Using certifications to drive progress on gender balance

MD Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited

Transforming the way we operate is a key priority for me as the newly appointed Managing Director of Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited. Critical to this vision is an inclusive workplace that allows us to attract and retain a diverse community of employees, who are at the heart of our growth and innovation.

Sometimes the gender conversation becomes too focused on the negative -on slow progress, on correcting inequalities and righting wrongs. I am myself guilty of getting impatient on occasion. However, I return to course with the belief that starting from the negative is not as effective in driving action as giving leaders something to be proud of and then challenging them to do more.

Equal pay for equal work is obviously the most basic measure of gender equality and a first step in recognizing the value of women's work and contributions to society. In building our ecosystem of interrelated actions to progress gender balance in our leadership at PMI, we wanted to shore up the foundations and confirm that our actual pay practices matched our good intentions by undergoing a rigorous third-party equal-pay certification process.

In March 2019, Philip Morris International (PMI) became the first company to earn the global EQUAL-SALARY certification from the nonprofit EQUAL-SALARY Foundation. This independent certification verifies that PMI pays men and women equally for equal work in more than 90 countries in which PMI operates around the world- including Pakistan.

The analysis and certification are completed over four phases. These began with a statistical analysis of employee compensation data, and were followed by a qualitative onsite audit of affiliates around the world to confirm management commitment to equal pay principles, focus group interviews with female employees about their perception of that management commitment and a review of the extent to which factors that support sustainable pay equity-such as factors that level the playing field for women to advance-are integrated into affiliate processes and practices. The final phase is monitoring. The certification is valid for three years provided certified companies submit to a monitoring audit in years two and three to demonstrate ongoing commitment and continuous improvement actions to ensure sustainable equal pay conditions between men and women.

Reflecting on this progress on International Women's Day, I am proud to highlight some of the achievements we have made in Pakistan. There are protocols in place for paid maternity and paternity leaves, year-round flexible working hours to enable mothers and fathers both to manage childcare, learning and development opportunities, career progression plans for women, as well as partnerships with credible external organizations to enhance diversity and inclusion not only in the workplace but also in the communities we operate in.

When I met the Pakistan leadership team, I was ecstatic that 36.4% the senior management comprised of women. This remarkable progress in Growth in Number of Women in Top Leadership was acknowledged at the OICCI Women Empowerment Awards held in December 2019.

I drive confidence from that fact that the leadership team here knows that making progress on gender balance requires treating it like any other business priority - through goal setting, having accountability and a concrete action plan to measure progress and visible leadership commitment to bring it to life. PMPKL aims to increase the number of female employees at every level and I am happy to see that we are on track for our 2020 goal of hiring and retaining top talent with a 50/50 split in males and females.

In the rapidly transforming business environment, recommendations coming from external auditors has created more focus and ownership than perhaps any internal mechanism would have been able to generate without the pressure of the certification. More valuably, the global EQUAL-SALARY certification has given us a powerful, positive platform from which to launch further conversations about the need to gender-balance our leadership across the organization and drive commitment and action in this area.

The next step: equip men with tools they need to make a difference. And help them understand why working toward gender balance is in everyone's best interest.

This International Women's day I reiterate PMPKL's commitment to maintain a work environment where personal situations are understood, differences are valued, and everyone is treated with fairness and respect. We want all our employees, in Pakistan and worldwide, to feel supported, respected, and have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, regardless of their age, nationality, gender identity, ethnicity, religion or any other diverse characteristic that makes them themselves, visible or invisible.