Diageo Leads The Way in CSR Investment

Diageo Ireland employs around 1,200 highly skilled people across five operations, including brewing, production of liqueurs, marketing, sales and commercial support.In Northern Ireland, Diageo is an integral part of the community as a major exporter and employer with a significant economic footprint.The company employs more than330 people across three sites including the Baileys global facility at Mallusk, a bottling and packaging plant in east Belfast and the corporate HQ in Belfast city centre.

Claire Hutchinson, Corporate Relations Manager, Diageo Northern Ireland said:

“Sustainability and responsibility are integral to Diageo’s ambition to be the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products company in the world.

In Northern Ireland, we play our part in achieving this through our corporate social responsibility agenda which focuses on providing leadership in alcohol in society; helping to build thriving communities and reducing our environmental impact.

It is through our committed work in these areas that Diageo has achieved gold level CORE, Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Standard and Northern Ireland’s only corporate responsibility accreditation. CORE has provided us with formal recognition, both internally and externally, while helping to focus our efforts on continuous improvement.”

Diageo is committed to helpingreduce alcohol related harmin society through dedicatedprogrammes and partnershipand collaboration with others.

‘Smashed’ is Diageo’s globalprogramme dedicated topreventing underage drinkingaround the world. The programmehas been delivered to over28,000 school students acrossNorthern Ireland since 2016.

Led by Collingwood Learning andsponsored by Diageo NorthernIreland, Smashed is a theatre basedprogramme to educate youngpeople on the dangers of underagedrinking in a way that is creative,engaging and hard-hitting. Theinitiative looks to empower youngpeople by equipping them withthe information, awareness andconfidence to make responsiblechoices around alcohol.

The programme combines a live theatre production presented by professional actors accompanied by interactive workshops, evaluation and teaching resources for schools, which have been endorsed by The Council for theCurriculum, Examinations, andAssessment in Northern Ireland.

Diageo is also a sponsor of thePSNI funded RADAR facility (RiskAvoidance Danger AwarenessResource) in Belfast HarbourEstate, which aims to help raiseawareness of the risks associatedwith underage drinking.

BUILDING THRIVING COMMUNITIES –

Diageo is committed to helpingbuild thriving communitiesby empowering the peoplewithin our value network,including our own employees.

Diageo has recently announcedfully paid 26-week equal parentalleave for all UK employees.

From 1 April 2019, parents employed by Diageo in the UK are eligible for the same fully-paid26 weeks, retaining benefits and bonuses regardless of gender, sexual orientation or whether they become parents biologically, via surrogacy or adopt.

The ambitious move is part of Diageo’s leading work to support gender equality and to create a fully inclusive and diverse workforce, where barriers to career progression are removed and talent is retained and nurtured.The offer is open to all of Diageo’s 4,500 employees across the UK.

The new policy also strengthens the support for parents as they return to work including the option of keeping in touch days, parental coaching, flexible working policies and access to free independent counselling.

Locally, Diageo’s charity partneris Orchardville, a registeredcharity and social enterprisecommitted to changing the livesof people with learning disabilityand autism. The charity believesthat with the right support,any individual with a learningdisability or autism can reachtheir full potential and achievetheir employment aspirations.

Fundraising is a key element ofthe partnership but it’s also aboutworking together, whether throughproviding placement opportunities;carrying out mock interviews orproviding Diageo employees withautism awareness training.

Diageo is committed to helping reduce environmental impact by working with our partners to support local, sustainable and responsible sourcing.

In a bold sustainable move, Diageo is investing £16m to reduce the amount of plastics used in its beer packaging by removing the plastic ring carriers and shrink wrap from its multipacks of Guinness, Harp, Rockshore and Smithwick’s.

Diageo’s bottling and packaging plant in Northern Ireland will be the first site that will be up and running with the new packs, with the business investing £8m in its facility in East Belfast.

The new packs will be on shelf on all beer brands in the island of Ireland from August 2019 and from Summer 2020 in Great Britain and the remaining export markets. Currently under 5% of Diageo’s total packaging is plastic and this change will reduce Diageo’s plastic usage by over 400 tonnes annually.

The multi-can packs will be replaced by cardboard packs, which are sustainably sourced, recyclable and fully biodegradable. Individual cans are fully recyclable, including the widget which is contained inside cans of Draught Guinness.

Oliver Loomes, Country Director of Diageo Ireland, said: “Managing our environmental impact is important for the planet and the financial sustainability of our business. For 260 years Guinness has played a vital role in the communities around us. We already have one of the most sustainable breweries in the world at St. James’s Gate and we are now leading the way in sustainable packaging. This is good news for the environment and for our brands.”