Our Commitment
We believe the unique capabilities of each member of our team should be reflected at all levels of the organization, and we remain committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. To learn more, view our diversity, equity and inclusion video.
Our Approach
In 2023, we continued to build a culture that values diversity, inclusiveness, employee development and a highly engaged team as the best way to retain our people and enhance the employee experience. We hired a new chief human resource officer to create and execute a comprehensive talent strategy that further aligns Smithfield's business plan with our human resources function and lead our recruiting, retention, training and development, and diversity, culture and engagement programs. We continue to promote an aggressive set of goals to increase gender and racial representation in all parts of our business, from senior management to suppliers to production partners. We also continue to take steps to model our leadership team to reflect the diversity within our company and our supply chain.
The diversity of our workforce and the value we place on having — and considering — different perspectives have been part of our culture for decades. We have continued to strengthen this culture and foster an environment that allows all our team members and partners to have a voice in every aspect of our company.
We know that diversity within our employee and leadership ranks promotes innovation. We believe the same is true across the agricultural supply chain. Yet, just 5% of farmers in the United States identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color. Through our Unity and Action strategy, we aim to change that.
We have pledged $10 million over the next three years to build a stronger, more inclusive agricultural future by financially and technically supporting America’s minority farmers. This includes a commitment to implement a minority contract grower program to increase the number of diverse hog suppliers within our agricultural supply chain.
We have also targeted to increase spending across our processing operations to minority-owned businesses. Our aim is to grow our annual spend by 14%, to over $105 million by 2025, to better reflect the communities where we live and work across our supply chain.
ADVANCE: Learning and Development Opportunities
Smithfield’s learning and development programs provide a range of educational resources to help our employees excel. Pivoting exclusively online in 2020, Smithfield University engaged thousands of employees in more than 7,200 hours of leadership across close to 55,000 courses. Our four-year maintenance apprenticeship program, launched in 2019, expanded at the end of 2020, to include 30 apprentices. Offered in partnership with nine Smithfield facilities and schools in North Carolina, Nebraska and Missouri, apprentices received college tuition, salary and benefits as they work toward their associate degree, a journeyman’s certificate and full-time technician status
Our Unity and Action strategy, announced internally in June 2020, acknowledges that our management ranks need to more fully reflect the fabric of our workforce, and we have committed to identify, train and mentor our people to create a robust pipeline of diverse candidates to fill management positions in our company.
Our Operations Leadership Program is designed to get us started. Over the course of the three-month program, eligible employees participate in one-on-one coaching and mentorship, on-the-job training and weekly full-day virtual classroom sessions to build cultural awareness, communications skills and a deep understanding of the Smithfield business across operations, finance, quality assurance and other facets of our organization. We celebrated the graduation of our inaugural cohort in December 2020 and are on track to enroll 175 participants over the program’s first year.
ENGAGE: Networks of Like-Minded Colleagues
Smithfield’s Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs) continue to help us foster supportive communities that create a sense of equity and empowerment among like-minded colleagues while strengthening professional and personal connections across all organizational levels and operating areas.
Our Women’s Connect, Smithfield Salutes, Black Professional Network (BPN) and Smithfield NEXT groups worked through pandemic limitations to continue to build powerful connections among their members and positively impact our business. Their activities included professional development opportunities for women at the annual Women in Agribusiness Summit in September, new mentorship opportunities for veterans created through its affiliation with Smithfield’s ACHIEVE mentorship program and vital insights from our BPN to support the development of our Unity and Action strategy.
Strengthening Employee Development and Engagement at Our International Sites
Despite COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, we continued to advance our employee development and engagement efforts at our international operations. In Romania, we implemented a certification program in our fresh-meat division, focusing on technical skills across four levels of excellence. In Poland, we began to implement employee recommendations gathered through our first employee engagement survey, executed in November 2019. In 2020, we implemented approximately 50% of the more than 250 recommended initiatives. We expect to complete our follow-up survey in 2021.
RECOGNIZE: Employee Contributions to Our Collective Success
Each year, Smithfield celebrates employees who exemplify our guiding principles of Responsibility, Operational Excellence and Innovation (ROI) through our ROI Awards program. We received a record-breaking 481 nominations and reached 100% participation from across our global operations in 2020. ROI Award winners received a $5,000 prize, with a $10,000 Grand Prize Award to the best nominee in each category.
Achieved
On Track
Needs Work
Our Accomplishments
In 2023, we implemented a mid-level career development program for underrepresented high-potential talent at Smithfield, with a target of 25% of participants being promoted over three years. Of the 11 team members in the program in year one (2023), six of them were promoted, a 55% success rate. We also started a program specifically designed for working adults, offering free tuition to full-time and part-time team members.
With the growing success of our internal development programs, we continue to make progress toward greater inclusion of minorities and other underrepresented individuals in leadership and management positions. Our management (supervisor and above) now consists of 27% women and 30% minorities, close to the targets we hoped to achieve by 2030.
In Mexico, GCM worked to increase the number of female team members to 18% from 12% over five years and collaborated with the Mexican government on efforts to promote women’s economic independence. We also continued to promote diversity outside our company with customers and suppliers. In 2023, our production facility spending with minority-owned businesses topped $83 million.
Being a good corporate citizen means supporting the communities where our team members and their families live and where we operate.
Our culture, processes and systems are designed to support our team members’ well-being at work and at home.
Producing good food is more than ensuring our product is safe, wholesome and delicious.
