With a mission of bringing health through food to as many people as possible since 1919, Danone is also committed to the health of its employee experience. We focus particularly on Danone Nutricia’s New Zealand operations and speak to Clive Jardine, Head of Human Resources, and Veronika Sedova, HR Business Partner, to find out more about how they build a great workplace as a manufacturing business.
In addition to Danone’s internal survey, the New Zealand company finds value in Great Place To Work’s benchmarks which are based on the voices of 20 million employees worldwide in 170 countries.
Clive explains, “The risk for big multinationals is they can become too internally focused: running their own surveys, getting their own feedback, but not having a feel on where they are relative to peers in the market. Are we out of sync or in sync? Great Place To Work provides external benchmarking and gives us some idea of how we perform relative to peers, relative to industry. Are we ahead or behind? Are there any learnings? Are there any opportunities? That’s quite a key part for us.”
Veronika agrees that has been the most significant change for Danone Nutricia since engaging with Great Place To Work: “It has obviously given us that external benchmark of what’s happening, that external certification, over and above our internal survey.”
Great Place To Work CertificationTM also adds to Danone Nutricia’s employee value proposition. “If prospective talent joins the organisation and can see that we have an external benchmark or certification, that really stands as a positive symbol for us,” Clive adds. While he acknowledges that employee value propositions are multi-faceted, Great Place To Work Certification is one of the important features that contribute to Danone’s brand as an employer.
Furthermore, combining the results of Great Place To Work’s Trust IndexTM Survey with Danone’s internal survey helped Danone Nutricia to spotlight areas for progress, Veronika emphasised. This helps the company to refine action plans.
“Our results showed we needed better clarity on who was doing what, and clarity on what’s happening in each department. That was brought up in the action planning workshop. Managers looked at the way they’re cascading and receiving certain information. Also, they got the chance to improve their understanding of what’s happening in their own department on a day-to-day basis,” says Veronika.
In response to the results found, Danone Nutricia kickstarted a daily meeting and dashboard creating consistency across all the information managers are given, creating consistency across departments, and avoiding any confusion.
The Trust Index survey results contributed to major initiatives across three pillars.
81% of employees – also known as Danoners – in New Zealand say that it is a great workplace. “Inputs from Great Place To Work have definitely contributed to improving engagement in our organisation,” Clive affirms. Some changes introduced in the organisation after the survey include birthday leave and a lunchroom for Danoners, that also doubles as a room used for various functions.
“We prepared digital modules to upskill our population across a variety of technical and non-technical aspects. We also started communicating about the different resources available to help people to work smarter, not harder. For example, the use of ASANA has supported our project management capability and has driven ownership and accountability,” Veronika says. Indeed, the most recent Trust Index survey results show that 73% of Danoners in New Zealand believe they are offered training opportunities to further develop themselves professionally.
Danone Nutricia has enhanced its internal communication by launching new initiatives focused on company culture, including regular staff newsletters, updated noticeboards, and improved internal townhalls. This is evidenced in how 83% of Danoners in New Zealand feel that management is approachable, and 74% believe they receive straightforward answers to their reasonable questions.
Based on the latest 2024 Trust Index survey, here are what Danoners say makes it a great workplace.
78% of Danoners in New Zealand say they have special and unique benefits, and 82% say they can take time off work when necessary. Many Danoners also commented that they appreciate the generous benefits offered by the company, particularly flexibility around ways of working.
“We understand that Danoners have personal commitments that may require some flexibility in their working arrangement. In roles where employees in New Zealand are not required to be onsite, Danone Nutricia works with the individual to help them balance their work and personal needs through a variety of initiatives such as working from home and Thank Danone It’s Friday (TDIF), where Danoners get to finish their Friday workday at 3pm,” Clive explains.
Not only that, Danoners also enjoy exclusive discounts from hundreds of retailers across New Zealand on Dan’Stars, an employee recognition app created to enhance the way Danoners acknowledge and appreciate one another.
“Leaders must be authentic. Honest, trustworthy leadership that has got the interests of the individual, the interests of the team, and the interests of the business at heart.”
–Clive Jardine, Head of Human Resources
78% of Danoners in New Zealand report feeling that they make a difference at work. Many derive a sense of purpose from its mission to bring health to as many people as possible, with shared core values (HOPE): Humanism, Openness, Proximity, and Enthusiasm. Several Danoners have commented that these values underpin the way they work and interact with one another, creating a sense of genuine care. Humanism is putting people at the heart of everything they do, Openness is welcoming new ideas, Proximity is building close relationships that lead to understanding and trust, and Enthusiasm is carrying passion for Danone’s mission.
These values are put into practice via a set of ‘Danone Behaviours’ that all Danoners learn during onboarding. Each Danoner then attends a workshop to get a thorough understanding of the Danone Behaviours, which are broken down into a series of statements guiding how employees are expected to behave at work. An example of a Danone Behaviour is to ‘Be accountable’, and one way to do that is to ‘propose solutions to problems without hiding behind rules, role definitions, or hierarchy.’
“We have engaged all our employees within the business unit; all would be fully aware of the Danone Behaviours. This is also reinforced via our communications and through staff recognition initiatives, one person is nominated monthly for actively displaying our behaviours,“ Clive explains. “We also have e-learning challenges; people that complete all the modules have bragging rights to be acknowledged as a behaviours champion.”
In line with Great Place To Work’s research that found great leaders are most valued by employees, Clive says businesses should “invest in leadership, good leadership.”
“Leaders must be authentic. Honest, trustworthy leadership that has got the interests of the individual, the interests of the team, and the interests of the business at heart. The converse of that would just damage your reputation, damage your performance, and will be unsustainable. You can get performance out of poor leadership, but it’s just not a sustainable model. It all hangs on really good leadership.”
Veronika says it’s important to have “a culture that is open-minded to people learning from mistakes, including leaders. I can definitely see the difference – something that stands out for Danone is the ability to learn from our mistakes, the openness, and funniness of everybody.”
Discover what employees value about working at your company, and how you can boost retention rates and increase productivity and performance with Great Place To Work CertificationTM.
