Pernod Ricard India accelerates its focus on Diversity & Inclusion

India, February 17, 2022: Pernod Ricard India (PRI), a global leader in the wine and spirit industry, has accelerated its commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workplace by introducing multiple high impact measures aimed at creating a culture that enables employees to feel safe, to thrive, and to bring their most authentic selves to work. Making definitive strides towards its diversity goals in recruitment across the organization – including diversity in the C-suite, women’s representation improved across all levels of the corporate pipeline at Pernod Ricard India in 2021. With these recent hires, a third of the leadership team at Pernod Ricard India now comprises of strong women leaders from diverse industries, and over 50% representation of women on the shop floor in most of its manufacturing sites in the South and East Zone.

• Sets up a comprehensive action plan aligned to its aspirational goals to foster a convivial workplace
• Welcomes Eight women to its Leadership team and a Transgender woman to lead its Inclusion & Diversity (I&D) initiatives
• Increases gender parity with women constituting 50% of all new hires
• Doubles female representation at most of its manufacturing units with over 50% gender diversity in the South and East Zone

In the recent months, Pernod Ricard India has welcomed several women at key leadership positions including, Nitu Bhushan – Chief Human Resources Officer, Bijoya Roy – General Counsel, Dimple Raisurana Kapur – Head, Corporate Communications, Yashika Singh – Head, Corporate Affairs, Sonam Jain, Head - Convivialité Ventures India, and Shikha Sayal – Head, East Zone. To further strengthen its data-led Insights & Analytics and Innovation strategy, the organization has appointed Minoo Phakey – Chief Innovation Officer, and Shelley Sengupta – Head, Insights. Representing strong, diverse voices and perspectives at the leadership level, the enhanced team continues to strengthen the company's strategy and roadmap to create desired business and organizational outcomes. 

Pernod Ricard India’s gender balance milestone follows a long-standing commitment to drive equality of all genders in the workplace. Inclusion & Diversity at Pernod Ricard is an organizational imperative and to further this agenda, the company has brought on board one of India’s top voices on the subject, Zainab Patel as the Head of D&I. An out and proud Transgender woman, Zainab was a United Nations staff member focusing on human rights, gender equality and health in India and the Asia Pacific Region. She has filed multiple strategic litigations on gender-based violence, transgender person rights and marriage equality in India.

Reiterating the company’s commitment towards Inclusion & Diversity, Nitu Bhushan, CHRO, Pernod Ricard India says, "At Pernod Ricard, we are focused on creating a convivial culture that enables our people to be their most authentic selves at work, empowered to thrive and grow in the organization. Our aspirational goals and a comprehensive action plan aims to increase diverse representation at all levels and create an even stronger culture of inclusion for all of our people. An early co-relation of our emphasis on fostering an inclusive work environment that includes increased emphasis on diversity in our recruiting, in each of our departments, and in our leadership, is reflected in the continued strengthening of our business case and growth momentum at Pernod Ricard India."

Fostering the right ecosystem for its people to learn, grow and lead, Pernod Ricard India has evaluated its readiness to accept various levels of changes with respect to the I&D (Inclusion & Diversity) quotient and have begun implementing an action plan that covers both structural and behavioral aspects of inclusion. As part of this on-going journey, the company has recently renewed its group medical insurance policy extending it to include same-gender partners as domestic partners. Besides, measures such as infrastructure audit for better access and mobility for specially-abled colleagues and visitors, immersion workshops and fireside chats with industry leaders and experts to educate their employees on fundamentals of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) are some further initiatives that the company is taking to drive and sustain a culture of absolute inclusion.