Vice President of Human Resources Northern Europe and Europe Employee Relations at Procter & Gamble

Chris Young

At P&G, our mission to be a force for growth and a force for good is how we do business. Through our employees, our brands and our partners, we are determined to do our part in helping create a more sustainable and equal world. Internally, we strive to create a culture that reflects the diversity of the billions of people we serve around the world, in company leadership and at every level. With a build-from-within approach to talent development, P&G needs to develop our people better than anyone else. P&G offers people the chance to gain new experiences and build their skills. Over my 23 years (and counting!) with P&G, I have worked in different countries, and each role has been an opportunity to learn and grow. 

Part of my role is to work with leaders and line managers to ensure that every employee feels valued and rewarded and able to be their authentic self in the workplace every day. I take this responsibility very seriously, and I've seen the effect that enabling people to feel they belong can have on their impact at work. From partnering with Catalyst to deliver men advocating real change (MARC) training to enrol men on their role in the gender equality journey to driving inclusion through employee affinity networks, equality & inclusion are both who we are as an organisation and how we do business. It is built in, not bolted on. 

I also believe in the importance of ensuring E&I is visibly championed in the organisation by leadership. At P&G, members of our executive lead team sponsor the work of our E&I pillars. They are passionate and active allies who drive action and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to inclusivity. By showing that leadership is truly bought into the E&I strategy, we naturally bring others on the journey. 

" Through our employees, our brands and our partners, we are determined to do our part in helping create a more sustainable and equal world "

Over the past few years, P&G has accelerated attracting and recruiting a more diverse workforce. From expanding the universities we work with to partnering with organisations such as Bright Network, whose student members are from diverse backgrounds, to offering alternative career paths into P&G through apprenticeships. We have also worked with an external partner to help identify and eliminate any bias at all stages of our recruitment process to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to come and work for P&G.

P&G's build-from-within approach relies on developing brilliant people managers. It is these people managers who enable their direct reports to have a brilliant employment experience and to feel valued and included. At P&G, we invest to build the capability of our managers of others in this area. Each individual and their needs are different, so training managers on how to adapt their style to suit each member of their team is important. They are also central to giving people meaningful work where they can clearly see their impact on the business.

I have been proud to see change happening across my P&G career, but there is still work to do to ensure everyone has the same opportunities, regardless of race, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, background – or any other part of their identity that society can put challenging barriers in their way. We are all on the journey together – we cannot do this in isolation.