Workforce resilience depends on stronger talent pipelines. This article explores how better attraction, retention and progression can deliver them.
Workforce resilience starts with people
The food industry faces growing workforce pressures, including labour shortages, an ageing workforce and increasing competition for talent. Building a resilient future workforce will depend not only on attracting new people into the sector, but also on retaining and developing the talent already within organisations.
Recent gender representation research from Meat Business Women highlights both the scale of the challenge and practical actions businesses can take to strengthen their talent pipelines. The research provides the first benchmark towards the Food Business Charter’s ambition of achieving 40% female representation across the food industry by 2035. IGD is a signatory to the Charter, supporting this shared industry ambition.
Understanding the challenge: where the pipeline is breaking
The research shows that women currently represent 34% of the global food manufacturing workforce. But the headline figure only tells part of the story.
Looking more closely at the talent pipeline reveals where some of the critical “broken rungs” occur. Female representation falls from 34% at entry level to 27% at first-line manager level, before declining further to 25% at high executive level and 6% at CEO level.
The first step into management is particularly significant. It is a critical gateway to future leadership, so when women are lost or stalled at this point, the pool of talent available to progress into more senior roles becomes smaller.
These findings suggest that workforce resilience is not simply an attraction challenge; it is also about progression and retention. Getting more people through the door matters, but so does what happens to them once they are there. Businesses need to understand where talent is being lost or stalled, address the barriers to progression and create clearer pathways into leadership roles.
What can we learn from leading organisations?
One of the most encouraging findings is the variation between organisations. Leading businesses have achieved 46% female representation, compared with 26% among lagging organisations. This gap demonstrates that outcomes are not inevitable and that the actions organisations take can make a real difference.
The research identifies several common characteristics among organisations making the strongest progress, including measuring progression through the talent pipeline, redesigning roles, listening to employee experiences and holding leaders accountable for change.
This is also where the Food Business Charter can add value, creating a shared ambition and encouraging organisations to learn from what is working elsewhere across the industry.
Building a stronger future workforce
As food businesses address long-term workforce challenges, the focus needs to be on the whole talent pipeline: attracting people into the industry, creating the conditions for them to stay and ensuring they can see and access opportunities to progress. Through initiatives such as the Food Business Charter, organisations can learn from one another, share what works and accelerate progress.
The forthcoming final report from the Milburn Review is expected to identify potential reforms to improve young people’s participation in work. Its recommendations could provide further direction for food businesses seeking to strengthen entry routes and early-career pathways.
How IGD is supporting action
Meat Business Women’s Gender Representation Report complements IGD’s wider work to strengthen the food and drink workforce. Food and drink workforce – a quiet crisis building? examines the persistent labour and skills pressures facing the sector and the need to attract, develop and retain a more capable, inclusive workforce.
IGD is turning its wider workforce insight into practical action through Feeding Britain’s Future, which brings employers together to improve awareness of food careers, expand meaningful experiences of work and strengthen pathways into and through the industry.
From insight to action
The research presents a positive message for the industry. While gaps remain, there is growing evidence of what works. The challenge is not simply getting more people into the industry, but ensuring that talented people can stay, develop and progress once they are there.
By focusing on attraction, retention and progression together, food businesses can build stronger talent pipelines, support future workforce resilience and help ensure the industry has the leadership capability it needs for the future.