Mondelez Philippines on being open and inclusive
At first glance, everything about Mondelez Philippines as a company sounds exciting. As the maker and distributor of the world’s and the Philippines’ favorite snack products, the prospect of being part of the company sounds delicious!
Mondelez Philippines is the local unit of the global snack giant Mondelēz International, which houses Filipino’s all-time snack favorites such as yummy Eden Cheese and Cheez Whiz that make for perfect merienda creations, delicious and drool-worthy Oreo cookies, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Toblerone chocolates, and refreshing Tang fruit-flavored powdered beverages.
The prospect of working with these delicious and trusted brands makes Mondelez Philippines an attractive workplace. But underneath the surface, lies even more reasons why working for Mondelez Philippines could bring you great joy, personally and professionally.
Open and Inclusive: Where People Come First
The company’s purpose to “Create more moments of Joy” is not only relevant to their consumers. It also describes the career and experience they provide to their people. An employer of some 450 people, Mondelez Philippines has been around for the past 55 years in the country. With a great heritage behind it, the Company believes that to continue creating more moments of joy, it must put its people’s needs first.
“Our global purpose and vision is to create more moments of joy as the best snacking company in the world. Among our strategies to accomplish this, growing our people comes first, followed by growing our business and growing our impact. This is because we believe that without growing our people first, we will be unable to effectively create growth anywhere else. We want to be the best snacking company for our people first,” said Ashish Pisharodi, Country Head of Mondelez Philippines.
“By building world-class capabilities, empowering courageous leaders and winning teams, celebrating our successes, and by creating a great place to work for our colleagues, we aim to grow our people,” he adds.
Shiela Pangilinan, the Company’s HR Business Lead further emphasizes that Mondelez Philippines’ people strategy is focused on three things: Capacity, Capability and Culture, which help the Company attract talents for their brands and keeps colleagues engaged. “Capacity and capability mean growing our people through learning and career opportunities,” Pangilinan adds.
Furthermore to create a culture of joy and address personal needs, the Company rolled out three new and enhanced people policies in 2017 which they believe will help grow their people and will set them apart as a joyful workplace. These are an updated and improved Maternity Policy, the very timely “Work from Home” policy, and the inclusive Domestic Partner HMO coverage. Pangilinan claims that with these three new policies Mondelez Philippines will help live up to its corporate value of being Open and Inclusive.
The Company’s new Maternity policy grants full-time female employees a 120-day paid maternity leave and comes with a healthcare coverage of pre- and post-natal consultations, discounts for pre-natal milk, loans, and cash assistance. This period is more than what is currently prescribed by law, which is between 60-78 days. Mondelez Philippines also creates a mother-friendly environment by offering many lactation rooms for moms to use as a space to do their important work.
Mom of two from the Sales function Richelle Tan is thankful for the new benefits, especially the new lactation rooms. “The new rooms now make it more convenient for us moms to do our wonderful and important duties, even while inside the office,” she said.
On top of this, the Company offers Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) benefits for illnesses, check-ups and the like, not only for married couples, but including those with domestic partners of all genders, to be truly open and inclusive. The Company defines Domestic Partners as couples who have been cohabitating for 5 years or more.
Mondelez Philippines also offers a “Work from Home” policy that has been quite beneficial for employees especially with the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila and the many things that people need to do for work and home on a daily basis. Under this policy, employees can work from their homes between 1 to 4 days per month, depending on the scope and nature of their work and subject to their manager’s approval.
“I think being able to work from home promotes wellness,” shares Mondelez Philippines RDQ colleague Angela Pablo. “It helps promote mental wellness because it saves us from the stress that traffic can bring. Physical wellness because it helps prevents exposure to unnecessary pollution. Financial wellness because it helps save on food cost, and transportation costs like toll and fuel. And it also promotes environmental wellness, in a way it helps protect Mother Earth by minimizing our carbon footprint.”
Mondelez Philippines is proud to be one of the first in the Philippines to formalize these three policies. “We believe that regardless of age or experience, these are policies and employee benefits which are sought after by potential employees,” Pangilinan further divulged.
With the exciting possibility of working for a company with popular, delicious snack products, opportunities to develop your skills and these new policies and benefits, Mondelez Philippines believes that it offers an open and inclusive place to work, where your career and your life are cared for.
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