The Brazilian boldly breaking boundaries

In celebration of International Women’s Month and in recognition of Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Philippines’ recent accreditation as the number two Top Employer in the country for the second consecutive year, Erika Viveiros shares how being part of a supportive corporate community has allowed her to thrive.

Viveiros holds the reins of the global tobacco giant’s Philippine marketing team. While the tobacco industry may once have been seen as a male bastion, she shares how all employees at JTI are given the opportunity to become leaders and excel.

Breaking the bias

“I think women are often not raised to develop the self-confidence and assertiveness that men are encouraged to acquire. From a young age you can see the differences. We’re given toys and play games that are very gender oriented. Boys don’t cry, but girls can show their emotions. Boys are encouraged to be more aggressive, while girls are told to be more reserved. I think that self-affirmation and confidence comes with time, but it is an eternal battle that a lot of us face. And over the years, I’ve experienced a challenge within myself because I was young, because I was a woman, because I was Latina.”

The 35-year-old recognizes that she has never felt disrespected, or her capabilities challenged because she was a woman in the workplace. The pressure she once felt was due to how she was raised in a culture that maintained outdated gender roles. “When I excelled, I would still feel that I was not in my lane, even though no one else was actually making me feel that way.”

Breaking free

One of the ways Viveiros feels she has broken free from many of her internal challenges is through her experience at JTI. Since joining the company 10 years ago, she has worked in her home country of Brazil followed by five other JTI markets before finding herself in Manila last March.

“I’ve been on numerous international assignments and when you move around, you pick up so many different lessons that are important. I’ve also been given the opportunity to drive global projects by myself. It’s a tremendous amount of trust the company has placed in me. I’ve obviously been supported and coached along the way, so I was very, very lucky. And I’m grateful for the colleagues I’ve encountered and the fact that I’ve always been given the space to deliver my work while feeling listened to at every turn.”

Breaking the glass ceiling

JTI has been steadfast in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. The company is made up of 48,000 people of over 100 different nationalities whose products are sold in more than 130 countries. In the Philippines, there are about 4,800 employees across its market operations, manufacturing facility, and global business services center. The organization itself is a hotpot of cultures where DEI is seen not as a standalone activity but embedded in the company’s core values; its approach to how it attracts, nurtures, and develops talent; and the culture to which it aspires.

Viveiros shares that JTI believes that “Diversity is a strategic advantage and Inclusion is the journey to get there.” For the international tobacco company, “people are the difference,” so it believes in providing a vibrant workplace environment for its people to thrive, which boosts the company’s culture and innovation.

As part of its DEI agenda, JTI targets to have 30 percent of its leadership roles around the world filled by women by 2023. It has already hit 28 percent as of 2022. The Philippine team has in fact already reached its target with one year to spare and is aiming to have even more women leaders within the organization. Moreover, Viveiros highlights that out of all promotions at her level globally across the organization, 41 percent were achieved by women in 2022 “so change is happening." She firmly believes that setting numeric targets is important to accelerate the company’s DEI agenda.

Breaking down barriers

JTI has also set up its TOGETHER platform to foster women empowerment by promoting women and men as allies and by nurturing a gender inclusive mindset in the workplace. With TOGETHER, the company aims to break down barriers and “get more women to the top.” In fact, the company has employee resource groups around race/ethnicity and the LGBTQ+ community, among others.

Viveiros notes that there are also barriers sometimes in terms of life skills that need to be addressed. Here in the Philippines, the company has initiated their ‘Drive Ahead’ program aimed at enrolling female employees in driving school to acquire a professional driving license that is required for a role in the sales team. “We identified a gap within our team at JTI for women interested in a career in the field so the company now partners with driving schools and extends flexible working hours to accommodate the late schedules of lessons.”

Another notable initiative is JTI’s ‘Global Family Leave’ policy, which establishes a global and inclusive family leave benefit. All employees are eligible for up to 20 weeks of fully paid parental leave, regardless of location, gender, or whether they have become a parent via adoption, surrogacy, or natural birth. This applies to the Philippine operations as well and is over and above what local laws provide.

Viveiros is encouraged to see that male employees who are new fathers are also availing of this policy. “Having worked for JTI in Sweden, I saw how parents share their family duties equally and workplaces in the country are adapted for this. Gender norms are more diluted there. I hope our policy helps our employees’ families in this regard as well as simply recognizing the importance of this special time for new parents.”

Breaking the mold

“It was ingrained in me that women have to be everything. You need to look good, but not too good. You need to be smart, but not too smart. You need to be accommodating, but not too much. It's not a typical challenge for men. We always get labeled as women. But at JTI, we don’t have to fit in any mold. The community gives us the space to just be ourselves.”

It also allowed her to scale corporate heights even at such a young age.

She is, however, at pains to point out that you also must put yourself out there and take a seat at the table. You cannot be afraid to share your opinions and make your voice heard. You must recognize your value.

“I’m the first generation of my family to have a university diploma, so I never expected to be here. That said, I have fought tooth and nail to get to where I am including when I moved to Ireland aged 21 to learn English and delivered newspapers to earn money. No one owes anything to anyone. Companies invest in us as employees, but we have to give back in return. I have always found that you will be rewarded and recognized once you are committed, and where everyone is empowered to be and do their best,” Viveiros shares.

“Women in leadership brings equilibrium to any organization. Simply looking at the bottom line, representation and diversity is so important because we don’t sell products and services to any one specific cohort of customer. We talk to a multitude of people. That’s why it’s important for businesses to bring women and men to the table, together with people of color, different sexual identities, or religions, and so on, as this is just what makes us human at the end of the day.”

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Editor’s Note: This article was provided by Japan Tobacco International.