McCormick's Affinity-Based Development Program Helps 'Ignite' Career Progress

One of the many training and development opportunities that McCormick provides employees is our Ignite program, which examines the obstacles that are unique for people of difference in the workplace. Between Global Ignite for Women and U.S. Ignite for Ethnically Diverse Talent, women and ethnically diverse talent are provided with the necessary tools to excel their careers.

Global Ignite for Women is targeted toward strong-performing female talent and helps advance them to mid-level positions as leaders within the company, with the intention to contribute more to the long-term growth of the business. To date, 94 women have graduated from the program, which has been shown to reduce turnover and increase job promotions or job responsibility for graduates. And DiversityInc magazine underscored the impact of the program in their ranking of corporate women’s initiatives by recognizing McCormick & Company in its list of Top Companies for Executive Women in 2019.

“The idea behind Ignite is not only to help women advance in their careers, but also to prepare them to address gender-related headwinds,” says Neddy Perez, Senior Director of Global Diversity and Inclusion. “Other development programs don’t address these issues as completely and directly as Ignite does.”

Global Ignite sheds light on situations that are unique to women, and helps participants develop strategies to successfully navigate them. As Muriel Stotz, Account Manager II in McCormick France, said, "I am proud to belong to a company that cares about women's development and offers such qualitative programs. Ignite helps to focus on our strengths, creates a safe space to work on our empowerment to ensure we deliver the best results for McCormick while advancing our careers."

And while career advancement is not the only metric of success, it’s still exciting to report that four years into the program, nearly 40 percent of the women who have participated have been either promoted or moved into a position with expanded responsibilities.

Building on the success of the Global Women’s Ignite Program, in 2018 McCormick launched the U.S. Ignite program focusing on advancing ethnically diverse talent. Identified through Ignite’s competitive nomination process, participants partner with their managers in a rigorous three-day curriculum designed to help them manage headwinds that may be affecting their careers. Both managers and employees also complete a leadership styles assessment and receive coaching on their skill sets to understand how their styles can impact their effectiveness.

Throughout the sessions, employees have opportunities to network with each other and connect with senior leaders and executives across the company. Recent Ignite participants say that the program teaches and embraces the significance of a diverse leadership team, guiding the participants to map out their potential career path within the company and explore the tools that can help them reach their goals.

"McCormick’s US Ignite program has been incredibly valuable in highlighting that some personal career headwinds are not isolated to my experience," said Ed Hernández, Director of Business Development, International Brands. "More importantly, the program has connected me with peers that share similar experiences. Together, we are gaining knowledge of frameworks and tools to diffuse these headwinds and make more powerful contributions in McCormick."

The U.S. Ignite Program launched in 2018, and to date, 60 ethnically diverse employees have graduated from the program and nearly 40 percent have been promoted or moved into a new role with expanded responsibilities.

All of McCormick's development programs are designed to broaden employee's skills, their relationships, and their understanding of our business. If you're interested in exploring opportunities at a company that encourages you to reach your goals, view our current openings at careers.mccormick.com.

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