Employee Engagement

Attracting, developing and retaining the best talent are our most important challenges. Therefore, we put tremendous energy into listening to and acting upon the recommendations of our employees. We know that employee engagement has a direct link to our business performance. It is an essential ingredient in success across industries, functions and operating divisions – bolstering employee retention, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, sales and operating efficiency, as well as increased financial performance. We’ve seen this relationship within our own company where more-engaged employees have higher safety records, higher performance and less absenteeism.

At Molson Coors, we measure employee engagement through our confidential Global People Survey, conducted annually by Towers Perrin Survey Research (ISR). The results are highly anticipated by managers throughout the company. This customized survey is designed to measure our employees' work experience and to help us understand how their ultimate engagement will drive our business goals.

Engaged employees are motivated, committed and demonstrate a high level of energy, drive and enthusiasm in their jobs. The annual Molson Coors employee survey is an important measurement that helps us create a company where people who are passionate about the beer business can work hard and thrive.

In 2009, our engagement score increased to 86%, up 6% from the year before. We attribute that increase to the inception of "Our Brew," the cultural guidepost that defines who we are and how we’ll work toward success. It was distributed to every employee and is discussed whenever and wherever necessary to ensure that our employees are constantly aligned with the company’s mission and vision.

Also in 2009, we asked employees for the first time how they viewed the company’s social and environmental responsibility:

89% believed that the company was responsible in the community;
86% believed that the company was environmentally responsible.

Even though we are among the high-performing companies as rated by our engagement percentage, we still have more work to do to fully engage our employees. Our survey results told us that we need to further invest in our people if we are to achieve our ambitions. For example, the engagement scores were higher for our salaried as compared to hourly employees, so we are developing action plans to address this. We also will focus on increasing our commitment to leadership development and overall employee education and streamlined communication for all employees.

To track employee engagement progress throughout the year, we conduct quarterly check-ins we call "Sip Surveys." These surveys include key questions from the annual Global People Survey, plus questions on other timely topics of importance to employees.

In response to a lack of diverse candidates in senior management and in the talent pipeline the Executive Leadership Team of Molson Coors appointed a task force to examine the company’s approach to diversity in the workforce. The Violet Initiative, which focuses specifically on the retention and advancement of women at Molson Coors, was launched in 2009 as a subset of this diversity effort. The mandate of The Violet Initiative is to gain a better understanding of the barriers and issues preventing women from being successful and advancing at Molson Coors and to develop recommendations to improve the situation.

A team of senior women leaders from Canada, the UK and the US began the process of exploring root causes and shaping proposed changes to policies and behaviors. In 2010 Molson Coors introduced flexible work arrangements across the organization in order to improve work-life balance for employees. The team is now focused on the development of career planning and career paths specifically for women.