Bridgestone Releases 2023 DE&I Annual Report for Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Bridgestone, a global leader in premium tyres and sustainable mobility solutions, today released its 2023 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Annual Report for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The report highlights Bridgestone’s efforts to create an equitable experience for underrepresented groups and enhance the diversity of its workforce.

"We must ensure that our current and future teammates, as well as our customers feel Free to Be themselves," said Laurent Dartoux, Group President Bridgestone EMEA. "With more than 14,000 teammates from 35 different countries, Bridgestone EMEA is naturally a diverse workplace. However, there is significant room for improvement. Bridgestone EMEA’s second DE&I Annual Report reinforces our unwavering commitment to cultivating a fully inclusive, equitable and diverse place to work for the benefit of our people, business and the communities we serve."

The 2023 DE&I Annual Report outlines advancements Bridgestone EMEA has made in relation to its three DE&I focus areas: employee experience, pay and workforce, defined as follows:  

• Employee Experience – How Bridgestone EMEA invests in talent from underrepresented groups and how people feel about working at Bridgestone EMEA.
• Pay – How people are compensated for their work.
• Workforce – How Bridgestone EMEA recruits and retains teammates.

To cultivate a positive employee experience, Bridgestone EMEA continued to invest in leadership development for underrepresented groups through multiple DE&I programmes. These included Women in Motion, Women in Tech, Women in Production and Young Professionals. The company also grew its Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). BPROUD, the ERG for LGBTQIA+ colleagues and allies, organised various events and initiatives including Pride Month celebrations. They also launched a BRPOUD intranet hub and produced a psychological safety guide that was downloaded by 800+ teammates. BWIN, the ERG for women and allies, also made significant strides, which included a networking E-Coffee event, introducing Mentoring Circles, and hosting a “Leadership Strategies For Women” course. Additionally, the group increased its membership from less than 100 to more than 300 in 2023. Based on 2023 data, 91% of the EMEA salaried population and 67%[1] of the total workforce feels that Bridgestone values diversity.

To foster an inclusive and diverse workforce, Bridgestone EMEA’s 2023 data showed increased female representation at all levels, particularly in the senior management job categories. One of the major highlights in 2023 included 71% of new hires at the company’s flagship Technical Center and manufacturing plant in Rome were women. Across the entire EMEA enterprise, 34% of new hires in band 2+ (typically salaried employees) were women, representing a 6.1 percentage point increase versus 2022.

The Report also details the impact the company continues to cultivate in its communities. Bridgestone EMEA’s Volunteering Policy encourages colleagues to make an active contribution to their communities by offering one full paid day dedicated to volunteering, each year. Teams in Italy ran multiple community initiatives such as partnering with the organisation “Inspiring Girls,” training young people with and without disabilities in rugby, donating tyres to six Komen mobile breast cancer prevention clinics, running a social farming volunteering activity for people with mental disabilities and more. In South Africa, 2023 efforts included participating in the government's Yes4Youth graduate programme, expanding community support by planting trees and establishing food gardens at various schools to address nutrition challenges.  

DE&I is part of the company’s vision to provide customer and social value as a sustainable solutions company. At the heart of this is the Bridgestone E8 Commitment – the broad, global corporate commitment that clearly defines the value the company is promising to deliver to society, customers and future generations in eight focus areas. Bridgestone EMEA’s DE&I strategy is a core component of the Bridgestone E8 Commitment value, Empowerment.

To learn more about Bridgestone EMEA’s DE&I Annual Report, visit https://press.bridgestone-emea.com/2023-dei-annual-report-emea.

[1] Results from 14,854 respondents to 2023 Bridgestone EMEA Employee Engagement survey conducted in September 2023.  

About Bridgestone in Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Bridgestone in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Bridgestone EMEA) is the regional Strategic Business Unit of Bridgestone Corporation, a global leader in tyres and sustainable mobility solutions. Headquartered in Zaventem (Belgium), Bridgestone EMEA employs more than 14,000 people and conducts business in 35 countries across the region.