Diversity in Employment: Hiring the Best
The right person for the right job - no barriers
Liraz Edri - Safety Engineer Rotem
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) policy
As part of ICL’s Employer of Choice journey, it has committed to become a more inclusive and attentive organization.
One of the key milestones in this important journey is to commit to Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) policy, first formulated in 2020, that will enable ICL the direction and the measures.
As part of this process a Global ICL D&I officer has been nominated. The new role includes responsibility for supporting the company with developing a D&I culture and improving ICL’s D&I measures.
Further D&I training and awareness initiatives are currently being formulated.
In recent years, ICL has been working with various NGOs and other partners, initiating round table discussions in order to learn how to increase its pool of diverse talent, and to reach out to under-represented groups. In the US, ICL is working with various groups at Missouri Science & Technology University to create awareness and interest in the company. ICL is also utilizing social media to showcase its commitment to diversity.
As the company works to strengthen its recruiting activities, it is also implementing an advancement program for suitable, diversified candidates.
| Population | % of total workforce in monitored regions | % of new hires in monitored regions |
|---|---|---|
| Underemployed Minority Populations * | 5.90% | 8.00% |
* Despite the importance of increasing the work participation rates of Underemployed Minority Populations, some regions where ICL operates hold regulatory limitations on tracking of such data regarding employees. Therefore, the % above only reflects the monitored portion (45%) of our total global workforce.
In Israel, ICL is proactive in its search for employees from diversified groups. ICL has changed its recruiting procedures to better accommodate talent from different backgrounds. Local managers are attentive to this shift and prepared to adapt their hiring practices. One of the target populations for these efforts are Arab-Israelis employees, with emphasis on the Bedouin-Israeli employees in the Negev.
ICL has recently set a quantitative target- to achieve a 4% rate of Arab-Israeli (including Bedouin-Israeli) employees among its total workforce in Israel by 2024. This target requires that at least 7% of the total external recruits of ICL in Israel per year- would be of Arab-Israeli employees.
To achieve these targets, ICL operates a pro-active program that encourages tutoring high-level students in Arab-Israeli high schools in chemistry, scouting for students with talent and incline towards chemistry, and offers them attractive scholarships for higher education – with the intention of ultimately recruiting them as full-time ICL employees. In addition, the ICL HR recruiting team is placing increased emphasis on Arab-Israeli applicants and works with various civic organizations to make the recruitment process more accessible for this population.
ICL is also extending its outreach programs by working together with various non-profit organizations and associations such as “Olim Beyahad” in Israel.
At ICL’s sites in the US, minorities comprise an average of 17.2% of the workforce.
In the US, ICL sells products to the federal government, which requires the company to maintain an Affirmative Action Plan (“AAP”). AAP requires the company to compare the diversity of its workforce with that of qualified people within the geographic area from where it recruits for each type of position. The company conducts this comparison annually and shares the results with appropriate managers. If this plan determines that the local ICL workforce isn’t representative of the qualified people in the geographic recruiting area, the company actively reaches out to groups representing women, minorities, people with disabilities and/or military veterans. This outreach is designed to increase the likelihood that the best candidate is from the under-represented group. Also, ICL US is a member of the Direct Employers Association. This association posts ICL’s US openings to hundreds of diversity targeted jobs websites. These efforts allow ICL to increase its pool of available diverse candidates.
ICL’s European operations are likewise working to create greater diversity and inclusion among their employees.
Country Navigator - Cultural Intelligence Tool
Promoting diversity and inclusion (D&I) within ICL, is part of the company's commitment to becoming an Employer of Choice, driving creativity & innovation and promoting an equal and fair work environment. While benefits are clear, creating a truly diverse and inclusive business is a continuous journey.
ICL's senior management is fully committed to incorporating effective D&I initiatives throughout the company. As part of this journey, ICL introduced the 'Country Navigator', the new cultural intelligence tool, promoting collaboration and effective team work in multi-cultural teams.
The 'Country Navigator' tool is a preliminary step in many of ICL’s Employer of Choice enablers promoting the company’s D&I commitment and collaboration, ensuring ICL employees have the right resources and tools to succeed.
To help create the necessary infrastructure for an inclusive environment, ICL adopted, in 2020, a Global Anti-Harassment and Anti-Discrimination Policy.
Promoting Gender Equality
In January 2020, and for the 2nd straight year, ICL was selected as one of 325 public companies worldwide to be included in the 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI). The GEI distinguishes companies that are committed to transparency in reporting their gender policy and advancing gender equality.
The 2019 GEI includes companies from 42 different countries and regions, with a combined market capitalization of $12 trillion. ICL is the only Israeli company included in the GEI, as well as the only company among its major global peers in the fertilizers sector.
ICL strives to be an “employer of choice”, and as such, continually promotes equality, including the employment and promotion of women in its sites around the globe. The percentage of women serving as executive officers in ICL’s global management increased from 11% in 2017 to 30% in 2019. The Company considers its inclusion in the Bloomberg GEI to be a major achievement, highlighting ICL’s transparency and commitment to promoting gender equality.
The percentage of women serving as executive officers in ICL’s global management increased from 11% in 2017 to 30% in 2019.
To ensure ICL achieves its goal of promoting gender equality, ICL is implementing and monitoring the following diversity KPI’s, and has set the following quantitative Diversity Goals to be reached by 2024. All KPI’s have shown improvement between 2018 and 2019, indicating that ICL’s efforts to promote gender equality are providing beneficial results.
| 2018 Status | 2019 Status | 2024 Target | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women in the Overall ICL Workforce | 16% | 18% | 22% |
| Women in Overall ICL Management | 13% | 19% | 30% |
| Women in Senior ICL Management | 9% | 14% | 20% |
| Women participation in ICL Global Management Development Courses | 21% | 30% | 30% |
As the company becomes more aware of creating an inclusive environment, it is also setting quantitative KPIs and targets. On top of reviewing the number and percentage of women within the company and its management, the company has started to annually review its global gender pay gaps.
Results have indicated a 5.66% pay gap between male and female employees when checking the average total global payments. However,review of the median total payment has given different results. The calculated median total global payment of ICL’s male employees was found as 2.68% lower than the median pay of women employees. ICL considers these results as encouraging- indicating no significant pay gap to any gender.
ICL supports its women employees and is engaged in their assimilation and success within the company.
In 2019, the high-quality work of an additional two female executives resulted in their promotion to the extended management team (T100). During International Women’s Day, ICL highlighted the major and positive contribution women made to our workplace throughout the year.
In order to improve awareness regarding hiring and employment of women, ICL has Improved training for hiring managers in the US, including an understanding of what Unconscious Bias is and how to avoid it. ICL is looking at developing a global online training session regarding this issue during 2020. In addition, guidelines were given to the L&D team to work towards a more gender balanced group of delegates on the various management development courses.
Welcoming Individuals with Disabilities into ICL’s Workforce
ICL is committed to corporate responsibility and as such, is proud to employ an increasing number of individuals with disabilities.
In Israel, ICL is working on recruiting and helping these employees assimilate into their various units. In order to support both the employees and their managers so that a successful relationship can flourish, ICL has initiated quarterly meetings with social workers, helping managers where they need support and familiarizing managers and workers with people with disabilities and the challenges they face.
ICL Brazil had its first Diversity Day in 2019. It is recruiting individuals with disabilities to ensure compliance with government mandated requirements. There was a need for an open conversation with employees in order to develop a more inclusive environment. ICL Brazil is using this channel to talk about diversity in general. Read more about the initiative and its first results.
At the end of 2019, 5.10% of ICL employees (in the monitored regions, see comment below) have some form of disability.
| Population | % of total workforce in monitored regions | % of new hires in monitored regions |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals With Disabilities * | 5.10% | 0.00% |
* Despite the importance of increasing the work participation rates of individuals with disabilities, some regions where ICL operates hold regulatory limitations on tracking of such data regarding employees. Therefore, the % above only reflects the monitored portion (39%) of our total global workforce.
Board & Employee Composition
Managers & Employees
The data breakdown of employees used in this section was taken from 2019 end-of-year data contained in the ICL’s Success Factors system. The percentage of employees represented in the tables below comprised 84% of ICL’s total workforce at that time (not including student and contractor employees).
Employees (non-management)
| Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|
| Under 30 | 7% | 2% |
| 30-50 | 36% | 9% |
| Over 50 | 25% | 5% |
Managers
| Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|
| Under 30 | 0% | 0% |
| 30-50 | 7% | 2% |
| Over 50 | 7% | 1% |
Governance bodies
Board of Directors
Since January 2020, the ICL Board of Directors has 10 members, two women and 8 men. Throughout 2019, however, the Board included one woman.
ICL values the importance of gender diversity and adequate representation, including within its Board of Directors. Accordingly, the Company has stated in early 2020 that it will strive to increase gender diversity within the Board. In instances of appointing a new director or the replacement of a departing incumbent Director, the company will give preference to candidates from the underrepresented gender (at the time of the appointment) within the board. This preference is conditioned on the preferred candidates skill-set to be proven as of similar quality, in relation to other candidates.
| Under 30 | 30-50 | Over 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women | 0% | 0% | 20% |
| Men | 0% | 20% | 60% |
