Cargill Bulgaria is part of an international company that has contact with cultures and customers from around the globe. For us, a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion is key to achieving sustainable business development, as well as a tolerant and supportive workplace in which each employee can develop their full, unique potential. We work in an extremely dynamic, growing organization, in which upholding these values is a focus area through the introduction of initiatives integrated into the work day-to-day life of employees. This project has diverse stages, involving all employees of the company in a way that they can recognize and empathize with these values and integrate them in an authentic way in their work responsibilities.

The project covers all employees of the company in the country and has a comprehensive approach, including an internal communication campaign, a study of employees' assessment of the state of organizational culture in terms of anti-discrimination policies and practices, open and authentic communication, support and inclusion, and virtual trainings for all, led by pre-trained volunteers within the organization.

The project is directly tied to Cargill’s People Strategy under its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion priority stream and the Anti-Harassment and Anti-Discrimination policies, emphasizing our commitment to delivering an inclusive and equitable experience for all employees, where each person can realize their full potential. The main project activities will continue with an annual occurrence, in order to integrate all new hires and monitor the dynamics of the employee survey results.

The Project consists of 3 main components, accompanied by a mass-communication campaign. The first activity is the Baseline Assessment Survey to all employees, which aims to establish the current levels of trust, open and honest communication, diversity, equity and inclusion in our organization in order to determine areas of specific focus for improvement and data-driven action planning. Based on the results, the local HR team and the Ambassadors develop a long-term Action plan to address the identified areas and to promote the Respectful and Inclusive Workplace culture. The next stage is the real time virtual-led Respectful Workplace Trainings that help employees understand expectations of respectful conduct and behaviour, and proper reporting of concerns. Managers are engaged in activities that help them set the tone & lead by example, promote a speak up culture & prevent escalation of issues. The 3rd component is the implementation of a special tool to be used to monitor and determine the root cause and contributing factors in cases of unacceptable conduct, in order to implement measures and prevent future re-occurrences.

The company has long had policies for diversity and inclusion, code of conduct prohibiting discrimination and harassment, but the main results / benefits of this project is the authentic integration of these topics into the daily lives of all employees through discussions of real cases and situations during interactive training sessions. Thanks to the recognition of the types of unacceptable behavior, the ways of addressing it and the personal role of each employee in maintaining the culture of mutual respect, we observe the increased understanding of the relevance of these policies and their applications in the work environment.