Dive Brief:
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Molson Coors is changing its corporate diversity measures, the company announced in an email to employees that it provided to Food Dive. The company will no longer participate in a scoring system by the Human Rights Campaign. Instead, it will “build a strong company culture based on our own internal metrics,” worker input and other factors.
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The beverage maker noted in March it started rolling out a policy with its workers “centered on an evolution from our work focused on [diversity, equity and inclusion efforts] to a broader view in which all our employees know they are welcome.” Molson Coors added that beginning next year, executive incentives would be tied to business performance and not “aspirational representation goals.”
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Molson Coors also said it is scrapping supplier diversity quotas that can be “complicated and influenced by factors outside of our control.” Supplier diversity quotas typically buy from minority or women-owned companies.
Dive Insight:
Molson Coors is the latest company to change its approach to diversity.
Spirits maker Brown-Forman, the Kentucky-based manufacturer of alcohol brands including Jack Daniel’s, announced on Aug. 21 that it will end several diversity, equity and inclusion programs in response to a shifting “legal and external landscape.” Harley-Davidson, Ford and Tractor Supply also have announced changes.
“The driving force behind this shift was the understanding that when all our people know they are welcome, they are more engaged, motivated and committed to our company’s collective success,” the Molson Coors memo said. “Since then, we have reviewed all our policies and practices to ensure our work is aligned with this renewed focus.”
In the 2023 edition of the Human Rights Campaign’s equality index, Molson Coors earned a perfect score. The LGBTQ advocacy group awarded the beer giant top marks for its inclusive benefits and culture, corporate social responsibility and internal training initiatives.
“Companies like Molson Coors, Ford, and others are shirking their financial responsibility to their employees, consumers, and other stakeholders,” Orlando Gonzales, a senior vice president at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, said in an email to Food Dive. “By failing to support women leaders, employees of color, and LGBTQ+ employees, these companies are abandoning their financial duty to recruit and keep top talent from across the full talent pool.”
