FEATURES
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Posted Mar 13, 2009
 Coca-Cola's deep-rooted commitment to creating an inclusive work force has been increasingly evident since the soft-drink giant settled the largest racial-discrimination lawsuit in history and really took stock of what it stood for and the type of employer it wanted to be. |
 President and CEO Muhtar Kent is following in the footsteps of his predecessor, E. Neville Isdell, and setting the bar high for a company with absolute values of integrity and inclusiveness. As a global entity, this is especially important to Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Co.'s Workplace Rights Policy is guided by international human-rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labor Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the United Nations Global Compact. The company says this policy safeguards against forced labor, child labor, discrimination and unsafe workplaces and encourages community and stakeholder engagement as well as workplace security, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
Chief Diversity Officer Steve Bucherati has ensured that employees are engaged and involved in diversity efforts through in-depth training, including Breaking Down the Barriers: Challenge Day, the corporate version of a nationally recognized diversity-training program that has been launched in schools across the country. The company also has spearheaded a series of innovative diversity talks, with topics including "The Powerful Mix of Money, Race & Age in the New Century" and "Perpetrators -- Bystanders: Is There a Difference?"
The emphasis on diversity is reflected in the company's demographics. For example, Coca-Cola's management is 31.8 percent Black, Latino, Asian and American Indian and 47 percent female. The company also has very strong employee-resource groups, which it has successfully used to recruit and retain valued employees and to reach out to new customer bases.
Coca-Cola has a long and impressive history of philanthropic contributions to multicultural groups, with 26 percent of its total philanthropic budget going to such organizations as the American Indian College Fund, the UNCF, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Bennett College for Women, Spelman College, Fisk University, Morehouse College, the Cuban American National Council, the American Foundation for the Blind National Literacy Center, the Asian and Pacific Islander National Scholarship Fund, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the National Black MBA Association and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. |
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Industry
Consumer Products
Main Competitors
PepsiCo, Cadbury Schweppes, Nestlé
U.S. Headquarters
Atlanta |
Number of U.S. Employees
10,031
Annual Revenue
$31.9 billion
% of Operations Outside U.S.
80 |
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