This year, Nestlé Canada celebrated the global company’s 150th anniversary (98 years of operations in Canada) and took an opportunity to renew and enforce their 2016 Creating Shared Value commitments with strong action plans in the areas of: social impact; nutrition, health and wellness; and environmental sustainability.
Nestlé Youth Initiative
Launched in autumn 2015, the Nestlé Youth Initiative offers young Canadians the opportunity to develop their professional skills, increase their employability and expand their network. This ongoing commitment to social impact provides new internships, formalized training programs and ‘readiness for work activities,’ with the goal of helping young adults prepare for the future. After the program’s first full year, it’s important to look at Nestlé’s progress towards its Youth Initiative commitments:
- Nestlé committed to increasing its internship opportunities by 25 per cent which meant adding a total of 366 interns and trainees (under 30) by 2018. Currently, 157 internships have been completed or are currently underway in an extensive range of departments including finance to nutrition, marketing to sales, and supply chain to manufacturing.
- Nestlé committed to increasing new graduate hires by 5 per cent (1,384 employees) by 2018 through formalized graduate programs and entry level positions – 634 youth have been hired to date.
- Nestlé committed to provide career counselling at universities and colleges for more than 5,000 youth by 2018 through networking events, information sessions and recruitment workshops – 2,603 youth have attended to date.
- We are currently connecting with our business partners to build an alliance and develop a number of joint initiatives to give youth meaningful work experience, Internship and training opportunities.
“We are very pleased by the success of Nestlé’s Youth Initiative program’s first year and have already seen the number of applicants to our summer and internship opportunities double,” said Alastair Macdonald, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Nestlé Canada Inc. “We firmly believe in and support our youth, and value their contributions to our Canadian business marketplace, as creating value within our communities has always been a priority for Nestlé.”
Nutrition, Health and Wellness
When it comes to nutrition, health and wellness, Nestlé Canada made significant progress towards its global commitments, achieving over 10 per cent sodium and saturated fat reduction at a market level, with 98 per cent of products meeting Health Canada’s Sodium Reduction Targets.
Environmental Sustainability
Additionally, Nestlé’s dedication to improving the environmental sustainability of its operations has always been a focus and is a continuously growing priority. Over the last 5 years, Nestlé Canada has significantly reduced its environmental footprint and has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent. Furthermore Nestlé Canada has committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 35 per cent by 2020 (since 2010), as well as reduce water usage in all of our operations by 35 per cent by 2020 (since 2010), and achieve zero waste for disposal within its factories by 2020.
For more information about Nestlé Canada’s Creating Shared Value approach and our commitments please visit: https://www.corporate.nestle.ca/en/creatingsharedvalue
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Media Contact:
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About Nestlé Canada:
Backed by more than a century of research and experience, Nestlé Canada's vision is to be the most trusted and respected food and nutrition company in Canada, bringing Good Food, Good Life to Canadians. Nestlé in Canada manufactures some of the world's most recognized and trusted brands, including STOUFFER'S, LEAN CUISINE, NESQUIK, NESTLÉ GOOD START, HÄAGEN-DAZS, KIT KAT, NESCAFÉ, NESTLÉ PURE LIFE and NESTLÉ DRUMSTICK. Nestlé in Canada employs approximately 3,500 people in more than 20 manufacturing sites, sales offices and distribution centres across the country.