Our inclusive culture is the secret of our 170 years of success
International research* shows that companies that treat employees equally, regardless of demographic and cultural background, have significantly higher levels of innovation and greater resilience to crises. The 170-year history of Dreher Breweries bears witness to this observation. It is therefore of the utmost importance that diversity and tolerance become an even more integral part of our corporate culture and strategy through measurable and accountable commitments and concrete programmes.
In March 2021, we formally joined „The LEAD Network Pledge 2020”, in which we made a commitment to gender balance and to support diversity in the workplace. Over the past 3 years, we have taken a number of steps towards achieving these sustainability goals. On 2 October 2024, Mike James, CEO of Dreher Breweries, and Paolo Lanzarotti, CEO of AEI, jointly signed this commitment.
„I am convinced that fostering diversity, collaboration, and a constructive corporate culture is both our tradition and our future at Dreher Breweries. Throughout history, we have witnessed countless times how a community united by knowledge and commitment—regardless of age, gender, or cultural background—can overcome the greatest challenges. Since signing the Pledge in 2021, we have demonstrated our dedication to fulfilling our commitments. We established our own DE&I Committee, launched new training programs for all employees, and introduced new policies in several areas. These are important steps, and more will follow” – said Mike James, CEO of Dreher Breweries, at the signing ceremony.
Diversity programmes and policies
As a natural next step in our systematic culture building process that has been underway in our company for more than 10 years, we launched our Supportive Leadership and Unconscious Bias training in 2021, where we help our decision makers with skills and capability development programmes, and by transforming our systems and processes to support our employees’ own ambitions and career goals.
We work with many of our dedicated colleagues to further strengthen and develop diversity, equity and inclusion at both individual and organisational levels. Alongside the We Are Open audit, we are accompanied in this process by the Heroes’ Square Company, which through its experiential programmes helps us to identify situations where we can make a difference, with a particular focus on unconscious bias, the ‘bystander effect’ and growth mindset. Based on a regional initiative, we have also created or initiated several policies to support our employees in various difficult or challenging life situations (e.g.: sabbatical; extended support for maternity; paternity leave).
The DE&I Committee, which represents the whole Dreher organisation, was established in 2023 and has been active since then with a concrete action plan. The main aim of the Committee’s work is to promote an inclusive culture in a way that as many Dreher employees as possible can embrace and experience.
„Our corporate culture and employer image has been consistently built over the years along a multi-level and complex plan. Our priorities have included increasing the engagement, satisfaction and well-being of our existing white and blue-collar employees, improving internal and external employer perceptions, and reaching out more effectively to potential employees – particularly younger age groups. Building on the work we have done over the past few years, Dreher’s corporate culture has evolved very nicely, as evidenced by the metrics we have been able to track. We are proud that in this year’s Global Engagement and Compliance Survey, Dreher’s internal engagement score has increased by an outstanding rate, now well above the Hungarian benchmark and scoring highly on ‘management supports diversity’ and ’employees are treated with respect’, which are key elements of our corporate culture” – said Éva Kreiter, HR Director of Dreher Breweries.
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McKinsey & Company (2020) – Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters
Harvard Business Review (2018) – How and Where Diversity Drives Financial Performance
Boston Consulting Group (2018) – How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation
