The Hershey Company (HSY)
Chocolate and snack maker. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 17, 2026. Ranked 28 of the 42 Consumer Defensive companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
16%
End of 2028
24%
Employees, annual report
19,595
Leading staffing pattern
Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now16%
- End of 202722%
- End of 202824%
- End of 203025%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 75%
- Becomes checking a model's work 19%
- Handed over with lighter checks 5%
19,595 employees, the sum of 17,550 full-time and 2,045 part-time, making confectionery and salty snacks, split by segment revenue since the filing counts no employees by segment.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 16% now, 22% at the end of 2027, 24% at the end of 2028, 25% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 25% desk work, 11% people work and 64% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 75% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 19% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
19,595 employees as of December 31, 2025 (sum of stated parts). The filing counts no employees by country; 88% of revenue is in North America.
The filing: “Human Capital As of December 31, 2025, the Company employed approximately 17,550 full-time and 2,045 part-time employees worldwide.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing | 88% | North America Confectionery is 88% of revenue (c): chocolate and candy made at its plants; the filing counts no employees by segment, and the retail and international businesses sit inside the pattern by description. |
| Other Food Manufacturing | 12% | North America Salty Snacks is 12% of revenue (c): pretzels, popcorn and other snacks, which NAICS places in other food manufacturing. |
What the filing says about the workforce: 17,550 full-time and 2,045 part-time employees worldwide (10% part-time); collective bargaining agreements cover about 5,570 employees, 28% of the workforce; a flexible work model for corporate and commercial employees.
What the filing says about AI
6 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI in six sentences, in its risk factors: the business may be affected if it cannot integrate AI in a timely, cost-effective and compliant manner, competitors may incorporate AI more successfully, and AI laws are among the regulations that could affect it.
- “Furthermore, artificial intelligence ("AI") technologies have developed rapidly, and our business may be adversely affected if we cannot successfully integrate AI into our business in a timely, cost-effective, and compliant manner.”
- “Our competitors may incorporate AI into their business more successfully than us, which could have an adverse effect on our competitive position, reputation and operations.”
- “These negative impacts could result from changes in food and drug laws, laws related to advertising and marketing practices, accounting standards, taxation compliance and requirements, tariffs on U.S. imports and retaliatory tariffs in response, competition laws, employment laws, import/export requirements, AI, and environmental laws, among others.”
- “Additionally, compliance with new and evolving laws, regulations or industry standards relating to AI may require significant investment and resources, and may limit our ability to use AI, which may result in reputational harm, legal liability or other adverse effects on our operations and overall business.”
- “AI technologies may amplify certain existing technology-related risks such as cybersecurity threats, data privacy concerns, and intellectual property challenges.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20231median 1
- Fiscal 20241median 4
- Fiscal 20256median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 17,550 | 2026-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 18,540 | 2025-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 18,650 | 2024-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 18,075 | 2023-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 16,620 | 2022-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 15,200 | 2021-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 14,520 | 2020-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 14,930 | 2019-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 15,360 | 2018-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 16,300 | 2017-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 19,060 | 2016-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 20,800 | 2015-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 12,600 | 2014-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 12,100 | 2013-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 11,800 | 2012-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 11,300 | 2011-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 12,100 | 2010-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 12,800 | 2009-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 11,000 | 2008-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 12,800 | 2007-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | not read | 2006-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 500 | 2005-03-07 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | not read | 2004-03-12 | 10-K |
| 2003-03-26 | 3,000 | 2003-03-26 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 3,000 | 2002-03-15 | 10-K405 |
| 2000-12-31 | not read | 2001-03-15 | 10-K |
| 1999-12-31 | 900 | 2000-03-13 | 10-K |
| 1998-12-31 | 900 | 1999-03-15 | 10-K |
| 1997-12-31 | not read | 1998-03-16 | 10-K |
| 1996-12-31 | 4 | 1997-03-17 | 10-K |
| 1995-12-31 | 5 | 1996-03-13 | 10-K |
| 1994-12-31 | not read | 1995-03-10 | 10-K |
| 1993-12-31 | not read | 1994-03-11 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The headcount is the sum of the stated full-time and part-time counts (rule 2); the collector took the full-time count alone.
- The filing counts no employees by segment, so the split is by segment revenue (c).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-008586, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on The Hershey Company, $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of The Hershey Company's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 16% now and 24% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce The Hershey Company's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does The Hershey Company employ?
- 19,595 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states as the sum of the parts it gives.
- What kinds of work make up The Hershey Company's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 25% desk work, 11% people work and 64% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does The Hershey Company's annual report say about AI?
- 6 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 1, 1 and 6 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 19, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.