Kellogg India Eliminated Pay Parity Gap Achieving 0% Disparity: Nimisha Das

In conversation with Nimisha Das, Senior Director HR, Kellogg South Asia. 

Das shared her views on several diversity and inclusion initiatives by Kellogg. With pay parity and women representation across all departments becoming a rising issue among organisations, Kellogg is working relentlessly towards developing their talent with fairness and transparency. 

With the external articulation of Kellogg’s Employee Value Proposition, how does the initiative help in acquiring the best talent?

Kellogg’s Employee Value Proposition (EVP) ‘Nourish Your Grrreat’ emphasises providing opportunities to people with diverse perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds to thrive. The EVP serves as a ‘talent magnet’ for attracting external talent with the right mindset and values.

We make a mindful effort to utilize our EVP framework to build our external facing touchpoints for the prospective talent pool. For instance, our toolkit is focused on a balanced slate hiring approach, which proactively reaches out to engage with the top talent pool available in the market. 

These initiatives strengthen the execution of our value proposition, reinforcing Kellogg’s vision and people-led purpose of nourishment. Ultimately, the value we offer encompasses our company’s culture, and the ability to cultivate meaningful careers.

With several companies redesigning their compensation structure, how does Kellogg’s ensure pay equity for salaried employees?

During the recruitment stage, salary negotiation and structures are based on the role and job complexity, deliberately keeping them free of biases based on location, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Annual pay increases are determined by meritocracy, thus focusing on performance.

Kellogg conducts annual pay audits across levels to promote and achieve pay equity for salaried employees. In doing so, we have successfully eliminated the pay parity gap, achieving a 0 per cent disparity.

With the help of external tools and dedicated resources, the company runs a statistical analysis to validate our commitment to Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. These efforts result in the achievement of pay equity, reinforcing our dedication, and fostering a fair and inclusive work environment.

Women representation is usually low in the sales and supply chain department. How do you ensure a balanced slate across all departments?

At the hiring stage, our Women of Kellogg (WOK) Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit serves as a resource to guide and provide an equal platform for recruiting more women, ensuring inclusive practices to mitigate unconscious bias and clear KPIs to evaluate success in sourcing efforts.

In order to develop and grow women in the two departments, we offer leadership development programmes for our early and mid-level managers like WOK Bloom, our flagship regional 6-month training programme, along with tailored mentorship and career planning for female talent in sales and supply chain. 

We have also established partnerships with external organisations such as XLRI Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusive Leadership (CGEIL) and XLRI for Women (XL4W) to support our diversity initiatives for women executives. These collaborations have enabled 72 per cent of our mid-to-senior level diverse talent to undergo the Up!Surge – Journey to the C Suite learning journey. 

Women representation is generally low in the mid-to-senior level across Sales & Supply Chain across industries, we stand at 17 per cent and 50 per cent respectively. 

How do you promote a diverse workforce towards C-suite leadership?

The organisation started with around 9 per cent women in top leadership roles in 2020 and has proudly progressed to a 50 per cent representation in just two years. Furthermore, our plant leadership team in Taloja manufacturing unit also has over 40 per cent women.

We have nurtured our female IT leader internally. Overall, our current build index stands at 57 per cent, including talent across levels, genders, and inclusive leadership.

A recent intervention introduced in Kellogg is the ‘Innovation Lab’, focused on fostering succession planning to build leaders within. The participants get a chance to present their resumes to the AMEA (Africa, Middle East, Asia) leadership, and establish stronger connections with talent. 

How do you ensure employees’ voices are heard across the organisation?

Last year, Kellogg India achieved an impressive 88 per cent engagement index, the highest in AMEA. The accomplishment consistently scales up its efforts in this area, staying abreast of international developments and introducing empowering initiatives.

Kellogg India actively participates in the Global Pulse Survey, an annual anonymous employee feedback survey, conducted across all Kellogg businesses. This survey provides valuable insights on how countries are navigating disruptions, strengthening preparedness for the future, and how people at Kellogg’s are taken care of at both, career and individual development levels.

Additionally, our annual survey, known as KOACH, which retains participants’ anonymity and is conducted with the help of an external partner aids managers to get regular feedback on how they can enhance their coaching skills and become better leaders. The KOACH score for India indicates a favourable rating of 85 per cent.