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A colleague at AB Mauri's plant in Hull, UK
Keeping people safe remains the top priority for our Ingredients businesses. Their ultimate aim is to create a safe working environment that results in zero injuries and no work-related ill-health.
We are deeply saddened to report that a contractor was fatally injured during an off-site weather-related traffic accident in Brazil. The site has investigated the root causes and shared learnings across the businesses to minimise the likelihood of such events reoccurring.
For our Ingredients businesses the Lost Time Injury (LTI) rate for employees on-site is 0.26%, which equates to 15 employees experiencing an LTI on-site in 2024. For contractors there has been a decrease from eight in 2023 to four this year. The contractor LTI rate has reduced from 0.40% to 0.20%. In 2024, 76% of Ingredient production sites recorded zero employee or contractor LTIs.
Health and safety topics are prioritised at all meetings of AB Mauri’s Global Management Team, where performance is closely monitored through benchmarks and reviews of any work-related accidents to identify areas for improvement and implemtation of corrective actions. Leaders play a key role in fostering a culture of safety and promoting wellbeing across all sites. Health and safety performance is also monitored at several other global functional leadership meetings, including those focused on manufacturing and logistics. AB Mauri also established a health and safety steering group responsible for developing and overseeing new strategies, supported by a health and safety leadership team made up of regional health and safety managers who coordinate and implement activities across regions.
Central to AB Mauri’s safety culture is the programme SAFE, Safety For Everyone, which is a set of systems designed to increase awareness of health and safety issues, highlight best practices and reduce or eliminate risk wherever possible. The programme is embedded in the culture of the business and continues to evolve as the division learns from its experiences.
AB Mauri’s LTI rate for employees on-site is 0.30% in 2024 compared with a rate of 0.10% in 2023. This equates to 14 employees experiencing an LTI on-site in 2024 compared with five in 2023. Despite recording more LTIs in 2024, the number of days lost per LTI decreased by 46% compared to 2023, and the number of employee days lost was the lowest recorded ever, indicating a reduction in severity. For contractors working at AB Mauri’s sites, there has been a decrease in LTIs from five in 2023 to four in 2024. The contractor LTI rate has reduced from 0.27% to 0.22% in 2024. In 2024, 73% of factories did not report an employee or contractor LTI.
When accidents do occur, the business uses a safety alert system to share learnings across all sites. Each site assesses whether they face similar risks and determines the necessary corrective actions. Addressing critical risks is another key focus, with these risks identified through audits and data analysis. Appointed safety champions develop toolkits, provide training and mobilise teams on site, drawing on global expertise when needed.
Training is a key part of AB Mauri’s approach. Its safety training addresses technical requirements around critical risks and behavioural safety to develop the capability of our front-line managers and safety champions to help deliver safety targets. Additionally, AB Mauri’s health and safety awards programme, now in its twelfth year, further contributes to a culture of strong performance through continually highlighting and sharing outstanding achievements in Health and Safety. As an example this years Health and Safety innovation award was won by AB Mauri’s business in Türkiye for developing an automated alarm system that signals approaching forklifts through visual and audible alarms.
Employee on-site Lost Time Injuries and Lost Time Injury Rate (%) - Ingredients
Team leader performing a routine inspection at AB Mauri's plant in Hull, UK
ABFI’s health and safety activities are guided by its ‘Six Points of Success’, which emphasises individual responsibility for workplace safety. This is also reflected in the results of a November 2023 Global Engagement Survey, where 92% of the workforce reported feeling that they work in a safe environment, based on a 93% response rate.
Safety performance is continually monitored. In 2024, there was one employee on-site LTI across ABFI’s operations. This equates to an employee on-site LTI rate of 0.29% in 2024. For contractors working at ABFI’s sites, the number of LTIs has decreased from three in 2023 to zero in 2024. 90% of ABFI’s production sites recorded zero employee or contractor LTIs in 2024.
Since 2017, the annual ABFI Health, Safety & Environment Recognition Awards have been held to honour individuals or teams who have significantly contributed to workplace safety through various initiatives. These awards play a crucial role in fostering a culture of health and safety awareness among all employees across its businesses.
PGPI has cultivated a culture where safety is a shared responsibility, achieving zero LTIs for both employees and contractors since 2017. This success is attributed to robust communication, ongoing training and the establishment of clear safety guidelines and expectations.
SPI Pharma has made investments in health and safety, including the introduction of online safety training and a new series of safety videos for employee onboarding. Additionally, SPI has implemented safety Gemba walks, equipping employees with the knowledge and tools needed to make informed, rational decisions that facilitate the journey to safety excellence.
Finally, Ohly has partnered with a third-party business specialising in robotic technology to conduct safety inspections of spray dryers. The inspections are crucial to identify potential structural risks before an emergency failure occurs. However, the inspection process itself poses significant safety risks, such as confined space entry and working at height. The implementation of this new robotic technology reduces inspection time by 50% and eliminates the need for human entry into confined spaces, while still delivering the critical data required to maintain the structural safety of the dryers.
Our Ingredients businesses believe that promoting employee wellbeing creates a more positive working environment where individuals and businesses can thrive. They deliver a range of programmes to improve employees’ mental and physical health, providing support, protection and education to employees and their families.
While there are nuances between the wellbeing programmes for employees across the businesses in order to respond to the local context, wellbeing programmes focus on a comprehensive range of topics including:
AB Mauri and ABFI also have channels in place for their employees to raise wellbeing concerns via Speak Up. Increasingly, businesses are also using their engagement surveys to get better insights, including around employee wellbeing.
Across AB Mauri, there are various examples of wellbeing initiatives. ‘Thrive’ is the health and wellbeing framework for its UK and Ireland business, which recognises the interconnected nature of home and work life, and of physical and mental health. The programme aims to support and enable employees to bring their whole self to work and to flourish, grow and contribute to business performance. Initiatives are focused around healthy minds, healthy bodies, healthy homes and healthy work. Another example is Virgin Pulse, the wellness programme in North America which provides mental health education modules for monitoring daily health and tools for recognising co-workers.
This year, Mauri Maya, AB Mauri’s business in Türkiye, organised a cancer prevention campaign for female employees and for female partners of employees. More than 50 women accessed a free breast screening.
AB Mauri also focuses on financial wellbeing through pension advice, financial education and the provision of financial benefits. A variety of financial wellbeing sessions were held across AB Mauri sites in south and south east Asia, with webinars helping people to understand tax liability, saving plans and investments.
Many ABFI businesses engage with employee assistance programmes to provide support, resources and promote mental health and wellbeing among employees.
ABFI businesses also have specific employee networks to support health and wellbeing. SPI Pharma has a wellness committee that meets and plans activities, as well as a healthy living programme.
Our businesses respect all individuals, striving to foster a sense of belonging among employees, and create workspaces that value cultural diversity. Through action and initiatives, they are working to build a diverse pipeline of talent, strengthen their high performing teams through equal opportunities and inclusive cultures.
AB Mauri celebrates diversity across the 32 countries it operates in, with an approach designed to respond to the local cultures and traditions of the societies it serves.
To ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are effectively integrated throughout the organisation, local businesses are empowered to determine which DEI aspects are most relevant to their specific contexts. Globally, AB Mauri has appointed two global DEI champions to leverage expertise, implement improvements and promote best practices across the businesses.
AB Mauri recognises that there is always more work to be done in advancing DEI, especially in the manufacturing and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields where gender imbalances persist in key roles. AB Mauri aspires to achieve greater female representation, particularly at the senior leadership level. It has committed to diversity in its recruitment, with an expectation to always have at least one female candidate for consideration. The business monitors its gender balance throughout the organisation, and the balance of candidates and hires in its top 100 recruitment. These KPIs are also reviewed by the senior leadership team monthly. As a result of this work, the business has seen a continuous and material improvement in the number of women in its top three layers of management.
AB Mauri is embedding DEI practices across its businesses, including family-friendly policies, awareness and education, unconscious bias training, external partnerships and support of charities.
AB Mauri Brasil has established an ethnicity group that has launched a mentoring programme for Black employees, with 24 participants across all sites. This programme also includes sessions on racial issues specific to Brazil. In Spain, board members have taken proactive steps to enhance leadership capabilities in DEI through an Inclusion and Diversity Awareness Workshop. AB Mauri North America has updated its family-friendly policies to provide enhanced paid parental leave for new parents and is planning to implement unconscious bias training.
Number of employees and percentage of women in workforce
ABFI prioritises respect and inclusion across its diverse international workforce. Its November 2023 Engagement Survey highlighted inclusion as a key strength, with 82% of employees reporting a strong sense of diversity, equity and inclusion. ABFI has previously introduced a division-wide development programme called Leading Inclusively, designed to complement local initiatives already in place like SPI Pharma's Month of Respect and Ohly’s World Day for Cultural Diversity.
Recognising the importance of gender representation in STEM fields, ABFI actively promotes inclusion and celebrates the diversity of its female workforce. This is reflected in its businesses, AB Enzymes and Ohly, where women comprise respectively 64% and 70% of the R&D departments with diverse backgrounds across regions from China, India, Germany, France, Italy, USA and Lebanon. Additionally, Fytexia has set specific objectives to promote gender diversity within its workforce. These goals include fostering equality in recruitment practices and integrating gender perspectives into research and innovation.
Building the skills and experience of their people is vital for our Ingredients businesses. Alongside the need to provide ongoing development opportunities, they strive to ensure all employees are engaged and informed about the business they work in.
AB Mauri prioritises on-the-job experience, complemented by coaching, mentoring and formal training. A global performance management toolkit for line managers sets the standards expected across the business. Individual high performance is boosted through various inputs, including a network of 'Talking Talent' leaders with specific functional expertise or competencies that are then leveraged across the businesses.
Lab colleagues at AB Enzymes, Rajamäki, Finland
Local businesses are responsible for tailoring learning approaches to their specific needs. Technical experts from AB Mauri’s Global Technology Centre in Etten-Leur, Netherlands, developed a Technology Bakery Ingredients training programme. This modular programme, designed to build knowledge on specific bakery product applications, is available to all regions. Training is provided at foundation, specialist and master levels through a combination of online and in-person sessions.
ABFI has enhanced its learning initiatives through its Development Academy, which successfully delivers structured virtual and classroom training and an on-demand learning platform. The platform was designed for individuals requiring quick recaps of essential skills or seeking to improve their soft skills and leadership abilities.
Its Study Sponsorship Programme, first launched in 2021, admits new participants annually and offers employees access to fully funded, higher level education where they have previously not had this opportunity in life, in order to further develop their careers. The candidates for the 2023/24 intake were from ABbiotek Health, Ohly, PGPI and SPI Pharma business units.
As part of its plan to increase awareness and understanding of ESG matters, both in employees’ personal lives and within the business, ABFI’s Head Office holds 'Sustainability Snack and Share' learning sessions. These sessions aim to educate and engage employees on various ESG topics including plastic pollution, modern slavery and food waste. Similarly, PGPI has focused on developing its employees’ understanding of its ESG priorities and activities to ensure alignment on key topics and to promote collaboration within the industry.
AB Mauri businesses engage with employees through periodic employee engagement surveys, town hall meetings, toolbox talks, newsletters and business and employee updates. They have conducted surveys in all regions and most countries over the last two years, with an average participation rate of 95%. Their average engagement scores of 83% perform well against an industry norm of 77%. The important part in all of these surveys is the follow up with the participants to create tangible action plans.
As part of this continuing programme of understanding the levels of engagement in their businesses, and how they can do even better, they are committed to conducting more surveys in the years ahead.
ABFI’s engagement survey provides insights to build a positive working environment through identification of strengths and areas for improvement. Sustainable employee engagement leads to actionable insights to target better productivity, performance and absenteeism, as well as improved individual fulfilment for all employees.
Its second employee engagement survey, carried out in 2023/24, showed an increase in overall engagement and improved scores in 14 of the 15 categories. The survey achieved a 93% response rate.
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Participants in AB Mauri Brazil's mentorship programme
Since 2022, AB Mauri's business in Brazil has been working to address the gender pay gap by implementing gender-neutral hiring and promotion policies, as well as centralising salary decisions within its Reward department, to ensure equitable compensation. In 2023, results of gender pay gap reporting were communicated to all employees at all levels and the business is committed to providing annual updates and reports, supported by explanatory materials on its analytical approach.
They also focused on the development of Black talent through a mentorship programme that pairs 24 mentors and mentees across all company sites. Mentoring participants received four educational sessions on racial issues in Brazil.
The business in Brazil has also focused on accessibility for people with disabilities. At the Pederneiras plant, inspections were conducted to identify improvements for individuals with various disabilities, including auditory, visual, intellectual, physical or multiple disabilities. Enhancements such as designated parking spaces, access ramps, and adjusted heights of everyday tools like soap dispensers have been implemented.
