Lion was presented with the inaugural Best Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative Award at the 2024 Australian Drinks Awards, hosted at the Hilton Sydney last Thursday evening.
The award merges the previous Most Improved Gender Equity and Most Inclusive & Diverse Workplace categories within the Contribution to Industry Awards.
The new award acknowledges initiatives that effectively address workforce challenges related to diverse or marginalised employee groups or the broader community. The judging criteria also include a focus on gender equality.
Prior to Lion receiving the 2024 Award for Best Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative, Sandra Gibbs, Chair of the Drinks Association’s Embrace Difference Council, addressed the audience.
She said: “We can all be leaders in DE&I. You don’t have to be the CEO to encourage others to pay attention, get involved, or change behaviour. There are many words these days to describe how we can influence change: allyship, bystander, but fundamentally, what they boil down to is ‘do the right thing’; ‘make a difference’ – to an individual in a small way, to a company in a large way.”
Lion’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative submission was the standout winner among the judging panel. The initiative acknowledged the need to raise awareness and celebrate the diversity of cultural backgrounds among its team members. Through the cultural diversity Employee Resource Group, “We Belong at Lion,” the company built a community that connected team members across the organisation while providing support, networking, and development opportunities.
In its submission, Lion said: “Early in 2023, we committed to a dedicated focus on racial diversity inclusion. This included the launch of the We Belong at Lion Network.”
“The purpose of the network is to build a strong sense of belonging for culturally diverse team members and support their pathways towards leadership positions. The Network focuses on increasing awareness and understanding of the cultural diversity at Lion through education; celebrating the cultural diversity at Lion through inspiring events; and increased representation through improved identification, policy support and inclusion analysis.”
Some of the key callouts from the judges for Lion’s submission include:
- An outstanding submission that thoroughly addressed the award criteria and answered the brief clearly.
- Demonstrated a shift from a singular focus on gender diversity to cultural awareness based on employee feedback, showing responsiveness to organisational needs.
- Strong leadership support and innovative measures implemented to support the initiative.
Mia Lloyd, General Manager for Customer Loyalty, Trade Planning, and Insights at Coles, has been on the judging panel for the past three years and was present to award Lion on the night.
Addressing the audience, Lloyd said: “Our winner tonight demonstrated exceptional leadership, depth and breadth of employee engagement and a creative and innovative approach. More importantly, they showed us that their plans and initiatives were sustainable, accountable and attainable.”
She added: “The best Diversity Equity and Inclusion Initiative Award goes to a company that has worked hard to raise awareness and celebrate the diversity of cultural backgrounds. So I want you all to join me in congratulating the team at Lion for winning this award.”
Lion’s closing comments in its submission said: “Through the We Belong at Lion Network panel events, internal media communications, improvements in data integrity, and the endless cascade of projects across three workstreams, we have given culturally diverse members a voice and visibility that cannot be ignored by our leadership team. This has resulted in the setting of targets to improve cultural diversity in leadership levels in 2024.”
Following the award, Lion’s People and Culture Director, Jane Hill said: “We’re thrilled to win this inaugural award. At Lion, we have been committed to building diverse and inclusive teams for over a decade, so they reflect our consumer base and ensure Lion, and the drinks industry, is a great place to work.”
It was a victorious night for Lion, winning six awards across all three categories. Alongside its Supplier Award for Supply Chain Management, Lion received two of the three Contribution to Industry Awards: Best Environmental Sustainability and Best Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative. Lion also took home two Fan Favourite Brand Awards for Craft Beer with Stone & Wood Pacific Ale and Non-Alcoholic Beer with Heineken 0.0, as well as a Gaining in Popularity Brand Award for Tooheys New in the Classic Beer category.
Lion's success at this year’s Australian Drinks Awards follows its achievements at the 2024 Coles Liquor Supplier Awards a week prior, where it was named Beer Supplier of the Year and Supply Chain Partner of the Year. Lion also received the Product Launch of the Year award for its RTD, Kirin Hyoketsu.
In June this year, Lion’s efforts in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space were recognised at the LGBTQ+ Inclusion Awards, where it achieved the revered Gold Tier status in recognition of its workplace inclusion of the LGBTQ community. It’s the first time an alcoholic beverages organisation has received Gold Status, awarded to Australia’s top organisations for LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Edwina Bartholomew was MC at the 12th annual Australian Drinks Awards, where 48 awards were distributed to recognise achievement and excellence in the drinks industry, including three Contribution to Industry Awards: Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative, Best Wellbeing Initiative, and Best Environmental Sustainability Initiative.
The Drinks Association congratulates its Category One Member, Lion, on winning the 2024 Best Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative Award.
Coles Liquor is a Retail Partner of the Drinks Association.
The Drinks Association would like to thank its generous sponsors for this year’s event.
All the winners from the 2024 Australian Drinks Awards are available here:
