Fizzing with Wisdom: PepsiCo’s HR Strategies for Success

Narrator: How do you make a big company feel small? Employees should feel like they’re part of a community, that they have a relationship with leadership, that they can learn and grow there as a person, which means there needs to be a balance of in person and digital work. But that in person component is critical. That’s one of the things we’re talking about with Andrea Ferrara today.

Andrea Ferrara: Frontline leaders have the high touch every day. And that’s the part where I’d say it can’t be digital, right? They still want to have that interaction. They still want to know that their boss is thinking about them and looking out for them.  in the places where our leaders do a phenomenal job, you’ll get super high participation and you’ll get honest feedback and then we can lean in and course correct. In the places where we don’t do it as well, you obviously don’t. 

Narrator: Andrea is Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, North American Beverages and Nutrition at PepsiCo. She’s been with the company for over 33 years and now leads over 60,000 associates in 400 locations across the US and Canada. She has previously served as Chief Human Resources Officer for both corporate and the Latin America sector. Today, Andrea and our host, Nicole Alvino, are discussing how to balance standardizing your employee experience with customization. Especially when it comes to employees of different generations, they also talk about how to make a big company feel small and making PepsiCo a place where people feel that they belong. On Cruising Altitude, we talk about employee experience lessons from leaders at companies with over 30, 000 employees. A lot like reaching cruising altitude at 30, 000 feet, things look a little different when you’re managing 30, 000 people. On this podcast, we bring you insights from the leaders who inhabit that rarefied air. Today’s episode features an interview with Andrea Ferrara, but first let’s hear a word from our sponsor. And now your host, Nicole Alvino, CEO and founder of Firstup.

Andrea Ferrara: Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us for Cruising Altitude. I’m thrilled to be your host for Season 3. As a CEO and founder of Firstup, I’m very proud that companies like Amazon, Tesco, Ford, Hilton, and 40 percent of the Fortune 100 use us to connect more deeply with their people, design and deliver personalized campaigns, and use us to gain engagement insights throughout their employee journey. Our mission is to create an irresistible employee experience that really fosters meaningful engagement with all of your people, helps them to achieve peak performance and ensure long term retention. So, let’s take off with today’s show. I want to welcome Andrea Ferreira, the Chief Human Resources Officer for PepsiCo North America. Welcome.

Andrea Ferrara: I’m very excited to be here.

Nicole Alvino: Great, great. So, when we introduce new employees at First Up, we have them. Use three fun facts. And so I’d love to ask you to share three fun facts with our audience.

Andrea Ferrara: All right, Nicole, I hope these are fun,  So, I guess the first one is I’ve done animal rescue for almost 25 years now. I started with dogs and cats and I’ve actually branched into helping rescue, uh, horses. So that’s actually one fun fact. The second thing is I’m really, really into music and I actually collect signed guitars. So I’ve got guitars signed by, you know, the Pretenders Speedwagon and a bunch of different groups. And then the last fun fact I’d say is I love to write. And I’m actually in a writing club and I pass that gift on. I hope they think it’s a gift, but I pass that on to the HR community every two weeks by giving them a writing challenge, and then folks can send their assignments in to me, and it’s just a nice fun way to interact.

Nicole Alvino: I love that. the blend between animals and the music and writing, I think there is a common thread there, but I love all of that. And I think writing and music. We can obviously express ourselves in different ways. So those are great fun facts. Can you just share with everyone that the scope of your role at PepsiCo right now?

Andrea Ferrara: Sure, absolutely. So, I lead human resources for our North America beverage business. We call it PepsiCo Beverages North America. It’s about a 27 billion business and we have roughly 62, 000, associates.

Nicole Alvino: Wow. So 62, 000 associates. I imagine they’re all over the world in different types of roles and locations. Can you just explain a little bit more about the different types of experiences that all of those colleagues have?

Andrea Ferrara: Yeah, we’re a heavy frontline operation. So if you think about our business, it’s really about moving and selling. That’s the core. Obviously we’ve got office-based workers who focus primarily on national selling. and obviously our marketers are key, but the majority of our employees are moving and selling. And, and as you said, Nicole, we’ve got over 400 locations across North America. And we’ve got big and small sites and you’ve got people that are manufacturing the product, moving the product, driving the trucks that everybody sees. And then obviously our sales professionals and all of our merchandisers in the stores. Hopefully making our customers happy and ultimately our consumers.

Nicole Alvino: We’re a family of big consumers. So, we’re on the receiving end of that. I guess in addition to just all of the scale of your people, what are some of the other challenges that might be unique to a PepsiCo given, what you need to do on a global scale?

Andrea Ferrara: You know, I think your point on just the different kinds of associates that we have, you know, we do have very different personas across the organization, right? We’ve got multiple generations, literally in all roles across the organization. You know, and it’s, interesting because some of the needs are the same and some of the needs are different, you know, I’d say this concept of wanting growth and a sense of belonging, you know, and to feel valued, some of those foundational components are across all the personas, but then you’ve got people with different life stages and different life stages have different needs. And so for us, it’s, How do you have this level of standardization that you can reach those 62, 000 and then match that with the degree of customization that you need? So know if it’s so much a unique challenge, but definitely a challenge I think big organizations are facing.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, definitely. And so let’s carry on with that. How do you do that between the multi generational, different languages, different departments, different needs? How do you create kind of that cohesive associate experience that speaks to those different segments?

Andrea Ferrara: I think the first thing is we spend a fair amount of time really trying to get grounded in understanding their personas, which is really understanding the insights. Right. So do a fair amount of listening, both on a regular basis. we try to have this concept of how do you have a listening culture, right? And it seems fairly simplistic. There are multiple ways to do it, obviously through organizational health surveys, but we also have kiosks in many of our locations where we ask just one or two simple questions and associates can give us. A smiley face or a frown face. And then it allows the local leadership team to dig in. So what we try to do is we try to get the insights as much as we can on a national scale, but then give our local leaders. The ability to very routinely plug in and listen so that we can course correct and pivot. And so it is a bit of a balance.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. You have to have the overarching controller, things that you would see at your level, but like you said, the local level and even at the line manager, there’s a lot that needs to happen there, especially when we’re fostering that sense of belonging and culture. So how do we, when we think about that complexity, providing this employee experience, that’s personalized, how do you think about it? Bringing people, new people into the organization and are they still multi generational and what are you doing to help streamline that process?

Andrea Ferrara: Yeah, that’s a really good question. And it’s complicated and the answer is yes, right? I think great companies are going to figure out how to bring multiple personas in and keep folks engaged, you know, and it is, it’s a little tricky. I think what we try to do is we try to Obviously give them holistic experience from the minute they come in contact with PepsiCo, right? you know, I’ll use a frontline associate. So from all of our digital recruiting tools, you know, it’s very interactive and it’s very personal and it’s very customized. So as they’re going through the process on their phones and sending them. You know, routine. Here’s where you are on the process. Here’s how you’re doing. What we try to do is get that degree of engagement and start to form that psychological contract very early on, the minute you get people in the door, you’ve got to hit a home run from an onboarding standpoint, this concept of a company, our size and scale, how do you make a big company feel small? Right? And I think that’s where we try to double down. We obviously have big headquarters locations. I’m sitting in Purchase New York today. There’s 3, 000 people in this building. But I’ve also got buildings with 100 people. You know, and so how do you take this big enterprise and make every location feel small and that you feel part of this family? And so for us, that onboarding… Coupled with these routine sort of touch points that we do with associates is critical and we try to do it in the most end to end way, I’ve thought about it a lot. We have associates that are here 30, 40, 50 years. 

Nicole Alvino: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. 

Andrea Ferrara: You know, how do you keep that degree of engagement? And it really is this concept of a family. It’s one of the things our associates talk about a lot, especially when you speak with our long tenured folks.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, no, and I think you hit it. it has to be almost hyper personalized to the individual. You said, what do they need during that recruitment phase? Definitely in the onboarding. I mean, you know this, the vast majority of people decide whether they’re going to stay or go in that first key 90 days. You know, I love that notion of just making this big organization seem small. And so I think that it has to be the interactions with peers, or if it’s 3000 or 100, I guess my next question is how much of that do you try to automate? How much of that needs to be human interaction? How do you think about that balance? You know, especially as more things become available with technology.

Andrea Ferrara: I’d say in the last 5-7 years we’ve doubled down pretty heavily on how do you do things in a more digital world. You know, and it’s interesting because again, depending upon the persona, some of that’s more welcome and some of it’s not. You know, some of the learning that we do and how do we upskill and how do we teach and train our folks from a digital standpoint, they gravitate towards that. We’ve got this platform called My Education where people can upskill themselves if they want to get a CDL license. Or if they want to get a college degree or they just want to take a certification. And, that is very easy to do in a digital environment. And I think almost all of our associates gravitate towards that because they’re comfortable with it because they use it in their daily lives. the places where it’s been a little bit more of a struggle and it is all digitized, but it’s a little bit on them giving us feedback. Right? You know, and, the trust that it’s truly anonymous, we continue to work on that to make sure that we do yearly organizational health surveys and just giving everybody the comfort that it’s truly anonymous. It’s really feedback that we want to make it better. And you get over that hump, Nicole, in my opinion, by having those frontline leaders have the high touch every day. And that’s the part where I’d say it can’t be digital, right? They still want to have that interaction. They still want to know that their boss is thinking about them and looking out for them. And I think that’s the piece where We focus very hard every day to never lose sight that you do need that, and I think it works. And I think in the places where our leaders do a phenomenal job, you’ll get super high participation and you’ll get the honest feedback and then we can lean in and course correct. In the places where we don’t do it as well, you obviously don’t. And again, I do think it’s a balance.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, definitely. And we’ve seen that, too, with large frontline work. It’s all about the line manager and even using, I guess, are you using some of your digital tools to help educate and train them to make them be better managers and coaches and be able to answer that? Because that’s probably a huge area of opportunity.

Andrea Ferrara: Absolutely. have a whole set of leadership training for frontline supervisors, and we actually have an aspiring leadership development program, which is geared toward our frontline associates that have aspirations to be a leader. And it is, It’s laying that foundational framework around the basics and we’ve got a leadership framework called the great five. It’s about growth, relationships, execution, agility, and thinking. We tailor it based on the level of the organization. So for the entry level leaders, what are those behaviors look like? And how do you manifest that in your everyday work?

Nicole Alvino: I love that, the big five. And then are you looking at some of those leadership attributes and then potentially tying them to the attrition rates or certain safety types of things in your locations and really trying to connect those dots?

Andrea Ferrara: You got it, exactly. That’s exactly what we try to do. I think, organizations that do it well look at the ecosystem end to end and in the most holistic sense and you have to understand the outcomes you’re trying to drive and then really all the behaviors that help or hinder. And that’s really what we try to do from an insight standpoint on a fairly regular basis. As I said, we have this Formal process once a year, but then we do touch points, right? We do these kiosks, we do pulse surveys. We do a lot of different things so that we can keep the information flowing. You know, one of the things that I really noticed, post the pandemic, actually even during the pandemic was, you know, kind of people’s needs and wants pivoted pretty quickly. And their tolerance for you not correcting it has gone down dramatically, right? People want more of an immediate correction, which I absolutely understand, but it’s, forced us to, never take our eye off the ball. Like, you can’t get comfortable.

Nicole Alvino: no, and I think if anything, especially now, there’s constant change for good or bad with social unrest, with wars, with labor organization, there’s just, you know, constant change. And I think to your point that need for direct communication or action, or, you know, what are you doing to take care of me as an associate? I think that, you know, opportunity for employers is at an all time high.

Andrea Ferrara: Yep. No, you’re absolutely right.

Nicole Alvino: One thing that you said that was so interesting of just utilizing insights, and I think you’re ahead of the curve. If you think about what PepsiCo does on the customer and consumer side and all of the data and all of those insights, and it seems like, I guess, have you taken best practices from that side of the house, or is this something that you’ve been developing on the people side?

Andrea Ferrara: I think we have for sure, right? I’m really proud of the work that PepsiCo has historically done there. I feel blessed. I am blessed with an HR team that is extremely intellectually curious. and I’ve got great leaders in my talent management and development space that are constantly, you know, pushing us to think differently and broadly. and it really started, back in 2018, we were doing our normal talent strategy, and we did a fair amount of research externally, and then we did a pretty big deep dive internally. And we started to see some trends that we had not seen, and we started to go down this path of, hey, people want predictability, and they want more stability, and You know, I’d say three, four years before that, those trends weren’t there. And then COVID hit and it was an acceleration. I mean, it was as though people put their foot on the gas pedal and said, yeah, I’m not going to tolerate not having these things. And so that segment of time forced us to double down and say, we’ve got to treat ourselves like we would look at our brands. and that was really, I think, the impetus for us to build the discipline into our system where it is very routine and it’s a regular piece of the human resources work, obviously, to your earlier point in partnership with our line leaders.

Nicole Alvino: I think you are ahead of the curve by A, realizing that before COVID and having that foundation in place. And I guess, can you just talk a little bit, maybe about different folks you’ve needed to bring into your people team or some of the key skills there? Because, you know, the transformation that you’ve led, it probably requires some, different ways of working as well.

Andrea Ferrara: No, absolutely. I mean, I’m, as I said, I’m, very blessed with my talent management team. I’ll give her a little plug. Rosa Santos is my Vice President of Talent Management and Development. And, what she did a phenomenal job realizing was You’ve got to build a change practice. You need to build an organizational effectiveness and a team effectiveness practice. You’ve got to have survey expertise and we’re blessed, right? We get to dock into the PepsiCo powerhouse. We have a wonderful global team as well. But the ability to really have, I would say, high caliber change.

Nicole Alvino: Mm hmm. 

Andrea Ferrara: Was probably one of the biggest points of differentiation for us, because what it let us do is, as we were going through all these, just the change from COVID and the pandemic, but obviously all the business change, it enabled us to have site specific assessments. And we, again, to your earlier point on customization and personalization, It just let us go deep and, uh, you know, Rosa A. identified those needs and then B. really helped infuse the skills that we needed to go do that.

Nicole Alvino: You know this, but it’s how employers have to survive, right? We have to get to that hyper-personalization, what you’re delivering to me as a consumer, right? We have to be able to do that with all of our people and associates and guide them through their journey and whether it’s okay, now, you know, we want you to be on this management track and here’s how we can support you or, It’s a time of personal change. You might have to go out on a leave, good or bad, right? And so let us guide you through that. And I think that’s just such a big opportunity, especially with everything going on in the world.

Andrea Ferrara: Yeah, I couldn’t agree with you more.

Nicole Alvino: I mean, you’ve talked about the exceptional experience at PepsiCo, but if there’s anything else that kind of has kept you there for 33 years, and then what are you excited to do next?

Andrea Ferrara: The answer is probably kind of underwhelming and simple, but it’s been a few things that have always kept me is first and foremost the role that the function plays. It’s what attracted me to PepsiCo in 1990 and you know, the fact that you have a seat at the table, we really do. we get to have a very loud voice and it’s not limited to what people might traditionally think the human resources space is, right? We really do help shape the business. And there’s an expectation by our business partners that we understand the business as much as they do. I understand the middle of the P& L. I’m expected to help identify what are the causes of, you know, we always think of turnover historically, but what’s driving that turnover? Is it the way our picking system is in the warehouse or the way our routing is done? Is it right? It’s so it’s understanding the business in a macro sense that you can actually help practice the craft, in a different way. And that’s always been it. I think one of the big thing that’s kept me, the second thing is I do think we’ve historically been a talent academy and I feel blessed every day to work with such high caliber leaders and associates all across the board. and then the last thing is I, I love our brands. It’s just a fun company.

Nicole Alvino: And I think you said that the talent academy is so huge. And also just that notion of putting people first. And I think that business leaders, especially now, that, that has. And so again, lucky that you and PepsiCo and probably your leadership ahead of the curve, but if we’re not thinking about how we’re empowering our people and elevating and with that people function to, be those business partners, you know, I, I just don’t see, a way forward for, companies to continue to thrive without them.

Andrea Ferrara: No, I, I agree. And it’s, you know, the unlock and the magic is doing it consistently, right? 365. That’s the hard part. and I didn’t actually answer your other question, which was a little bit of what’s next. You know, for us, it’s,  

Nicole Alvino: Mm-hmm.

Andrea Ferrara: that we have a lot of wonderful programs. We have a ton of tools. it’s getting it that it’s not leader led from the standpoint of that leader leaves and everything stops. It’s just institutionalizing it into the DNA of this organization, much like our ability to service our customers. I mean, the stories you’ll hear from our frontline, you know, something happens and a customer needs something, people will move mountains to do that. I want to get to the same place from. How we lead, how do we provide this consistent experience for our associates every day? that’s really what’s next for us.

Nicole Alvino: I love it. So how do you think about that? Is that kind of people process technology, or do you have a, framework for

Andrea Ferrara: We do have a friend, yeah, no, it’s, it’s all the above. you hit it exactly on the head. one of the lessons I got about myself during COVID was I think for so many years, when you’ve been leading for a long period of time, it kind of is almost unconscious, right? You sort of Oh, I just know how to do this and you do it. and part of the thinking is we’re trying to make it a little bit more conscious. Where we want our folks to actually stop and think. And one of the things that we did was back in 20, and it actually started with some of the, unfortunately, the social unrest that was happening outside. Obviously it comes into your walls and you need to. be equipped to deal with it. And we literally said, what are the outcomes we want for all of our associates, all 62, 000? And we wanted three things. We wanted people to know that we care, that there’s a connection and a sense of belonging at work, and that you can have a wonderful career no matter where you are in the organization. And so we branded and launched this concept of the

Nicole Alvino: Mm-hmm.

Andrea Ferrara: It’s just a simple, overarching framework, Nicole, for Everybody, no matter where you sit in the organization, to know that’s the environment we’re trying to create. And then we have all the digital tools, we have the career maps and all the other things we’ve created around that, but that’s the framework, and everything needs to ladder to that. And you know, if you hear our CEO, Kirk Tanner, talk, he talks about the three C’s a lot when he’s speaking to the organization. and it just reinforces that any, any human being in the organization needs to be helping create an environment that ladders against those three things.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, no, I love that. It’s so important. And I think especially now too, people are looking for that belonging, right? And there may be things that they used to get from other institutions, especially with a large global company, they need to look to their employer. And so I think that just understanding those things that can transcend what’s happening, the unrest and the unfortunate things that do happen day in, day out in the world, I think that’s a really great. grounding framework and when I said, I don’t want to overuse belonging, but it is so, so important to people.

Andrea Ferrara: Now, you know, I couldn’t agree more. I mean, it’s one of the biggest, components that associates tell us they 

Nicole Alvino: Mm hmm. Mm 

Andrea Ferrara: You know, and it’s interesting because you know, you’ll watch some of the trends and you definitely have a generation that comes in and spins pretty quickly because they’re looking for new and different experiences. But even when we talk to the folks that may come in and not stay as long, this concept of sense of belonging and feeling safe. And feeling safe, obviously, from a physical standpoint, but this concept of psychological safety has really come up a lot more in the last few years. Again, it’s a trend post COVID that we saw, and I think you’re right. It starts from a foundation of belonging.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah. Yeah. it’s the belonging and then it’s the trust and everything else can build from that. And I think that’s how you’ve been able to keep and manage an incredible multi generational associate experience.

Andrea Ferrara: Well, there’s a lot of people working on it, not just me, by any stretch. I am very lucky. I am surrounded by very talented people, so.

Nicole Alvino: Yes, yes, yes. Well, that’s good. So I guess, what is a piece of advice, for people who are either in a role like yours or aspiring to be in a role like yours, what would you say?

Andrea Ferrara: There’s a couple pieces of advice. I think, first and foremost, I try to tell our leaders. You know, figure out the leader you want to be known for at your retirement. You know, and it’s sometimes I’ll tell this to a group of 25 year olds and they look at me like I’m crazy. but I said, really think about it. write down four or five words that are really important to you. And that’s what you want to be known for, and you live that leadership framework every day, and it’s your true north, and you never deviate, and in the best of times, and in the worst of times, that is what you go to. A leader gave me that advice 25 years ago, and I kind of rolled my eyes because I was a lot younger then, but I actually sat down and did it. It’s been extraordinarily helpful for me, and people know what they get. People want consistency and a leader. And I think when you have that higher order, true, I call it my true north. I think it just helps you tremendously lead in a very consistent basis.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah. No, I love that. I love that. So one of the things I like to ask, we call this podcast Cruising at 30, 000 feet. And for me, when I’m at 30, 000 feet, I’m on a lot of planes. I get this sort of literal and metaphor 30, 000 feet. So you obviously have a lot of wisdom, but what is that place for you where it’s that extreme clarity or where you do your best thinking?

Andrea Ferrara: Yeah, it’s probably going to be underwhelming, but it’s that 5. 30am cup of coffee where I’m just by myself, and I’m just sitting, and it’s really interesting how I will do my best thinking. First thing in the morning. And I think it’s because I have just everything that happened during the day. I’ve forgotten thanks to a few hours of sleep. And, you know, it’s usually me and three or four dogs just sitting around very quietly and. things will pop into my head that are, I don’t actually even know where they come from, but they tend to always solve a problem that we’re trying to wrestle through. So for me, it’s early, early morning. I don’t know why. And also sometimes the drive into work, that’s good quality time for me. I don’t do as well at night and certainly not on planes. So that’s not my happy place.

Nicole Alvino: I know, I mean, back to your point, we need those moments of reflection and those moments to really just get that deep thinking, I think, especially now with so many pings so many things that are constantly doing in our life. I think that piece is really, really important. okay, so a final thing, again, you’ve shared so much, but I always like to end with the ones. So one thing you never do and one thing you always do.

Andrea Ferrara: The one thing I never do is I never forget everybody’s watching. And I’ll tell you a story that brought that to life, for me. As I said, I’ve been here for 33 years, and I, you know, I got an ID badge that has my picture on it, and it was in a plastic cover. You know, after 15 years, the cover had almost melted on so that my face was completely smudged. and I lost the badge like five or six years ago. It must have fallen off. And I got a new badge. And Nicole, the first day I got the new badge, seven people said to me, Hey, you got a new ID badge. And I thought, wow, everybody is really watching. And so, you know, this concept of when you’re a leader, you know, you don’t get to have bad days and you gotta show up. As you do every day. And for me, it’s back to that true north, but so I never forget everybody’s watching. And then I’d say the thing I try to do on a pretty consistent basis is cast a wide shadow. particularly with the function I sit in and where I sit. I try to make sure I’m as accessible as possible. I network as much as I can and I’m as visible as possible because I think, you know, that gives people comfort and the ease and I think it helps make you more approachable and it helps you pull young leaders through the organization and give them reasons to believe. So I always try to cast a wide shadow.

Nicole Alvino: And those two things tie together too. So they do work nicely together. I like that. Well, Andrea, thank you so much for joining us again. So much wisdom and brilliance. And where can our listeners find you?

Andrea Ferrara: Oh, I’m on LinkedIn if they want to find me. I think that’s probably the easiest place or through PepsiCo for sure.

Nicole Alvino: Perfect. So reach out to Andrea on LinkedIn. LinkedIn. You can follow me on LinkedIn as well, and happy to continue the conversation. Obviously a lot more that we can do at all of our organizations to deliver an exceptional employee experience. And I love Andrea, what you’ve done is used data and insights and, mapped that to the human and the need of people and really brought those together in such a phenomenal way.

Andrea Ferrara: Well, I appreciate that, Nicole. You asked great questions. This was fun. It was fun speaking with you, so thank you very much.