Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. Biopharmaceuticals major Pfizer Ltd, too, is trying to reach that kind of a state with its employees. Among the steps it has taken, one is renaming the HR function People Experience.
“This name represents the work we do and speaks to the vibrant and inclusive experience we focus on creating for our colleagues. The team continues to re-imagine the way we work to realise the company’s potential as a more focussed and innovative biopharmaceuticals company,” explains Shilpi Singh, Director-People Experience, Pfizer Ltd, among the top firms in the BT-Taggd Best Companies to Work For in India ranking this year.
Pfizer believes that a healthy workforce is an asset and has introduced an immunisation programme to protect employees and their families from vaccine-preventable diseases such as flu and pneumonia. It has also rolled out an on-site Covid-19 vaccination drive for them. “Our wellness initiatives encourage colleagues to practice effective energy management and strive for holistic mental and physical well-being. Towards this, colleagues can avail of a slew of options such as Wellness Day Leave, partake in the corporate immunisation programme, and also access well-being tips and ideas from Thrive—a leading global behaviour change company,” says Singh.
In these stressful times, the company has focussed on digitising the HR function and bringing in new training and development tools. It recently launched the HR Digital Assistant, a chatbot that enables managers to become self-sufficient in completing day-to-day transactions that pertain to critical life-cycle events of their colleagues.
With virtual ways of working becoming the new normal, Pfizer has made significant progress in automating the talent attraction process with tools such as HireVue and HiredScore. These automate the screening and interview process and simplify the overall hiring cycle for the hiring manager and the candidate.
Globally, Pfizer has launched the Pfizer Learning Academy, an interactive learning platform that curates content from external and internal resources and provides a one-stop solution for the learning needs of employees, who can learn at their own pace. “With a sharp focus on learning and constantly adding new skills, our one-stop digital learning platform enables colleagues to curate personalised learning journey plans focussed on growing in their current roles and also re-skilling for future roles,” explains Singh.
With the pandemic creating opportunities for employees to work remotely or off-site, Pfizer has introduced a ‘Log In for your Day’ policy which gives employees the flexibility to work in a hybrid model. Employees can consult with their manager and determine when they need to be on-site or off-site. “As we gradually return to more on-site operations, we recognise that hybrid working allows all of us the flexibility to strike good work-life integration,” says Singh. “Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) goal is to be as diverse as the patients and communities we serve.”
The company is taking initiatives in grooming women leaders and encouraging gender diversity. Pfizer has two goals—increase women’s representation in the field force to 10 per cent as compared to 7 per cent now and increase their representation in the leadership team to 20 per cent, from 14 per cent. To promote gender diversity, the company has introduced differentiated rewards for diversity hiring.
As part of these efforts, Pfizer has launched an initiative called Transition Coaching for high-potential women leaders to take up new and challenging assignments. “Our persistent focus on achieving a gender balance in our workforce has facilitated an increase in the number of women in our frontline sales roles as well as in our leadership team. [The] Transition Coaching programme enables senior women colleagues to make successful role transitions, ” says Singh.
The company has also tied up with a leadership consulting firm to co-create a transformative Leadership Effectiveness Journey for the current leadership team and the next generation of leaders. This programme focusses on enabling leaders to reflect and develop a growth mindset, lead with agility, and build resilience. It has also partnered with a leading consulting firm in the DEI space to co-create Fine Balance Workshops which equip managers with leadership and behavioural skills to help their colleagues realise their true potential.
“Pfizer is on a transformation journey and is focussed on bringing unique and breakthrough health solutions for patients in India. Our colleagues play a critical role in our ability to develop and introduce breakthroughs. They are the true champions of our cause, which is to make this world a healthier place. They are driven and passionate to innovate, which shows in their ability to think beyond the obvious. Our colleagues believe that Pfizer’s employee value proposition is about how each one of us can be the breakthrough,” says S. Sridhar, MD, Pfizer Ltd.
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