Diversity In Action

PepsiCo harnesses technology to deliver products worldwide

“If you bring the ability to learn and have appetite and curiosity, you’ll more than likely be successful in our culture,” says the senior HR VP

Whether considering suppliers or new hires, PepsiCo leaders believe that diversity is simply sound business. The company’s history of inclusion goes back to the very beginning. In 1888, when pharmacist, company founder and industrialist Caleb Bradham developed world-famous Pepsi-Cola, James Henry King was his African-American assistant. Minorities and women appeared in advertising as well as in professional positions as early as the 1940s.

Today the company is led by a woman of color: chair and CEO Indra Nooyi, who began her career in India. There are few cultures the company doesn’t reach with its eighteen major brands. “We’re a global company,” says Ron Parker, senior HR VP and chief global and diversity inclusion officer. “We want our executives, our leaders and all our associates thinking on a global level; that, too is part of diversity.”

Caroline Watteeuw, global chief technology officer and SVP of PepsiCo’s Business Solutions Group Services, adds that “We make sure our key suppliers think about diversity the way we do.”

Strategic use of technology is a core principle at PepsiCo. The company is working on a multi-year IT transformation program which includes company-wide SAP-based initiatives. “We are in the midst of a massive global implementation,” Watteeuw says. “We have to be very process-oriented to get the greatest competitive advantage.”

The company is looking for techies likely to thrive in a global business and multicultural environment. “You have to come to PepsiCo not only with multi-dexterous skills on the technical side, but with the ability to communicate with your business partners,” Parker explains. “To enter the PepsiCo culture, you have to be flexible, possess strong business acumen, and also be deeply grounded in your functional expertise.”

Hiring is selective right now, but SAP specialists are still in demand. The IT function also brings in some forty interns each year.

“Because we are always implementing the newest and greatest, we are constantly looking for the skills that lead to innovation,” Parker says.

Employees enjoy plenty of opportunities to build experience, he adds. New hires can be mentored through various employee networks. And everyone is up-skilled, trained to move ahead with technology. “Even if they come from a legacy Cobol background we give them the opportunity to start translating their trade knowledge into SAP,” explains Watteeuw.

The company rolls out faster networks, offers the latest technology and provides documents remotely to make work flexible and efficient. Parker points to video technology that links the company’s U.S. headquarters. “I work in our Dallas office. I can have a four-hour meeting with my colleagues in Purchase on Friday afternoon and still get home to my family for dinner instead of fighting air traffic to LaGuardia,” he notes with appreciation.

PepsiCo promotes a culture where everyone feels they have an equal opportunity to contribute and succeed. This inspires innovation in the diverse workforce. One recent example: the 2008 pre-Superbowl TV ad, “Bob’s House,” which was produced by and starred members of PepsiCo’s EnAble network, a group for “people with different abilities,” Parker says.

Conceived by a longtime PepsiCo employee who works with the deaf community, the sixty-second ad is almost entirely silent. It features two men who are deaf driving through a darkened neighborhood looking for the home of a deaf friend so they can share a carton of Pepsi with him. The driver finally blasts the horn in exasperation, and every house lights up except one. That’s Bob’s house: he didn’t turn on his lights because he didn’t hear the horn.

Parker estimates such an ad normally costs more than a million dollars to produce. The EnAble-inspired ad cost $65,000.

“We know it all gets back to great products produced by great people,” Parker says. “And in our case, a lot of them are great diverse people.”

D/C