Air Products Joins 150 Member Companies in Day of Understanding

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., Dec. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As a signatory to the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, Air Products (NYSE: APD) today is joining more than 150 other member companies in a collective day of conversations to continue embracing differences and increase understanding of Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace and beyond. The "Day of Understanding" and its goals are an excellent fit with the goal Air Products has set to be the safest, most diverse and most profitable industrial gas company in the world, providing excellent service to customers.

"We joined the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion because it is a collection of like-minded companies focused on advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace," said Seifi Ghasemi, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer at Air Products.

As part of the Day of Understanding events, Air Products' senior leaders from across the company shared personalized communications modules with their global teams to continue the dialogue on Diversity and Inclusion; the company created a video featuring Ghasemi and senior leaders' perspectives; encouraged all employees to join Air Products' Inclusion Network or participate in Inclusion challenges designed to increase awareness of behaviors and skills that promote inclusivity; and invited employees to take the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion's "I Act On" pledge, which is a personal commitment to tackling bias and cultivating more inclusive behaviors. 

Ghasemi added that while marking this "Day of Understanding" is a short-term observance, Air Products' commitment to Diversity and Inclusion is a journey. "Our employees can help make Diversity and Inclusion a reality at Air Products by taking a look at their own prejudices and putting them aside, looking at things in a positive way, and truly creating an environment where people of diverse backgrounds feel that they are part of the team," Ghasemi said.

Victoria Brifo, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Air Products, echoed the importance of engaging employees and potential future employees in the conversation. "My number one priority is that we achieve our goal of being the most diverse industrial gas company in the world. And that means bringing forth innovative strategies to recruit, retain, and develop the talent necessary to help us be collectively powerful in the marketplace," Brifo said.

Air Products holds regular events to engage employees on the topic of Diversity and Inclusion, including hosting unconscious bias workshops globally.  The company's Intranet provides an extensive Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit comprised of activities and discussion topics focused on developing awareness and competence.  Air Products' Inclusion Network and seven Employee Resource Groups, as well as partnerships with organizations such as Society of Women Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and National Society of Black Engineers, are designed to attract and develop diverse talent.

Air Products has received recognition for its diversity commitment. In May it was named a DiversityInc Noteworthy Company. The DiversityInc Top 50 and Noteworthy Company lists, issued yearly since 2001, recognize the nation's top companies for diversity and inclusion management. These companies excel in such areas as hiring, retaining and promoting women, minorities, people with disabilities, LGBT and veterans. Also this year, Air Products achieved a perfect score of 100 and was designated a "Best Place to Work" for LGBT Equality for the 2018 Corporate Equality Index. Air Products was also selected to Corporate Responsibility Magazine's (CR Magazine) 100 Best Corporate Citizens List™ for the sixth consecutive year. Recently, the company also was named the LGBT Business of the Year by the Bradbury-Sullivan Community Center, an especially meaningful recognition as Air Products celebrates the 25^th anniversary of Spectrum, an Employee Resource Group focused on fostering an environment that is supportive of LGBT and Allied employees.

About CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™

CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace. Bringing together more than 500 CEOs and presidents of America's leading businesses, academic institutions and nonprofits representing 12 million employees, the commitment outlines actions that participating organizations pledge to take to cultivate a workplace where diverse perspectives and experiences are welcomed and respected, employees feel comfortable and encouraged to discuss diversity and inclusion, and where successful and well-known— and unsuccessful— actions can be shared across organizations. Learn more at CEOAction.com and connect with us on Twitter: @CEOAction and Instagram: @CEO_Action

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading Industrial Gases company in operation for over 75 years. The Company provides industrial gases and related equipment to dozens of industries, including refining, chemical, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the world's leading supplier of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment.

The Company had fiscal 2018 sales of $8.9 billion from operations in 50 countries and has a current market capitalization of about $35 billion. Approximately 16,000 passionate, talented and committed employees from diverse backgrounds are driven by Air Products' higher purpose to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address the challenges facing customers, communities, and the world. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.

NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release regarding important risk factors. Actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors not anticipated by management, including risk factors described in the company's Form 10K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2018.

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SOURCE Air Products