In 2021, 86% of all WestRock managers participated in inclusive leadership training. This training increases awareness of some of the challenges team members face and builds capabilities key to leading more inclusive teams and organizations. WestRock also designed a new learning experience called “Blind Spots,” which teaches both hourly and salaried team members how to identify and address unconscious biases. In 2022, we finished very strong with Blind Spots training: 102 US sites trained, 62% of hourly workforce and 82% of salaried workforce trained.

Our WestRock Resource Groups (WRGs) continue to grow and have positive effects within our company. After launching five WRGs in 2020 (African American Black + Allies, Early Careers + Allies, WestRock Veterans + Allies and Women + Allies) we added two more in 2021: P.R.I.D.E. + Allies (LGBTQIA+) and Differing Abilities, Caregivers + Allies. The WRGs, which have an intentional focus on allyship, had a combined membership of more than 4,300 teammates around the globe as of January 2023. Our WRGs continue to be impactful to the overall business - team members belonging to at least one resource group scored 9 points higher on the FY22 Employee Engagement Survey Index compared to those that do not belong to a resource group.

WestRock’s talent acquisition team and programs focused on increasing our diverse hiring – overall, on college campuses, in our rotational programs and through veteran and military programs. A variety of efforts, including posting open positions both internally and externally, seeking diverse slates of candidates and establishing diverse interview panels, made a notable impact on our overall results. Our external partnerships continue to expand with 7 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) along with advanced military and veteran recruiting: 857 hires in FY22 with 7% of our U.S. workforce self-identifying as veterans.