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A colleague at the Allied Mills flour mill in Manchester, UK
Our Grocery businesses continuously explore ways to make their sites safer for employees, contractors and visitors, as well as prioritising employee health and wellbeing, including mental health.
In 2024, the employee on-site Lost Time Injury (LTI) number across our Grocery businesses decreased by 2% from 121 injuries in 2023 to 119. This means that 0.90% of their employees experienced an injury on-site, which is a reduction of 3% compared with a 0.93% rate in 2023.
The number of contractors experiencing an on-site LTI increased from 3 to 13 in 2024. This equates to a contractor on-site LTI rate of 0.43% compared with 0.12% in 2023. Businesses are strengthening their efforts with contractor partners to communicate and monitor safety standards and expectations.
Grocery Group businesses continue to refine their health and safety systems and protocols. The Grocery Group senior leaders are highly committed to improving the safety performance of their businesses. Detailed analysis has been carried out on all LTIs and cases where first aid was given to identify and address the causal factors. Across Grocery Group businesses, there are a series of programmes in place aimed at improving culture, behaviour and ownership. For example:
All Grocery Group businesses have trained Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs) who volunteer to support colleagues who may be struggling, signposting them to help and lending an ear when needed. In the UK there is one MHFA for every 30 employees. MHFAs often lead the communication of and engagement with the business’s wider mental health support. For example, Westmill MHFAs have set up the Westmill Ventures Challenge to get people more active as a way of preserving and generating better mental health, and the Allied Bakeries team ran a Picture of Joy photo competition to mark World Mental Health Day 2024.
Twinings Ovaltine has continued delivering its Beyond Zero initiative, which links neuroscience understanding with individual behaviours to promote health and safety-conscious behaviours among employees. The programme focuses on going beyond achieving zero accidents to create a culture of care, collaboration and understanding so all employees can work safely and effectively, and enhance their physical and mental wellbeing.
Beyond Zero modules are being rolled out across Twinings Ovaltine sites in Australia, North America, China, India, Poland, Switzerland and the UK. The initiative is being tailored by local teams to ensure the content suits regions and their cultural nuances. Over 100 employees have been trained across the organisation to date, helping to cascade the message and training to others. In manufacturing sites in the UK and India, 100% of relevant employees have completed the coaching sessions. The aim is to have this rolled out across all global sites by 2025.
As part of Twinings Ovaltine health and wellbeing programme, UK employees have access to an on-site ActiviTEA Centre, offering a gym, workout areas, class studios, changing facilities, a treatment room and a relaxation area. The programme also includes an Employee Assistance Programme, which offers proactive and reactive mental health support. Financial wellbeing is supported through access to an independent financial advisor along with a benefit that provides reward points and retail discounts.
George Weston Foods’ safety activities are guided by its five strategic safety pillars (shift mindsets, contain the risk, establish processes, develop skillset and competencies and system improvements). The business has established a 'Leaders Leading Safety Well' programme to prepare the cultural ground for building capability among its employees. Also, its ‘Steps to Zero’ programme aims to inspire everyone to work safely so that, at the end of each working day, everyone goes home to their families healthy and safe.
Employee on-site Lost Time Injuries and Lost Time Injury Rate (%) - Grocery
Number of employees and percentage of women in workforce
Our Grocery businesses regularly review and embed practices which build inclusive workplaces, and engage colleagues through training, education, celebrations and events.
This year, Grocery Group businesses Allied Bakeries and Westmill updated their family-friendly policies, improving benefits for adoptive parents and those undergoing fertility treatments. These changes follow recent policy reviews aimed at more inclusive recruitment practices. AB World Foods has focused on supporting female talent before, during, and after maternity leave, including establishing informal peer-to-peer support groups.
All Grocery Group businesses have engaged with employees from under-represented groups, such as those from diverse racial, ethnic, gender, sexual and religious backgrounds, to share their inclusion experiences. They have developed training programmes, discussion toolkits, and employee networks on relevant topics, including allyship, mental health, financial wellbeing, and hidden disabilities like neurodiversity and chronic illnesses.
Each business is encouraged to tailor its inclusion agenda to its specific demographics and needs, celebrating events such as Black History Month, Ramadan, and Pride Month. In the UK businesses, inclusion and diversity programmes are executed by a network of colleagues volunteering on their business taskforce.
To help create a diverse and inclusive business, Twinings Ovaltine has developed a range of programmes to build awareness, knowledge and understanding. It is embedding DEI through policies and practices across the whole employee lifecycle, starting with attraction, recruitment and onboarding, through to personal development and career progression.
In the UK, Twinings Ovaltine has a DEI and Wellbeing Champions Network, which advocates for the physical and mental health of employees and helps to foster an inclusive work environment by running a calendar of events and initiatives to raise awareness and celebrate diversity. The network is currently focusing on driving positive change around race and ethnicity, gender, accessibility and psychological safety.
Twinings Ovaltine has also developed a diversity dashboard tool to use data to monitor its performance. Senior leaders review the business’s performance to understand the experience of employees and to create informed action plans to improve diversity across the business.
George Weston Foods and its businesses have established an Inclusion and Diversity Taskforce to continually review and embed practices to build an inclusive and diverse workforce. The Taskforce actively supports and celebrates diversity through year-round network events, educational initiatives and open communication. In 2024, the division focused on educating many of its leaders and people on unconscious bias, while advancing recruitment policies that reflect its commitment to inclusion and diversity.
ACH has a culture of enabling inclusion and welcoming diverse perspectives as a key imperative for organisational success, driven and led by ACH’s senior leadership. ACH’s 'Flourishing Together' framework sets the foundation for actionable solutions to talent development and an engaged workforce, where employees are valued and positioned to perform at their greatest potential. ACH has delivered shared experiences, critical learning and insightful expertise to foster a culture and environment invested in the mental and physical health and overall wellbeing, including financial wellbeing, of employees and their families.
Our Grocery Group businesses offer career development training and opportunities. Jordans Dorset Ryvita has invested in giving every line manager training in coaching techniques, delivered via a two-day in-person workshop designed to help them optimise their teams’ performance. Westmill Foods has launched a new leadership development framework which includes tools to give colleagues comprehensive feedback at any career stage. Silver Spoon offers an 18-month development course for all leaders with a view to further driving capability in this area, and AB World Foods rolled out ‘Encouraging Curiosity’, a self-study guide for its top 50 leaders.
Jordans Dorset Ryvita, Westmill Foods and Silver Spoon have all improved their internal communication channels, ensuring that colleagues have easy access to the information needed for optimal performance and engagement. Business-wide employee engagement surveys at AB World Foods, AB Sports Nutrition and Westmill Foods achieved completion rates exceeding 80% and above-average engagement scores. These surveys were followed by listening groups and action planning to address feedback across all functions.
Production colleagues at Westmill's noodle factory in Trafford, UK
Twinings Ovaltine is embedding a coaching culture intended to create an environment where everyone is inspired and excited to give their best every day. All managers take part in its Thrive line manager programme, helping to build their capabilities in engaging and leading teams. One of the modules within this programme provides managers with foundational skills in having coaching conversations. The Thrive programme was shortlisted for a Food & Drink Federation award in the UK in 2024.
George Weston Foods is fostering leadership excellence through several initiatives. Since launching its Coaching Academy in 2022, over 50 colleagues have participated, enhancing their leadership skills. The division has also introduced LinkedIn Learning across all business units, offering employees flexible and accessible learning opportunities. Its Tip Top business is advancing leadership capabilities with targeted programmes for all levels, from bakery operators to senior management. The focus is on continuous career development and promoting authentic and inspiring leadership.
ACH is invested in enabling its people to reach their full potential. A culture of growth is both encouraged and actively supported through a variety of programmes and initiatives, from an online library of learning content to facilitated workshops on key topics. Beyond formal learning ACH focuses on compelling career experiences to expand the breadth and depth of its organisational talent. This commitment not only enhances individual capabilities but also underpins the business's success in providing great brands and products for its diverse consumer base across North America.
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The Lions Barber Collective, a team of barbers raising awareness of men's mental health, cut hair and talk at the AWBF Safety Day.
At AB World Foods’ manufacturing site in Leigh, the business has established a dedicated mental health group for its male employees. This initiative follows recent collaborations with men's mental health campaign groups, including the Lions Barber Collective and Andy’s Man Club.
The new mental health group provides a platform for colleagues to connect and support each other through regular support sessions. The occupational health and human resources teams at Leigh further assist by offering a range of support services. These include guidance on physical, financial and mental health resources.
In addition, the Lions Barber Collective, a charity focused on preventing men’s suicide, visited the site with their mobile salon, offering haircuts and conversations with employees. This visit spurred additional activities focused on addressing men's mental health.
During July 2024, Andy’s Man Club, a charity dedicated to reducing the stigma around men’s mental health through peer-to-peer support groups, also engaged with the team to raise awareness of mental health issues among men.
Tip Top’s Health Hub programme includes an eight-week health and wellbeing challenge across different bakeries and teamscross different Bakeries and teams
Tip Top in Australia has taken steps to prevent workplace injuries by creating health hubs at its bakery sites. The business is working to reduce the risks of manual handling, a major cause of injury, through automation, improved equipment and processes. It is also focused on the health of its employees and has partnered with Employhealth to provide on-site physio support. Additional services offered to employees include free health assessments, strengthening programmes to address personal fitness issues, daily warm-up programmes and manual handling technique training.
Tip Top also organises an annual eight-week health and wellbeing challenge. Since the introduction of these services in 2020, all of its bakeries have now established health hubs. Over 900 employees have completed health assessments, and the early identification of significant health risk factors has helped prevent some more serious health incidents. Many of these employees have also completed the strengthening programmes and have improved their sleep, diet and unhealthy habits. George Weston Foods is now considering the benefits of adopting this approach for its other businesses in Australia and New Zealand.
To celebrate inclusion and diversity, Tip Top recognises a broad range of cultural events within its bakeries, including Eid al-Fitr
The ‘We Belong' programme was launched at Tip Top in 2023. It involves Inclusive leadership training and a series of 12 'curious conversations' led by team leaders. The goal was to build curiosity and understanding, and to value differences within teams. In 2024, DON introduced the programme to support its inclusion agenda, and both businesses are seeing the benefits of positive conversations that explore how we see, change, and embed inclusion and diversity at work. With engaging content and a simple discussion framework, 'curious conversations' are happening across George Weston Foods' businesses and improving feelings of belonging.
Tip Top Bakery
George Weston Foods has improved its benefits for parents, carers, and their families. The new benefits include ongoing payments into state-run saving schemes throughout both paid and unpaid parental leave. There is also an ‘ease-back’ to work process, offering new parents or carers one paid day off per week for 12 weeks to help them transition back to work. Additionally, George Weston Foods funds a ‘first aid for families’ course for new parents. The business has ensured that all policies and communications supporting these benefits are inclusive and gender neutral.
