Employee wellbeing was a prominent topic of discussion at The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) prestigious Global Summit held in Kyoto, Japan. CGF’s new Co-Chairs, Board Members and member companies of the Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition of Action (CHL) advocated for the physical and mental health of the over 10 million employees estimated to be working for CGF member companies. 

This comes at the halfway mark of the CGF’s 2023 to be the Year of Employee Wellbeing, bringing together leaders in the FMCG industry and external stakeholders to advocate for the importance of building impactful and enduring employee wellbeing strategies and policies.

New leadership at the CGF, Co-Chairs Frans Muller, President and CEO of Ahold Delhaize, and Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International, will focus on mobilising members and the wider FMCG community to prioritise their own employee’s physical and mental health alongside the health and wellbeing of global customers. This is part of the Co-Chairs’ Ambition 2025, where increased focus will be given to five initiatives that aim to deliver a major positive impact, namely Employee Mental & Physical Health, Human Rights Due Diligence, Forest Positive Supplier Approach, Plastic Golden Design Rules and Emissions Reduction from the eight critical coalitions.

The CGF will continue to take stock of progress on employee wellbeing including at milestone events such as the Sustainable Retail Summit, which will be held the same month as WHO World Mental Health Day.

Gen Z enthusiasm around employee wellbeing was brought to the attention of participants by 16-year-old Midori Watanabe, a Chief Future Officer with the algae-based biotechnology company Euglena Co. She said, “If we can create a workplace that has… acceptance and mutual respect between people, then I feel that will be a place where wellbeing for mental and physical health will be ensured.”

Employee wellbeing and Workforce Nutrition played a key role in CHL’s in-person Steering Committee meeting on the 5th July 2023 in Kyoto where the participants reviewed global progress and local deep dives notably from China and Japan.

At this meeting, a playbook on Winning Behaviour Change: A Toolkit for Building Impactful Initiatives was released. Partnering with Bain & Company, the report showcases the most recent data and key learnings from CHL’s global initiatives, and provides a prescriptive view on how businesses can establish and execute impactful projects and strategies, to shift towards healthier and more sustainable consumption.

People spend around one-third of their time at work, so every company has a responsibility to positively shape the wellbeing of their workforce. At the CGF we encourage all our member companies to engage with the #wellbeingatwork campaign and share their commitment to and best practices on employee wellbeing.

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About CGF’s 2023 Year of Employee Wellbeing Campaign:

The CGF Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition of Action has launched its #WellbeingAtWork campaign to raise awareness around the issue of employee health and to provide a call to action for companies to create a workplace culture which actively promotes and supports wellbeing. Every month we publish relevant content and share best practices in the form of a CEO video series, blogs, podcasts and more. Topics include Employee Physical and Mental Health and Workforce Nutrition Programmes, which include Healthier Food at Work, Breastfeeding Support Programmes, Health Checks, Nutrition Education.

Contact the Health & Wellness team to participate and share your journey with your peers.

Follow the #WellbeingAtWork campaign on social media.

The Consumer Goods Forum

The Consumer Goods Forum

The Consumer Goods Forum ("CGF") is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

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Contact:
Lee Green
Director, Communications
+33 1 82 00 95 70

Louise Chester
Communications Officer
+33 1 82 00 95 91

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