Talent Attraction, Development & Retention

Discovering and growing the workforce that will carry Greif into the future.

Highlights

  • Greif’s ability to attract, develop and retain top talent worldwide enhances our Build to Last Strategy and business success. Our Global Talent Center works with Human Resources Business Partners and regional representatives to execute a balanced approach to talent management that is consistent, centralized and aligns with local laws and regulations.
  • Our year-round succession planning process creates more touch points with our colleagues, improves the diversity of our talent pipeline and identifies development needs and engagement opportunities for high-potential colleagues.
  • To stay competitive and to show our commitment to our colleagues, we continually evaluate our compensation program, benefits and associated policies. In 2022, we updated our benefits by expanding parental leave to production colleagues.

Why Talent Attraction, Development, & Retention Matters

GRI 3-3 | 401-1 | 401-2 | 401-3 | 404-1 | 404-2 | 404-3
3-3
Management of material topics

401-1
New employee hires and employee turnover

401-2
Benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees

401-3
Parental leave

404-1
Average hours of training per year per employee

404-2
Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs

404-3
Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews

Greif’s ability to attract, develop and retain top talent worldwide enhances our Build to Last Strategy and business success. By putting the right people in the right place at the right time, we can deliver the legendary customer service we strive for. Our strategy and objectives require us to cultivate a diverse, engaged and talented workforce that reflects the communities in which we operate. Our talent management programs span the globe, ranging from recruitment to succession planning.

Governance

Greif’s Global Talent Management Strategy and Philosophy set our global standards for performance management, training and development activities, recruitment and career planning and guide our talent attraction, development and retention programs implemented by our Global Talent Center. Our Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer oversees these programs. Our Global Talent Center works with Human Resources Business Partners and regional representatives to execute a balanced approach to talent management that is consistent, centralized and aligns with local laws and regulations. We have a dedicated group of 17 colleague engagement core team members and 69 engagement champions – highly engaged colleagues who demonstrate strong leadership capabilities and work to support engagement in their teams and business units. The engagement champions participate in monthly conversational sessions to better equip them to share best practices in driving engagement globally.

We constantly look for new ways to engage our colleagues. For example, our Spark program provides an opportunity for any colleague to create a post on the Spark feed to congratulate, thank or give kudos to another colleague. Another program is our global quarterly Champion program, where colleagues are nominated by their managers or peers and around eight are selected by the ELT for exceptionally embodying The Greif Way. Additionally, our inaugural Watson Award for Servant Leadership recognizes managers and their team members for their principled actions in serving the needs of others first, as measured by achieving the highest marks on our annual colleague engagement survey. Three managers from Greif locations around the world were honored with this award in 2022.

To overcome challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, we adapted to alternative and remote work processes that supported and protected our employees while maintaining business continuity. Greif continues to embrace new work environment trends as candidates voice their priorities. To remain competitive in talent attraction and retention, we have continued remote and hybrid working policies where possible, determined on a case-by-case basis for each new role posted. When positions are remote, we provide pay transparency to comply with local regulations. This remote setting extends to our use of virtual interviews and plant tours.

internship

Greif Internship Programs

Since our internship program’s launch in 2018, we have hired 152 interns, including 42 in 2022. Interns are provided extensive opportunities for professional development, networking and collaboration. Internship opportunities are available in our corporate and manufacturing facilities and focus on providing opportunities to participate in cross-functional projects and observe how we operate and make business decisions. We continue to develop our relationships with local universities, which have remained essential partners in identifying talented candidates. In 2023, we look to expand these partnerships and internship programs globally. Please see our Careers page for current internship opportunities.

Training and development are integral aspects of our development strategies. In 2021, we launched Greif University, and in 2022, we expanded our offerings of strategic learning topics such as the Greif Business System, compliance and leadership development. Through Greif University, we continued our Know and Grow with Greif program, a global offering of monthly instructor-led presentations. Greif University enables us to integrate compliance and code of conduct training better and provide ease of access to relevant and engaging learning for our colleagues. When needed, we incorporate regional training programs to supplement global training. We utilize Greif University alongside our current LMS (Skillport) to track required training information to ensure compliance with internal policies and applicable regulations. We currently offer over 260 learning modules on Greif University and around 350 courses via Skillport. Since implementing Greif University, we have seen increased learning material utilization and higher completion rates, including 3,238 Greif colleagues who accessed Greif University in 2022. We also launched Workday Learning in 2022, allowing colleagues to connect their performance to the training they receive.

In 2022, we debuted our Lead to Last program, Greif’s Global Leadership Development Framework. This program, offered through Greif University, provides all global leaders with a unified model for leadership expectations, with cohorts launching every month. This training is conducted in 12-week cycles where participants focus on inclusive, safety and values-driven leadership. In March 2023, we introduced translated sessions in Spanish and will implement simplified Chinese and Portuguese by July 2023. Lead to Last will equip leaders with six critical practices empowering them to:

  • Develop a Leader’s Mindset
  • Hold Regular 1-on-1s
  • Set Up Your Team to Get Results
  • Create a Culture of Feedback
  • Lead Your Team Through Change
  • Manage Your Time and Energy

Greif seeks to maintain an ongoing performance dialogue with colleagues. Our performance management allows us to effectively communicate performance expectations and conduct annual performance appraisals. Competency frameworks enable the assessment and development of our colleagues’ knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors. All professional, clerical and administrative colleagues — approximately 29 percent of Greif’s workforce —participate in an annual Performance Development Review through Workday. The process consists of self- and manager evaluations of performance against job-specific competencies. In 2022, 80.2 percent of eligible colleagues completed Performance Development Reviews. As part of our global talent management processes, we encourage leaders to conduct quarterly check-ins and focus on Individual Development Plans (IDPs) to support opportunities for colleagues to learn and develop. Greif provides resources for managers to successfully communicate with their team to create IDPs, progress on their career path, set short and long-term goals and negotiate fair wages. In 2023, we are exploring opportunities to utilize mentorship programs, internal certified coaches and career pathing implementation. We believe implementing these programs, alongside a deeper discussion of individualized goal setting, will promote further employee engagement. In addition to team engagement, town halls are available to all colleagues with computer access. Company-wide global town halls, BU town halls and BU regional town halls are all available, and colleagues are supported to ask questions before and during and provide feedback after.

2022 MLW

100 Most Loved Workplace

Greif made Newsweek’s list of Most Loved Workplaces in 2021 and 2022. The results are determined by surveying more than 800,000 employees on a variety of topics areas, including employee feelings of inclusion, respect and alignment with personal values. The survey also gauges employee feelings of support in achieving results, a positive vision for continuous improvement, and overall employee satisfaction.

Greif is proud to have earned a spot on the list, and we will continue making Greif a great place to work.

To ensure we have an appropriate talent pipeline to enable future success, our Talent Review process informs our succession planning, following a standard global cadence for director-level and above roles. Our succession planning process, available year-round, was developed to create more touch points with our colleagues, improve the diversity of our talent pipeline and identify development needs for high-potential colleagues. An annual talent calibration session with our Executive Leadership Team and a Board review of our succession plans support the process. This concludes our second year of automating our talent review and succession planning process through our Workday system across all global business units. This process allows us to assess our talent through 9-Box Reviews and capture succession beyond the director level, leading to a better understanding of our talent pipeline and the composition of our future workforce.

In 2022, we continued our company-wide internal colleague engagement survey using the Gallup Q12 survey. We surveyed in multiple languages for our global workforce and achieved a 90 percent response rate. This past year, we made significant changes by removing Flexible Products and Services (FPS) from our survey population due to its divestment, affecting our percentile placement. However, when accounting for the same colleague population, engagement has continued to increase year over year. As part of our reporting to Executive Leadership, we demonstrated the link between improved colleague engagement and greater performance across key business measures, including safety, customer service, financial and human capital metrics. Based on local survey results, the Gallup platform provides managers with targeted learning resources to increase colleague engagement. These resources help inform and empower our local leaders as they construct action plans to drive colleague engagement. In 2022, local leaders submitted over 1,195 action plans.

benefits resized

Our Commitment to Our Colleagues

To stay competitive and to show our commitment to our colleagues, we continually evaluate our benefits and associated policies. In 2022, we updated our paid leave benefits by expanding parental leave to production colleagues. We are piloting a program to expand our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) globally. While eligibility for additional benefits and policies varies by region and country, Greif’s global benefits include the following:

Paid leave including:

  • Bereavement
  • Domestic violence leave
  • Family and medical leave
  • Short-term disability
  • Long-term disability
  • Parental leave
  • Sick leave
  • Jury duty
  • Vacation
  • Fair remuneration
  • Flexible and remote work options
  • Health care
  • Overtime pay
  • Voting Time Off

Goals, Progress & Performance

2025 Goals:

  • 100 percent of permanent colleagues will participate in regular performance development discussions by the end of fiscal year 2025.
  • Using fiscal year 2017 baseline, increase average hours of annual training per colleague by 50 percent by the end of fiscal year 2025.
  • 100 percent of colleagues will be covered by parental leave by the end of fiscal year 2025.

In making significant progress toward our 2025 goals, continuous improvement has been a focal point for talent attraction, development and retention. Roughly 80.2 percent of our eligible professional, clerical and administrative colleagues received performance reviews in 2022. To reach our 100 percent goal, we will continue to educate these colleagues about the benefits and value of Greif’s performance reviews and the requisite steps to complete the process. In 2023, we will evaluate our review process for our production colleagues and the possibility of including them in our goal.

Through continued growth and access to training and development resources, as well as the implementation of Greif University, we have accomplished our training goal, reaching 5.35 hours of training per colleague. In 2022, we began developing new goals and targets for 2030 to encourage employee training and development. These new goals will guide our future training efforts toward continuous improvement.

Due to expanding our parental leave policy to production colleagues, in 2022, we increased our coverage to 99 percent. This has been a significant step toward reaching our 2025 goal. In the future, we will focus on closing the gap in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and verifying that parental leave reported is in line with Greif’s standards.

COLLEAGUES COVERED BY PARENTAL LEAVE POLICIES

FY 2019

FY 2020

FY 2021

FY 2022

Total

56%

62%

68%

99%

Asia Pacific

28%

29%

100%

100%

Europe

99%

96%

96%

96%

Latin America

100%

100%

100%

100%

North America

18%

33%

32%

100%

Colleague Training

 

FY 2018

FY 2019

FY 2020

FY 2021

FY 2022

Training Hours per Colleague*

Skillport (Greif Learning Management System)

2.6

5.5

5

5.38

5.35

Leadership, Professional, Production

6

3.2

2

8.6 5.6
Colleagues eligible for compliance training in Skillport
- - - - 3,344
Managers eligible for compliance training in Skillport
- - - - 1,314

Average Training Hours by Gender^

Male
- - - - 3,344
Female
- - - - 1,314

Colleagues Completing Regular Performance Reviews3

85%

92%

89.1%

87%

80.2%

Colleagues Completing Regular Performance Reviews by gender, In Progress2

Male
- - - - 595
Female
- - - - 180

Colleagues Completing Regular Performance Reviews by gender, Cancelled

Male
- - - - 50
Female
- - - - 38

Colleagues Completing Regular Performance Reviews by gender, Successfully Completed

Male
- - - - 1,518
Female
- - - - 890
*Average hours of training per unique participant. Data excludes local functional training. For more information on safety training, please see Health & Safety.
^Includes eligible professional, clerical and administrative colleagues.
Highlight Stories

Greif Scholarship Program

In 2007, Greif established a scholarship program to assist our colleagues’ children who plan to continue education in college or vocational school programs. Scholarship recipients are selected based on financial need, academic record, demonstrated leadership, participation in school and community activities, honors, statement of educational aspirations and goals, unusual personal and family circumstances and an outside appraisal.

The program is administered by Scholarship Management Services, a division of Scholarship America. Scholarship Management Services is the nation's largest designer and manager of scholarship and tuition reimbursement programs for corporations, foundations, associations and individuals. Awards are granted regardless of race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability or national origin. Scholarship Management Services make the selection of recipients. In no circumstance does any officer or colleague of Greif play a part in the selection. In 2022, we supported 63 scholarships. Since 2007, 276 students from around the world have received Greif-sponsored scholarships.

Greif Scholarship Program
Highlight Stories

Greif University

In 2021, we launched Greif University, our training platform with over 100 different strategic learning offerings. Greif University serves as a unified place where all employees can go for development. We currently offer over 600 courses and learning modules in different categories, including Customer Service Excellence, Environmental Health & Safety and Leadership & Professional Development. Each module is available in English and Spanish to train employees in their local language. Since launching Greif University, there has been a significant increase in the use of development materials and higher training completion rates. We also upgraded Greif University at the beginning of FY2023, expanding colleagues’ access to LinkedIn Learning courses.

Greif University
Highlight Stories

Global Launch and Roll Out of Lead to Last Program

Greif’s Lead to Last Program, launched in 2022 as part of our Global Leadership Development Framework, provides all global leaders with a unified model of leadership expectations. This training is offered through Greif University and conducted in 12-week cycles in which participants learn about inclusive, safety and values-drive leadership. Lead to Last focuses on equipping participants with the ability to:

  • Develop a Leader’s Mindset
  • Hold Regular 1-on-1s
  • Set Up Your Team to Get Results
  • Create a Culture of Feedback
  • Lead Your Team Through Change
  • Manage Your Time and Energy

Greif will introduce Lead to Last sessions in Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese over 2023.

HS Colleague Collage 1
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