What three words do large organizations love to say but find so hard to do…?

I knew Coca-Cola HBC were good, that’s why I joined last year. And as my first weeks and months sped by, I was delighted to find that industry peers and market watchers recognized the same thing. By the end of the year, we’d won 60 employer awards in 27 countries.

I’m delighted for the Talent and HR Teams here - their determination and creativity was one of the main reasons I wanted to join the business. But with many years’ experience in talent, I know that a room full of awards like this is due to the efforts of thousands of people across the group. So, thank you all!

And as I'm hoping we do even better this year, I want to take a moment out to review what we’re getting right.

What do the ‘Best companies to work for’ get right?

According to a recent survey of 21 giants like Patagonia, SAS and The Motley Fool by @HBR, there are five stand-outs.

1. Help workers find and pursue their passions

This is a corner stone of our people strategy. To give just a few examples from last year:

• Gina Kivetou trained as an engineer but became increasingly interested in the human side of the business. We helped her move into HR and, as CSC HR Director, she’s now flying the flag for our efforts to develop female leaders at events like the Global WIN Conference.
• From refereeing rugby union to championing business resilience at CCHBC, Dr Gerold Knight’s passion is empowering our people to take #SmartRisks. Alongside the day job, he’s just completed six years of research into crisis management and received a PhD. Very much looking forward to playing the crisis simulation computer game he’s developing with Abertay University. Amazing!

2. Bring people together

Whether they’re sharing a passion or just getting together for a good time, we help our people celebrate what matters to them – their families, the communities they live and work in, the natural world and causes they love.

• Share the love! For the second year, we partnered with the biggest LGBTQ+ gathering in Italy to celebrate Love; the feeling that unites us all. Our people sold Coca-Cola T-shirts and all funds raised were donated to a charity project against bullying and homophobia in high-schools.
• #YouthEmpowerment: Since 2017, more than 750 of our people have become mentors for young people. Our goal for 2025 is to provide one million young people with the skills and knowledge they need to get back to work.
• Guinness World Record More than 400 employees from across the Island of Ireland got together to set a new foot-stomping record, crushing 1,500 cans in just 30 seconds.
• Natural clean up! In one of many of our environmental projects, 80 of our people in Latvia worked with WWF to clean up one of the country’s favorite beauty spots!

3. Empower people to think and act like owners

Did you ever hear this Steve Jobs quote? “You don’t hire the best people and then tell them what to do.” Of course not! You give them the space to get on with what they're good at.

• Performance4Growth: roll-out of our new continuous approach to performance review and talent development has been warmly received. Shorter monthly feedback sessions mean managers can trust their people to run bigger projects and give them more freedom to lead as they see fit. Regular check-ins also ensure individuals get the right learning opportunities to support them.

• You want it? You drive it! Gillian Shields grew up next to a Coca-Cola plant near Belfast. “It was like #WillyWonka…I wanted to know what was happening in there!” After the birth of her son, she switched to a role driving our sustainability strategy in Ireland and she co-founded the Inspire Network to help our people excel personally and professionally. (Watch the whole story)
• Free to fail: A great idea from our partners in The Coca-Cola Company…an award for projects that fail and teach a great lesson. As CEO James Quincey explains: “the only true failures are situations in which we fail to learn. Learning is never a failure and makes our innovation muscle stronger and sharper.”

• Our award-winning ‘Great performance has no colour’ campaign championed diversity and inclusion in 2019, winning hearts and changing minds across the group.
• FIT through the Winter: we’ve had seasonal and long-term campaigns for all round well-being at many of our sites. A special day in Switzerland with yoga and meditation, outdoor training, massage and vitamin boosts encouraged us to make space for mind, body and spirit.
• Women entrepreneurs! Together with the Coca-Cola system, we’re supporting our local communities in Belarus, training 600+ female landowners to grow crops more sustainably.

5. Three little words we say and do? #Putpeoplefirst!

Looking back at the awards we won in 2019, I definitely agree with what HBR's found in their ‘Best companies to work for’ survey. Where we:

• give our people space to be themselves
• help them find and pursue their passions
• empower them to think and act like owners...
• they thrive…and, in turn, so do we.

We’re focusing our efforts in all these areas in the year to come…so watch this space!

Feel free to comment on HBR’s findings. Like they say, it’s a snapshot, not a comprehensive study and I’m sure there are lots of other good ideas and opinions out there.

And finally… we all need each other’s support to make our 2020 dreams come true. So please take a moment to tag colleagues or friends who #PutPeopleFirst or help you do the same in your work!