Employee Engagement and Workplace Culture

At Whirlpool, we are committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home. We believe there is no right way to do a wrong thing, and we know that improving life at home begins with our values of Integrity, Respect, Inclusion and Diversity, One Whirlpool and Spirit of Winning.

Those values are an important part of our heritage and form the enduring character of our company. They are the moral compass for everything we do and the bedrock upon which our company culture is based. We reinforce this culture through training and engagement opportunities, as well as by encouraging accountability at every level of our company.

A diverse workforce representative of the society we are living in is a fundamental value. It’s a reflection of how we can best serve our consumers and improve their life at home.”

Marc Bitzer
Chairman and CEO,
Chair of Inclusion and Diversity Executive Council

Supporting Employee Well-Being

Whirlpool Corporation’s Be*Well strategy is a global and holistic framework focused on six pathways to foster well-being and support employees both at home and work. The Be*Well strategy helps us deliver comprehensive support and empowerment to employees and their families. We provide benefits, resources and tools such as webinars and communications globally to help employees fully explore each of the pathways toward well-being. We also provide a global Employee Assistance Program to support employees and their families with confidential counseling, coaching and referral services to address any personal or work concerns that affect their well-being.

Pathways to Well-Being

We care about the health and well-being of our employees and their families. Being one’s true self is ultimately a choice, and a journey to self-care leads to a genuine, meaningful life that is happier and healthier. We provide support to empower and encourage our employees to Be*Well in all aspects of life at home and work.

Promoting Skills and Professional Growth

We want Whirlpool employees to enjoy long, meaningful careers with countless opportunities for growth during their time with us. Our training and development programs are designed to help them continue building the skills they need to do their jobs well now and in the future.

Leadership Development

We believe that there is no one better positioned to develop the next generation of Whirlpool leaders than those who hold leadership roles today. Under our “Building Leaders for Our House” strategy, the three key programs — Leadership Immersion, Essentials of People Leadership and Every Day Leadership — are designed to prepare individuals to become the best version of themselves and highly effective future leaders.

These formal leadership development programs are designed and facilitated by Whirlpool leaders themselves, ensuring the curriculum is bespoke to the company and everyone involved has an opportunity to learn from one another. Our executive-level leaders receive valuable insight from engagement with our next-level leaders, and the act of teaching stretches their own knowledge and challenges their assumptions and beliefs. Senior leaders are also invited to a customized immersion program led by Whirlpool Corp. CEO Marc Bitzer, Executive Committee members and members of our Board of Directors. This deep-dive into Our Leadership Model and values encourages deep reflection and dialogue, further integrating these principles into our leaders’ daily decision making.

Supporting our Employees’ Professional Development

To support our employees’ professional development on an ongoing basis, all global salaried employees have access to our digital platform, Whirlpool Everyday Learning (WeLEARN). WeLEARN provides a personalized experience that allows employees to access learning when and where they need it, collaborate with others who share similar interests through social learning groups and build skills for today and tomorrow. In 2023, Whirlpool employees had access to 14 external content providers. WeLEARN also provides over 650 internally curated learning plans or pathways, which build specific skills for professional and personal growth.

For hourly employees, who make up the majority of our workforce, we provide opportunities for classroom and hands-on training to develop skills in areas such as warehouse management, materials handling, assembly operations and several other skill sets. Through WCM, our continuous improvement business system, employees also have the opportunity to learn problem solving, lean tools and project management skills.

Enduring Values Strategy

In 2023, we focused on our Enduring Values throughout the year by integrating them into the way we work. We spent dedicated time focused on each of our five Enduring Values. For each of these, People Leaders were provided with a toolkit to help them complete activities such as storytelling, team exercises, compliance and training, as well as suggested courses and/or microlearning videos to encourage conversations about our Enduring Values.

Employee Performance

To further support employee development, we provide ongoing feedback to help our employees perform at their best every day. Our Everyday Performance Excellence system is a framework we use to define objectives in each of four performance categories (Business Performance, Strategic/Project Impact, Organization and Talent, and My Leadership and Values), enabling employees to set short- and long-term objectives in collaboration with People Leaders and receive regular feedback that helps them improve and develop.

Over 22,000 learning video completions
related to Enduring Values

Whirlpool Corp.’s compensation programs are designed to support our focus on creating sustainable value for all our stakeholders. Our objective is to provide a total compensation opportunity that is competitive with external market practices, considers internal equity and provides a true pay-for-performance approach. We evaluate external market competitiveness and internal equity at least annually, and our actual pay outcomes have been demonstrated to align with the performance results that we have delivered. Regardless of employees’ gender or background, we provide the same career and remuneration opportunities. All employees have equal access to the compensation and benefit programs that are relevant to their roles in the company.

On an annual basis in many countries, we complete a pay equity practices review by an external law firm that examines pay between employees of different gender and racial demographics doing similar work. We intend to continue to engage in this pay practice review process on a regular basis in an effort to uphold our compensation principles and our commitment to global pay equity.

Investing in the Talent Pipeline

We recognize that strong talent is a critical enabler of our business strategy, and we cannot deliver what’s needed as a company without the right talent in place and the right leaders for the future. This is why we intentionally focus on building and sustaining a healthy talent pipeline of high-quality employees with relevant skills and experiences and diverse backgrounds who are prepared and ready to fill key leadership roles. Not only do we invest in technology and processes that will enhance our candidate experience and improve the quality of talent we acquire, but we also continue to invest in career planning, professional development and career path movement of employees within our pipeline. With so many opportunities to engage, grow and develop, we are confident the talent we bring home will continue to improve life at home.