Fmcg giants are launching major recruitment and upskilling drives focused on AI and machine learning.
Danone has launched a €100m global training programme – DanSkills – to “prepare its workforce for the coming skills revolution” it said. At the same time, Unilever has announced it is partnering with Code First Girls to “recruit more women coders into the retail sector”.
DanSkills will upskill all 100,000 Danone employees for the jobs of the future in response to “revolutions in digital technology and artificial intelligence” as well as attract new talent. Between now and 2030, Danone plans to reallocate one million training hours annually to help its “people learn tomorrow’s skills”.
The programme will be deployed in the 55 countries in which Danone operates, and be open to all employees, regardless of qualification, job or age. The company said it expected to need to fill 2,500 positions in Europe by 2027.
Unilever, as well as Tesco Bank and Dunnhumby, has partnered with Code First Girls to offer free coding education for over 400 women in the UK – in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester and London.
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“We believe that to respond to ever-changing consumer needs faster, we must drive change and nature new talent,” said Louise Henbest, HR director, UniOps – Unilever.
“Unilever leverages the best of its machine and human intelligence and having a diverse and skilled workforce is paramount to everything we do,” she added. “We can’t wait to sponsor the successful candidates and kickstart their Unilever careers.”
The social enterprise works with more than 150 companies globally – including Anheuser-Busch, Selfridges, KFC and Just Eat Takeaway – to actively place women into tech roles. According to trade association TechUK, around 26% of people working in technology roles in the UK are women, and they make up only 5% of those in leadership positions.
“As changing technologies and customer needs continue to push the retail sector to evolve, building diverse and productive tech teams will be paramount to success,” said Anna Brailsford, CEO of Code First Girls.
“As it stands, with men making up more than 75% of computer science graduates in the UK, there are just not enough qualified women to fill the roles companies need,” Brailsford added. “Through these partnerships, we’re helping to plug this gap by upskilling women across the nation and supporting their switch to a career in tech – at no cost to them, whilst simultaneously helping the retail sector to develop its technology offering.”
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