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Our people are central to the success of our Ingredients businesses. Each business prioritises having a positive impact across health, safety and wellbeing, diversity, equity, inclusion and work-life balance.
A colleague at AB Mauri's plant in Hull, UK
Keeping people safe remains the top priority for our Ingredients businesses. Their ultimate aim is to create a safe working environment that results in zero injuries and no work-related ill-health.
In 2025, the number of employee on-site Lost Time Injuries (LTI) across our Ingredients businesses increased from 15 in 2024 to 24, resulting in an employee LTI rate of 0.39%. The number of contractor on-site LTIs increased from four in 2024 to five. In 2025, 78% of Ingredient production sites recorded zero employee or contractor LTI.
Health and safety topics are prioritised at all meetings of AB Mauri’s Global Management Team, where performance is closely monitored through benchmarks and reviews of any work-related accidents, to identify areas for improvement and implementation of corrective actions. Leaders play a key role in fostering a culture of safety and promoting wellbeing across all sites.
AB Mauri also established a health and safety steering group responsible for developing and overseeing new strategies, supported by health and safety champions and a health and safety leadership team made up of regional health and safety managers who coordinate and implement activities across regions. Health and safety performance is also monitored at several other global functional leadership meetings, including those focused on manufacturing and logistics.
Central to AB Mauri’s safety culture is the programme SAFE, Safety For Everyone, which is a set of systems designed to increase awareness of health and safety issues, highlight best practice and reduce or eliminate risk wherever possible. The programme is embedded in the culture of the businesses and continues to evolve as the division learns from its experiences.
Despite the increase in LTIs, AB Mauri’s commitment to health and safety remains a key focus area. Several areas for improvement have been identified and the business is actively addressing them as a priority for the coming year. For example, the business is updating its Leading for Safety training programme, which addresses technical requirements around critical risks and behavioural safety to develop the capability of its front-line managers and safety champions to help deliver safety targets.
Additionally, AB Mauri’s health and safety awards programme, now in its 13th year, further contributes to a culture of strong performance through continually highlighting and sharing outstanding achievements.
AB Mauri is managing two greenfield projects in India. Together, these projects have successfully reached significant safety milestones, achieving a combined total of 6.75 million hours without any Lost Time Injuries (LTIs).
Health and safety considerations are integrated into the ABFI businesses strategy, supported by robust systems, proactive risk management, regular audits and transparent engagement with regulators and communities.
Since 2017, the annual ABFI Health, Safety & Environment Recognition Awards have highlighted outstanding contributions to workplace safety, celebrating individuals and teams across the group who demonstrate exceptional commitment to HSE excellence. These awards play a crucial role in promoting a culture of health and safety awareness among all employees across the organisation.
Across its businesses, ABFI promotes a strong safety culture through targeted initiatives. At Ohly, the My Safety, My Movie campaign encourages employees to create safety videos, fostering creativity and personal ownership of safety practices. At PGPI, a complete rebuild of an extruder was undertaken with a focus on safety, enhancing ergonomic design and access while reducing the need for awkward or hazardous working positions. At SPI Pharma, the focus of safety conversations is evolving to be more strategic, with an emphasis on the highest-risk tasks. The team has developed scorecards based on the outcomes of safety reviews and is investing in in-person training and external expertise to enhance employee awareness and engagement.
Team leader performing a routine inspection at AB Mauri's plant in Hull, UK
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employees | 11 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 24 |
| Employee rate | 0.19% | 0.13% | 0.12% | 0.26% | 0.39% |
Our Ingredients businesses deliver a range of programmes to improve employees’ mental and physical health, providing support, protection and education to employees and their families.
Wellbeing programmes vary across the businesses to reflect local needs, they all cover a broad range of topics, including:
AB Mauri and ABFI also have channels in place for their employees to raise wellbeing concerns via Speak Up, ABF’s confidential whistleblowing service. In addition, businesses are using their engagement surveys to gain insights on employee wellbeing.
Across AB Mauri, there are many examples of wellbeing initiatives. Thrive is the health and wellbeing framework for its UK and Ireland business, which recognises the interconnected nature of home and work life, and importance of physical and mental health. The programme aims to support and enable employees to bring their whole self to work and to flourish, grow and contribute to business performance. Initiatives are focused around healthy minds, healthy bodies, healthy homes and healthy work.
In 2025, AB Mauri’s North America business introduced a comprehensive health advocacy programme designed to support its employees in navigating the complexities of the local healthcare system. This initiative provides employees with assistance in finding suitable healthcare providers, resolving billing issues and securing access to prescribed treatments.
AB Mauri also focuses on financial wellbeing through pension advice and financial education programmes. For example, in 2025, its Philippines business provided financial literacy seminars for their employees.
Many ABFI businesses offer employee assistance programmes (EAP) to provide support and resources and to promote mental health and wellbeing among employees. For example, Ohly offers all employees free and confidential external mental health and life events coaching and has seen an 11% utilisation rate for this service. Similarly, SPI Pharma provides EAP resources to all employees and offers internal training on EAP capabilities.
SPI Pharma’s business in France implemented a Respect week, initiated and driven by employee volunteers, to address concerns raised in their bi-annual engagement survey around inclusive and respectful behaviours in 2021. By 2023, the score on this measure had increased from 67% to 78%. The programme has continued throughout the years since, informed and driven by employees. The engagement survey will run again in 2026 and will provide a chance to assess further progress.
Our businesses respect all individuals, striving to foster a sense of belonging among employees, and create workspaces that value cultural diversity. Through action and initiatives, they are working to build a diverse pipeline of talent, strengthen their high performing teams through equal opportunities and inclusive cultures.
AB Mauri welcomes and values diversity across the 32 countries it operates in, respecting and embracing the local cultures and traditions of the communities it serves.
To ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion are effectively embedded throughout the organisation, local businesses are empowered to determine which DEI aspects are most relevant to their specific contexts. Globally, two DEI champions drive expertise, improvements and best practice across the businesses.
AB Mauri recognises that there is always more work to be done in advancing DEI, especially in the manufacturing and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields where gender imbalances persist in key roles. For example, it encourages greater female representation through its Annual Girls Day, allowing female high school students to experience a day working as scientists at the AB Mauri Global Innovation Centre in the Netherlands.
AB Mauri aspires to achieve greater female representation, particularly at the senior leadership level. It has committed to diversity in its recruitment, with an expectation to always have at least one female candidate for consideration. The business monitors its gender balance throughout the organisation, and the balance of candidates and hires in its top 100 recruitment. These KPIs are also reviewed by the senior leadership team monthly. As a result of this work, the business has seen a continuous and material increase in the number of women in its top three layers of management from 24% in 2016 to 34% in 2025, as well as in key operational roles like plant management, maintenance, engineering and product development.
AB Mauri is embedding DEI practices across its businesses, including family-friendly policies, awareness and education, unconscious bias training, external partnerships and support of charities.
AB Mauri Brazil has gender-neutral hiring and promotion policies, with centralised salary decisions to ensure equitable pay. In Spain, the UK and Ireland, their businesses are developing female pipeline succession planning for key roles such as sales and new product development. Enhanced paid parental leave and unconscious bias training are provided in North America, UK, Ireland and Italy. Since 2021, AB Mauri Italy has expanded professional opportunities for disability inclusion in the workplace and community.
An intern and a baking laboratory technologist at AB Enzymes, Singapore
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employees | 6344 | 6381 | 6257 | 6699 | 7592 |
| Percentage of Women | 26% | 26% | 27% | 28% | 28% |
ABFI is committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels respected, included and able to contribute. Across its international businesses, there is a shared belief that diverse teams lead to better thinking, stronger innovation and long-term success. As a science-led group of businesses, ABFI is especially focused on supporting representation and leadership of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) roles, ensuring that talent and opportunity are equally accessible across their operations. In 2025, ABFI became a sponsor of Women In Nutraceuticals (WIN), backing gender equality, supporting representation and female leadership development in the nutraceutical industry. This sponsorship supports female empowerment, career mentorship and development and diversity as drivers of innovation for industry growth.
Other initiatives are shaped by individual businesses to reflect their people and communities. For example, Ohly has DEI committees at every site, made up of volunteers from across the business who lead awareness activities. At SPI Pharma’s Septèmes site in France, colleagues ran a Respect Week for the second year running, with workshops on appropriate communication and inclusivity in the workplace. AB Enzymes continues to focus on growing the number of women in technical and management roles, offering targeted support and development.
Building the skills and experience of their people is vital for our Ingredients businesses. Alongside the need to provide ongoing development opportunities, they strive to ensure all employees are engaged and informed about the business in which they work.
AB Mauri prioritises on-the-job experience, complemented by formal training, coaching and mentoring. A global performance management toolkit for line managers sets the standards expected across the business. Individual high performance is boosted through various inputs, including a network of Talking Talent leaders with specific functional expertise or competencies that are then leveraged across the businesses.
The businesses are responsible for tailoring learning approaches to their specific local needs. Technical experts from AB Mauri’s Global Technology Centre in Etten-Leur, Netherlands, developed a Technology Bakery Ingredients training programme. This modular programme, designed to build knowledge on specific bakery product applications, is available to all regions. Training is provided at foundation, specialist and master levels through a combination of online and in-person sessions.
ABFI has enhanced its learning initiatives through its Development Academy, which successfully delivers structured virtual, classroom training sessions and provides an on-demand learning platform. The platform was designed for individuals requiring development of essential skills, or those seeking to improve their soft skills and leadership abilities. Its Study Sponsorship Programme offers employees access to fully funded, higher level education where they have previously not had this opportunity in life. ABFI is now on its fourth cohort of this programme.
AB Mauri businesses engage with employees through periodic employee engagement surveys, town hall meetings, toolbox talks, newsletters and updates. It has conducted surveys in all regions and most countries over the last two years, with an average participation rate of 93%. Its average engagement score of 85% performs well against an industry norm of 80%. All surveys are followed up with participants to ensure tangible action plans are created where needed.
AB Mauri businesses have been acknowledged by external organisations for their employee commitment, with AB Mauri Brazil and AB Mauri Sri Lanka receiving the Great Place to Work® certification for the second and sixth year running respectively. AB Mauri Sri Lanka has also been named among the Best Workplaces™ in Manufacturing & Production for 2023, 2024, and 2025 and is also acknowledged as one of the Best Workplaces™ in Sri Lanka for Young Talent for both 2024 and 2025.
ABFI’s engagement survey helps shape a positive working environment by asking what is working well and where there is room to improve. The second division-wide survey, carried out in 2024, showed higher overall engagement and improved scores in 14 out of 15 categories and achieved a 93% response rate. In 2025 the businesses have been focused on implementing initiatives to address issues identified.
Feedback from the survey led to meaningful change in colleagues’ experiences at work. ABFI enhanced its quarterly town halls to better connect with teams across the division. These sessions now include success stories, customer and innovation highlights and a live Q&A to help build awareness, share inspiration and strengthen two-way communication. At a business level, it has also led to business values being updated, refreshed and communicated, as well as facility and working space upgrades.
