Sandoz Philippines Corporation, the local subsidiary of generics and biosimilars global leader Sandoz, hosted an International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration to formally launch the Company’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) program for the year.
Diversity means Sandoz allows employees to bring a wide variety of experiences, backgrounds, and approaches to their work. It enables Sandoz to provide patients and customers with quality and effective solutions, thus further ensuring the Company to attract the best talent. Sandoz is committed to embracing diversity – in nationality, age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and religion – and inclusion in everything the Company does.
“Our Company fully supports the global observance of International Women's Day 2019 which celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. We also echo the IWD call to action for accelerating gender balance. Our Company has an equal proportion of male and female employees from different backgrounds, which provides a healthy mix of perspectives,” said Ms. Eleanor Lopez, Country Head, Sandoz Philippines Corporation. Lopez is the first Filipino and first woman to be appointed as Country Head of Sandoz Philippines Corporation. Sandoz is the generics division of the Novartis Group.
The cross-divisional — Sandoz, Novartis Pharma and Oncology Philippines —D&I program launch was held on March 8, 2019 at the new Novartis Group Philippines head office located at 5th and 6th Floors, Ayala North Exchange Tower 1, Ayala Avenue corner Salcedo and Amorsolo Streets, Makati City. The Company’s employees gathered for an “office huddle” while snacking on donuts and coffee. They shared D&I stories aligned with the 2019 IWD theme #BalanceforBetter and participated in a guessing game where they tried to identify female colleagues who exemplify work-life balance as described in the questions.
Leaders Lopez and Ms. Cheryl Maley, President and Managing Director of Novartis Healthcare Philippines, also shared their #BalanceforBetter stories with their colleagues.
Maley shared three keys to maintaining work-life balance. “First, find a sense of purpose. Second, ruthlessly prioritize your time — identify tasks that must be done immediately and those that can wait. Third, inspire others to maintain work-life balance. If people are able to maintain this balance, they bring more passion, energy and commitment to the workplace.”
For her part, Lopez said, “Managing my time is challenging because I wear several hats. Aside from being Country Head of Sandoz Philippines, I am also a wife and mother of three children. Fortunately, Sandoz and other Novartis divisions implement programs designed to help employees maintain work-life balance.”
Sandoz Philippines employees benefit from flexi-time,work-from-home options, and compensatory time off to help them manage work and personal priorities, and also Blue Sky Friday when they can leave the office early (“when the sky is still blue”) to enjoy more personal and family time. The Company also implements its “Energized for Life” program that supports employees in coping with the psychological and physical demands of life and be fully engaged in and satisfied with their work. Program activities include gratitude boards, fun runs, healthy snacks in the office, and other health and wellness activities.
