanced DE&I training to every leader, using custom curriculum developed by DE&I experts. The company is currently preparing a more comprehensive DE&I training program for the nearly 500,000 associates across its organization, which will be introduced in spring 2021. Many of the commitments outlined in the Framework for Action: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Plan build off foundational policies already in place at Kroger. The events of this past year acted as a catalyst to accelerate, expand and more deeply invest in our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The framework also acts as a forcing function to hold us accountable to our customer and associates. If anything, this year proved that there’s always room to improve and do better. SB: What are the most important ways this framework can impact suppliers of Kroger’s Our Brands, how are they included? AC: At Kroger, we are prioritizing the
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1/26/21 1:53 PM
