Our Culture

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small business meeting around a conference table
Global and Diverse

Our diverse teams collaborate across locations, functions and business lines to solve problems and serve our customers.

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10K

people employed

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45+

countries where we are located

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35+

languages spoken

We Work Together to Achieve What Seems Impossible

Across our business units and geographies, HAVI people share a common willingness to pitch in, work together and go the extra mile to deliver for our customers, especially when the unexpected occurs, whether it is a hurricane, a flood, a blizzard or a pandemic. It's a point of pride for us -- an expression of our collective integrity, creativity and belief that if we just work together, we can achieve what seems impossible.

We call this aspect of our culture “Deliver the Promise”– a phrase that dates back to HAVI’s earliest days as a favorite saying of Founder Theodore F. Perlman. It began as a way to express our commitment to deliver supplies on-time to Chicago-area McDonalds restaurants in 1974. As HAVI has grown in scope of service and geography, “Deliver the Promise” has broadened to become a multi-part promise to our customers, our employees and our supplier partners.

We're Flexible & Inclusive

We believe in celebrating each other’s achievements, in supporting the betterment of ourselves, and in helping our people to work efficiently and effectively in whatever location they are. This means investing in the right technology and equipment to enable remote work and to provide a safe and efficient work environment in our warehouses and vehicles. 

We strive to meet the current and future needs of our employees as their career, financial and family needs evolve. This means supporting changing needs with the right policies and programs, creating virtual experiences, communications and processes that are easy and less stressful; and creating the right work/life balance that enables employees to bring their best to our customers, their colleagues and their families.

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Work Remote 1
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Man working at home on computer, with dog on his lap
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Work Remote 2
We Aim to Create a Better Future

HAVI’s unique role across the foodservice value chain brings with it both the responsibility to act and the opportunity to inspire a better future. Guided by Our Better Future Blueprint, we work to care for and uplift our people and communities, protect the environment, invent more sustainable solutions for customers and collaborate to drive systemic change.

HAVI has set a science-based target

to reduce carbon emissions from our operations by 40% per metric ton of goods delivered by 2030.

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40% less carbon by 2030
We Value Authenticity and Are Accepting of All People

We believe that breakthrough ideas come from extraordinary people. And to be extraordinary, we need the freedom to be our most authentic selves. At HAVI/TMS, we value authenticity and are accepting of all people. As a company, we're a work-in-progress and will continue to grow and listen to new voices. Because the more voice we have in here, the more people we can reach out there.

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Driving Diversity of Thought

At HAVI, we believe that we achieve the best outcomes when people from different backgrounds collaborate, share diverse views and enable us to challenge the status quo, find a more creative solution and propel change.

While we are still a work in progress, our goal is to be representative of the communities in which we operate. We continue to evolve our recruiting and hiring practices to be more inclusive and support the identification of diverse candidates. We encourage the sharing of lived experiences and seek to amplify employee voices by providing multiple channels for ongoing input and feedback.

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Delivering on Our DE&I Goals

Our enterprise-wide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goals are to:

  • Empower our people with the skills to act inclusively
  • Accelerate equal opportunities for career development
  • Build a community-wide approach to DE&I

To ensure accountability for the achievement of our DE&I goals, our cross-functional DE&I Council has created a balanced scorecard of metrics to define a clear baseline of where we are today and enable us to measure progress. We are making sure that we take into account the variations that we have across our global operations, so that we establish an overall enterprise umbrella of core measurements, but do not apply a one-size-fits-all definition for every location. 

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Everyday Inclusion

Our focus is to work collaboratively and intentionally to advance diversity efforts and expand HAVI's approach to inclusivity. Voice is at the center of all our DE&I efforts -- listening to different perspectives, better understanding lived experiences and taking action.

HAVI has implemented a DE&I structure and governance to help us to further develop and define specific strategies, actions and commitments, as well as monitor our progress and activity. Our Enterprise Leadership Team (ELT) partners with HAVI’s DE&I Council to set our enterprise inclusion goals and drive our action plans. Our efforts are further aligned and executed by a series of dedicated people and inclusion teams, and employee and community groups.

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Empowering Employee Resource Groups

We create an empowering environment for our people by supporting internal affinity groups where employees are able to join together to share life experiences, provide support, and enhance their personal and professional development.

Many of our ERG groups originated in North America, but as our culture continues to evolve, we are seeing more interest in this activity in locations around the world. The ERGs connect the culture and value contributions of different communities and create an advocacy voice for our:

  • Asian professionals (LEAP)
  • Black/African American professionals (BOLD)
  • Female professionals (HAVI Wise)
  • Young professionals (YPN)
We Amplify Our Employee Voices
We Recognize Outstanding Performance
Description

The "Circle of Excellence” is our highest form of recognition for outstanding performers across HAVI. Meet some of our winners and hear about their accomplishments.

Learn More About Who We Are
HAVI Green-Powered truck at a McDonald's
Our Purpose and Values

Across our business units and geographies, our work is guided by a common Purpose and our Values.

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Our Better Future Blueprint

We have both the responsibility to act and the opportunity to inspire a better future for people, communities and the planet. Our Better Future Blueprint defines our path forward.

HAVI Founders at groundbreaking ceremony
Our History

Founded in 1974 on a “handshake agreement” with McDonald’s, HAVI has grown in size, global reach, and breadth of services and customers served.