Our Princes Our People

C O L L E A G U E U P D AT E – N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 2

OUR PEOPLE EXCELLENCE STRATEGY CONSISTS OF 6 PILLARS THAT BRING TO LIFE THE OUR PRINCES - OUR PEOPLE PHILOSOPHY. Together, they embed a culture of mutual respect and responsibility.

We want everyone to feel they belong to something special at Princes and share a commitment to long-term excellence in everything we do.

OUR HEALTH & WELLBEING setting the standard for looking after today’s and tomorrow’s colleagues.

OUR VALUES

OUR PERFORMANCE

guiding the way we work and the way we treat our colleagues.

working together to ensure a culture of continual improvement.

OUR RINCESle Our Peop

OUR REWARDS rewarding achievement through flexible benefits, incentive scheme and peer-to-peer recognition.

OUR COMMUNITY creating a strong and engaged Princes community in which everyone matters and is listened to.

OUR JOURNEY providing a vibrant environment of learning and development and career progression.

CREATING LASTING CULTURAL CHANGE Just last month, Princes held a live Q&A on menopause awareness with broadcaster Louise Minchin and menopause expert Dr Helen Kini. This coincided with the launch of our new Menopause Policy for our UK colleagues.

We have also taken huge steps forward in our approach to I&D with over 100 colleagues joining Colleague Resource Groups (CRGs) covering our six pillars of I&D – LGBT+, Accessibility, Social Mobility, Gender Diversity, Multicultural and Age Diversity.

Events such as the keynote talk by Rikki Arundel, a non-binary trans person, during LGBT History Month, along with activities during PRIDE Month and National Coming Out Day were examples of real cultural change.

I am also delighted that so many colleagues have engaged with our Learning & Development platform Pathways, an outstanding success story and a demonstration of your commitment to excellence and desire to make a difference.

Since launching in January 2021, there have been over 60,000 visits to the portal.

JOE DENT Chief People Officer

The launch of our employer brand, Our Princes – Our People, in November 2020, was a significant step on our journey towards deep and lasting cultural change across our organisation.

Two years on, much good progress has been made and it does feel that we have come a long way from the ‘Old Princes’. For that I am grateful to the HR team, senior leadership team and the wider colleague community.

We considered whether sharing the Our Princes – Our People update during the current challenging trading conditions was appropriate, but decided it is more important than ever to assert that our commitment to cultural change is unwavering.

These are just a few highlights from the last couple of years; many more are covered in the pages that follow.

There remains, however, much to accomplish, and it is vital that we continue to evolve and drive consistency of our offer across the Group. A good example of this is the recent review (and then relaunch) of our family-friendly policies in the UK that better align with what is available overseas and better enable colleagues to strike a good work-life balance.

This is about continuous, sustainable change that is integral to the business’s aspiration to create a modern, dynamic, highperformance environment.

Winning Employer of the Year at the Grocer’s Gold Awards at the end of last year demonstrated that we are on the right path. We would love to go further, faster, but we must be pragmatic in the face of the ongoing challenging business conditions.

Our six pillars, detailed on the facing page, provide us with a framework against which we can continually challenge ourselves and the wider business.

We also recognise that many of the activities undertaken to date have been UK-centric, but the intention is to continue scaling the Our Princes – Our People programme so that it is truly embedded across the Group.

I am particularly proud of the work we have done in the areas of Health & Wellbeing and Inclusion & Diversity, demonstrating to colleagues that we are there for you and really care.

We will also continue to re-evaluate by listening to colleagues to ensure that all initiatives are linked to the wider requirements of the business and our colleague community.

There have been some milestone moments including the focus we have given to mental health awareness. I have been moved by the feedback I received from many colleagues to the sharing of my own story – including from those who are facing their own challenges.

Our mental health first aider project has gone from a small pilot to a scheme with more than 70 colleagues volunteering to get involved. I am personally delighted to be an accredited mental health first aider. We also had a strong response to the Q&A we ran with Andy’s Man Club, a peer-to-peer support group for men.

I have been supported in the preparation of this update by my colleagues Louise Rooney, People Director, Jayne Owen, Head of Learning & Development, Sarah Vie, Head of HR (Manufacturing) and Clare Watts, Internal Communication & Engagement Manager.

JOE DENT Chief People Officer

OUR VALUES

BY JAYNE OWEN We believe that inspiring and empowering our colleagues will unlock our unfulfilled potential and enable us to become an employer of choice.

Evolving our culture to become a values-led organisation is an integral part of this journey.

This means how we do things is as important as what we do. Becoming a successful, highperformance organisation does not just mean changing what we do, it also requires us to change how we do it.

The values we have in Princes guide the way we go about our work and how we support and care for our colleagues, customers, suppliers and consumers.

The first letter of our 7 values spells out the name ‘PRINCES’, and each value represents the way we conduct ourselves and do business.

Alongside every value is a short statement and each one is a clear action. What matters more than anything is how our values are brought to life across our business.

The best possible example of our values in action is our hugely successful Pride in Princes Awards, which we run four times a year and which continues to go from strength to strength.

Since the scheme was launched in September 2019: • 1809 nominations have been received; • 273 awards have been presented; • 712 colleagues have received an individual or team award.

In Q1 of 2022/23, we received over 130 nominations for colleagues across the Group who have gone the extra mile to make Princes a great

place to work, followed by a fantastic 205 nominations in Q2.

To maximise engagement, the nomination process is simple with colleagues nominating via the Princes Portal and clicking on the Pride in Princes App or by picking up a paper form from their local HR Team.

The judging panel are very aware that anyone who receives a nomination is already a winner and that is why we work hard in the background to make sure that every colleague who receives a nomination also receives a personalised note of thanks.

Colleagues can receive recognition for all sorts of reasons. They could have been involved in developing or rolling out a new initiative, going above and beyond in their day job, tackling a complex problem, delivering training of the highest standard or simply looking out for a colleague who may be facing challenges in their personal life.

We believe that in Pride in Princes we have a wonderful platform to ensure that our values are being lived, breathed and respected.

But we also recognise that we cannot rest on our laurels. We need to continually check that our values remain fit for purpose for our business now and in the future.

They need to be timeless and give a consistent sense of what it means to be part of the team at Princes.

As we said when we launched Our Princes – Our People, we must ultimately be happy to be judged against them.

“I will not deny that deep in my heart there has always been the thought and desire to receive a Pride in Princes Award.

I have always worked with a commitment and determination to perform each of my tasks well. I work with colleagues in the UK and we have a common purpose – this is cooperation and this is Princes.”

Fabrizia Vissia Del Vecchio, Customer Service Specialist PIA

PROFESSIONAL We take pride in our work and demonstrate the highest standards in everything we do.

RESPECT We are respectful of others at all times.

INTEGRITY We consistently behave with integrity and remain true to our Three Corporate Principles and Code of Conduct.

NURTURING We are committed to the development and growth of our colleagues to support the business’s long-term vision.

COMMERCIAL We are all responsible with company resources. We think from our customers’ perspective and strive to provide win win solutions at all times.

EXCELLENCE We are committed to the continual development and improvement of our processes.

SUSTAINABLE We think long term and take a strategic approach in supporting our responsible sourcing and ethical positions.

OUR PERFORMANCE

BY LOUISE ROONEY The performance of our business, and the contribution colleagues make to creating a highperformance environment, are critical to attaining sustained commercial success.

To achieve such an outcome requires a collective effort with the business providing colleagues with the tools they require for continuous improvement and progression and colleagues feeling empowered to give their best every day for themselves, their colleagues and for Princes.

We recognise that achieving a high-performance culture across our Group is not something that can be achieved overnight but, equally, several important steps have been taken during the last couple of years.

Take, as an example, our performance management platform emPerform. Four years ago, this was only available to graded colleagues in the UK, but, more recently, we were able to move all graded colleagues on to this system in the UK, Netherlands, Mauritius and Italy.

The platform has been hugely beneficial in enabling clear and consistent objective setting with the ability to review in real-time. In a business and sector that moves so quickly, it is vital that any platform is agile and accessible with the flexibility to update or amend SMART objectives throughout the year.

We have now started to take performance management to the next level again by building this functionality into our People Gateway platform that does all of what emPerform does and more.

Colleagues in the UK and BV have already been added with the rest of the Group to follow.

We have also continued to evolve the training that we give to our people managers to support them in their endeavours to get the best from their teams.

This ongoing programme has been delivered to managers across the Group through a mix of online and classroom-based training.

Another area of focus concerns the work that has been done to embed our Corporate Incentive Scheme with a crucial element of this being driven by personal performance. The scheme, available to all graded colleagues globally, is 75% based on company performance and 25% on personal achievement. While the company performance element may not have been triggered due to wider trading conditions, we continue to reward personal performance.

Unlike many other company schemes, payment linked to personal performance is not dependent upon whether the company hits its targets.

For those who go above and beyond, it is also possible to be paid 120% of your personal performance incentive.

Moving forward, there are several important priorities, among them the work that is underway to develop the business’s talent identification and succession planning capability.

Building a successful organisation with a winning performance culture requires a commitment to excellence from everyone who works at Princes.

We ask colleagues to work hard, to care about the business, and to be passionate about and take pride in their work. Every single colleague can make a difference.

In return, we promise to support colleagues by ensuring that everyone has clear roles and responsibilities and can access the tools required to maximise their own potential and contribute most effectively to the success of the business.

“Introducing emPerform in Mauritius has been a game changer for the management team; we now have one place to record and review objectives. That level of visibility has helped ensure that our objectives are agreed and monitored – everyone has clearer expectations of the process and their role in driving it. We have always had a focus on performance management, but now we have discipline.”

Priya Chingen, Head of HR, PTM

OUR HEALTH & WELLBEING

BY SARAH VIE The importance of colleague health and wellbeing was cemented during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We responded at pace to follow government guidelines and adapted our ways of working whether in factories or for those who suddenly found themselves isolated and working from home.

Creating an environment that encourages colleagues to be open about their issues and concerns is important to us. As we came out of the pandemic, our research showed that a lot of colleagues were dealing with high levels of anxiety and mental health issues, often linked to life outside of work.

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We now have over 70 mental health first aiders in the UK and we’re working in the background with local teams to understand just how this can be rolled-out internationally. It’s a fantastic achievement.

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Our relationship with our colleagues doesn’t stop at the end of the working day. In the UK, everyone has Princes’ Health & Wellbeing strategy, launched in 24/7 access to Health Assured’s award-winning January 2022, consists of three core elements: Employee Assistance Programme to support our Emotional Wellbeing, Physical Wellbeing and colleagues and their families, whatever Financial Wellbeing, and we are the challenges they face. UK delighted with the progress that colleagues can find out more has been made since then.

BE ING L E L M about it on the Feel-Good Hub E W Against the backdrop of CovidL – a one-stop shop for all our 19, the business has focussed UK benefits, Health & as much on the ‘emotional Wellbeing and savings HEALTH & wellbeing’ of colleagues as resources.

WELLBEING their physical health.

We are also delighted to be A landmark point culturally taking a series of practical for the business was Joe, as steps, supported by people our Chief People Officer, manager training, to enhance IC AL talking about his own mental our menopause, fertility and W ELL B EI N G health and his struggles with pregnancy loss policies. anxiety.

The health and wellbeing of our Opening up about his challenges to colleagues has never been so relevant and colleagues accelerated the conversation about important than it is now. mental health and Joe was touched by the number The evolution of the Health & Wellbeing strategy is of people who took the time to contact him exciting. We are working hard to ensure our offer is afterwards. consistent for all colleagues regardless of their Since his talk, Joe has become one of our new location and / or role, ensuring a balance across mental health first aiders. physical, financial and emotional wellbeing.

After a successful trial at our food production sites in To give that evolution real focus, the behind the Long Sutton and Wisbech – where we had two scenes mechanics of the Programme will change teams of ten mental health first aiders – in March from here on in with the appointment of a specific we announced the roll-out of the programme to all project team responsible for driving change, five of our other sites across the UK, including our consistency and improvement across the 3 pillars of head office in Liverpool.

H&W. If colleagues have feedback or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to email health&wellbeing@princes.co.uk

“Since I trained as a Mental Health First Aider 18 months ago, I’ve helped about 50 people. It can be all sorts of issues, from a cancer diagnosis to a bereavement, concern about being able to pay a bill or get out of debt or a work concern.

I’m happy for people to confide in me. I’ve heard some tough stories, but I’m pleased that people feel happy to open up and talk to me. You are like their family, part of their support network.”

Pat Hickey, Multi-skilled Operator at Long Sutton

OUR REWARDS

BY LOUISE ROONEY The focus of much of the work undertaken under the ‘Our Rewards’ pillar has been to ensure that Princes is able to attract and retain the best talent across our Group.

Having the right mix of rewards and benefits means we are giving ourselves the best chance of attracting new candidates, but it is equally important in ensuring we keep colleagues who are committed to playing their part in creating a dynamic, high-performance working environment.

We had already embarked on our SMART Working programme when the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, accelerating several key initiatives.

Since then, we have flexed, adapted and made huge changes to the way we all work. We have also made significant strides in the digitalisation of the business.

In October 2021, we launched our SMART Working policy across the Group. It set out guidelines for hybrid working and core hours and we have encouraged our various sites in the UK and around the world to roll it out in a way that is most relevant to them.

It’s a hot topic of conversation and we appreciate that there’s a demand for us to continue to evolve how we work in the future – and we will carry on listening to you.

Three recent examples of this in action for our nonoperational colleagues were the decision to end the dress code, switch our hybrid working model to enable eligible colleagues to work a minimum of 2 days in the office and 3 days from home and gift them an additional holiday on their birthday. These changes, we hope, will all further help colleagues better balance their personal and working lives.

SMART Working is only possible because of the investment made in our technology and the trust that exists in our ways of working and a commitment by colleagues to play their part in a high-performance environment.

Since we launched our Feel-Good Hub in the UK in November 2020, we are delighted that over 60% of our colleagues have registered with – and regularly use - the platform. This is a great example of our desire not just to launch initiatives, but to regularly remind colleagues of what is available to them and how they can access it.

The Feel-Good Hub offers a range of rewards, benefits and discounts for a wide range of retailers as well as discounts on insurances, health care and credit check facilities.

After the success of the hub in the UK, we launched Feel-Good Hub Italy and next we’ll be looking at the feasibility of rolling it out to BV and PTM. Another area where we have reviewed and adapted is our family friendly policies to meet the needs of a diverse and high-performing workforce.

During the last year, we have improved our maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave offer, levelling up our offer to colleagues across the Group.

We have also launched our Menopause, Fertility and Pregnancy Loss policies in the UK, which we hope will encourage an open and supportive culture of conversation around these subjects.

We strive to ensure that the policies we introduce recognise the different life stages that colleagues will go through and demonstrate that Princes is ready, willing and able to help.

“I think the move from 1 week to 2 weeks’ paternity leave is a fantastic step forward from our business, and it has really benefitted me and my new family. My wife and I recently welcomed baby Oliver into the world, and after the chaos of week 1, it was fantastic to spend week 2 bonding with him, introducing him to family and friends, venturing out with him in the pram, and trying to get into a better sleep routine!”

Jack Bates, General Sales Manager, RLB

OUR COMMUNITY

BY LOUISE ROONEY Some excellent progress has been made in the vitally important area of Inclusion & Diversity during the past 12 months, because #TogetherWeAchieveMore.

We owe huge thanks to all our colleagues who have volunteered their time and have got involved.

This is a significant undertaking and there are no quick fixes, but we have committed to listen, learn and talk.

Since we launched our new approach to Inclusion & Diversity Princes has become a signatory to the United Nations’ Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) and partnered with a number of external organisations including Grocery Girls, Stonewall, Age Diversity Forum, Mental Health England and the Sunflower Scheme.

In the case of the latter, we launched this scheme, which assists people with hidden disabilities, into Princes to coincide with International Day of People with Disabilities. Our commitment included opening a Sunflower Room at RLB designed to support all colleagues when private time away from the office space is needed, an initiative we want to roll out to other locations.

We’re delighted that our I&D strategy is now firmly embedded across our organisation, from factory floor to Board level.

We have Colleague Resource Groups in place covering our six areas of focus: LGBT+, Accessibility, Social Mobility, Gender Diversity, Multicultural and Age Diversity.

Our Inclusion Champions and colleagues continue to work hard to develop and drive our I&D strategy.

We have now held three Inclusion Weeks, tying in with National Inclusion Week, a week dedicated to

celebrating inclusion and taking action to create inclusive workspaces.

You will recall a year ago how England football legend John Barnes was our guest speaker with colleagues joining his live and interactive event from our sites around the world.

That Inclusion Week also saw the launch of the Pride in Princes Inclusion Award, designed to recognise colleagues who go out of their way to put inclusion at the heart of everything they do.

More recently, you may have attended our live Q&A on menopause awareness with TV presenter Louise Minchin and Dr Helen Kini, following which the decision was taken to establish a menopause awareness network to keep the conversation going, and our Black History Month session with Sonia Bassey MBE in conversation with Ben Osu. In February this year, we welcomed award-winning speaker Rikki Arundel as part of LGBT History Month.

We also ran a series of well-received activities during PRIDE month and National Coming Out Day. As we did last year, we have compiled a new Inclusion & Diversity Calendar with the feedback of our CRGs with key dates we are excited to celebrate as an organisation.

As well as growing our annual programme, we continue to consider other ways we can grow our community with any activity undertaken aligned with Princes’ commitment to fostering a strong and engaged community in which everyone matters and is listened to.

It is a vital part of being able to attract and retain the best people and create the right environment for a high-performing business.

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“While I might no longer feel the need to avoid potentially awkward situations that might require me to ‘come out’ I remember a time when I did – and that’s why I joined the LGBT+ CRG. It is my great wish that we support colleagues who might be struggling by making sure that they know there is someone ready to listen and help. The CRG is making a real difference.”

Lia Jennissen, Technical Controller, Rotterdam

OUR JOURNEY

BY JAYNE OWEN One of the key areas of focus has been the Our Journey pillar of the People Excellence strategy.

Of critical importance in fostering a highperformance environment is the need for a wellrounded development offering which supports colleagues at all stages of their career at Princes.

We will achieve this through:

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Driving Leadership Development at all levels across the organisation;

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Digital learning platforms and content which is accessible by all colleagues;

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Professional Development offerings, supporting colleagues to gain formal recognition and qualifications;

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Best-in-class Graduate and Apprenticeship programmes, giving new colleagues a great start at Princes.

Some of the work undertaken has been transformational, with our Pathways Learning & Skills platform, launched in January 2021, a standout example. This implementation saw us named as a finalist in the Food Manufacturing Excellence Best Training Award category.

Since then, the total number of visits to Pathways has exceeded 60,000.

Opening a range of alternative learning routes, with a strong focus on online and supported by various digital tools, has seen more than 41,000 modules accessed. Driven by colleague requests and hybrid working, almost 90% of training content is now delivered purely online, a huge leap from the 100% face-to-face approach we had until 2019.

While an impressive start, our intention is to go much further. In September, we began to roll out the next version of Pathways. Based on colleagues’ feedback, the aim is to create the complete onestop shop, including for those who aren’t on PCs.

Our aspiration is for colleagues to have the opportunity for learning anytime, anywhere and, as we move forward, for the content to be personalised in line with requirements across the Group. The Food For Thought Programme – a knowledge sharing programme originally started in BV (and winning its founders a Pride in Princes award) is now planned to be rolled out across the business.

Further advances during the last couple of years have included the Lighthouse programme, delivered to our manufacturing teams by our own internal team of experts and designed to support new ways of working, knowledge and techniques.

In certain areas, such as our highly regarded Graduate programme, we have continued to go from strength to strength - during Covid-19, we received over 900 applications for the six available places at a time when many employers had cancelled their equivalent schemes and furloughed graduates. We were delighted to win the Best Training Initiative at the Food Management Today Industry Awards 2021.

Another success has been our Fast Track schemes, currently running in the UK, giving colleagues wishing to fast-track their careers the chance to gain qualifications in project management, leadership and coaching.

Working closely with colleagues responsible for other pillars and with our CRGs has been critical in allowing us to make the progress that we have, but more remains to be done.

Ensuring Pathways is accessible to all colleagues, wherever they are in the Group, is a major focus along with various new programme releases and creating an apprenticeship scheme that is ultimately regarded in the same way as our Graduate programme.

“The opportunity I was given to take part in the Princes Leadership Programme was not only great to further develop my own skills but contributed to the team too and shows the value Princes puts on people development.”

Gijs Vosmer, Senior Marketing Manager Princes & Vier Diamanten, Rotterdam

So there you have it, a review of the positive changes that have been driven by our focus on Our Princes - Our People.

There is still much to do but I hope that you have an increased confidence in our commitment as a business to keep listening, learning, adapting and striving to make Princes a great place to work. A place where everyone of us matters and can make a difference and where our colleagues feel inspired and engaged to achieve great things.

As always your feedback and suggestions are welcomed – please don’t hesitate to get in touch via asktheboard@princes.co.uk Together We Will Achieve More

Proudly helping families to eat well, without costing the earth

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