Background 

Pernod Ricard’s Scotch Whisky business, Chivas Brothers, needed to develop inclusive leadership skills to cultivate a strong culture across the company, with a vision to positively impact women into leadership statistics and to close the gender pay gap. Notably, in the male-dominated Scotch whisky industry only 25% of Chivas Brothers’ leadership roles were filled by women, resulting in a gender pay gap of 7.3%. Chivas Brothers aimed to address these issues by tackling skills gaps in senior managers who needed to refine their coaching skills, something which was preventing them from growing and nurturing diverse teams. To instil a culture of inclusivity among its nationally dispersed workforce across offices, distilleries and factories, a programme that was accessible and relevant to all employees whilst embedding continuous learning as a habit was required.

Approach 

The company partnered with Hive Learning to execute a strategic blended learning programme that sought to foster an understanding of company values and and managers’ purpose, diverse talent, inclusive leadership skills and conflict mitigation. Live training sessions brought managers together for facilitated conversation, whilst a platform for social learning between sessions created a space to contribute to the conversation and access additional resources. Recognising the necessity of consistent learning the programme was partitioned into two parts, taking place from 2022 to 2023. The second half saw the inclusion of an external trainer for further specialisation in leadership skills. Additionally, a Leadership Day was organised as an opportunity for leaders to physically convene and construct a Leadership Charter, reinforcing the culture of inclusivity.

Hive Learning provided tailored content, leveraged social learning features and offered data-driven insights that enabled Chivas Brothers to measure progress and impact. These insights also highlighted where managers were struggling, informing the direction of the masterclasses.

Outcome

The programme delivered impressive results, including helping to reduce the gender pay gap from 7.3% in 2021 to 5.4% in 2023 and helping to increase the representation of women in leadership roles from 25% to 43%. It substantially improved managerial understanding, with 43% more managers reporting a strong comprehension of their purpose as leaders.

The initiative has contributed to the reshaping of the company culture, equipping leaders with the capability to coach teams to success, to align diverse teams and to instil a sense of inclusivity. As a result, the employee engagement rate increased by +4 points compared to the previous year, and fairness and equity rose by +7 points, demonstrating the shift in culture towards inclusivity and equity in the organisation. Notably, the programme’s efforts contributed to the closure of the gender pay gap across the Pernod Ricard organisation as a whole, setting a precedent for ongoing inclusion, equity, diversity and growth through coaching, developing and upskilling senior leaders. In fact, the approach has been so successful that Pernod Ricard is now looking to develop blended programmes for other business units and teams as it seeks to build an even more inclusive, supportive and ambitious business culture.