Clíona Regan, International Grad, Marketing and Communications Team
As the Food and Drink Awards 2019 have just passed, it is interesting to reflect on how the introduction of new award categories reflect on changing trends within the food and drinks industry.
Two new categories were unveiled at the biennial event in 2019, and these were focused on talent – Future Leader and Diversity & Inclusion. The spotlight being shone on talent in the industry is indicative of the realization of how important the people in our organisations are.
The Future Leader award was a chance for a companies to celebrate one of their best and brightest, which demonstrates the trend of committing to employees as individuals, rather than simply as units of work (Earle, 2003). Nurturing this talent within an organization will only lead to success for the business as a whole.
Diversity & Inclusion was designed to award a company that had created an environment where all employees had equal pay, rights, and opportunities to succeed. The relationship between workforce inclusion and employee engagement cannot be ignored. The outcomes of inclusion in the workplace includes organizational commitment, work retention, job satisfaction and effectiveness of the task (Goshami and Kishor, 2018).With two winners from two very different companies (Dawn Meats and Diageo), we saw how the D&I agenda is celebrated in its many ways of implementation.
Sustainability was another hugely important topic of the night, with two award categories dedicated solely to this subject. This was a direct response to consumers’ growing demands for sustainable products and practices. Eight in ten (83%) UK adults say that retailers should do more to help reduce packaging waste (Mintel, 2019), and the results of the Awards highlighted this – ABP were the winner with their new packaging that involves 70% less plastic waste. Ethical and moral brand qualities are fast becoming expectations as consumers look for companies to be ethical or environmentally responsible (Mintel, 2019).
References
Mintel ‘The Ethical Food Consumer – UK’ 2019
GOSWAMI, S. and KISHOR, B ‘Exploring the Relationship between Workforce Diversity, Inclusion and Employee Engagement’2018
Heather A. Earle ‘Building a workplace of choice: Using the work environment to attract and retain top talent’ 2003