JTI rule #1: never be #2

f your employer has earned Top Employer certification, it is an accomplishment worthy of great pride and celebration.

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has a lot of reasons to celebrate these days, as this year the company was awarded Top Employer Georgia, Top Employer Europe and Global Top Employer 2016. Formed 17 years ago, JTI is a member of the Japan Tobacco Group of Companies (JT), a leading inter-national tobacco product manufacturer. Employing over 26,000 employees in 120 countries worldwide, it is a great place for prospering careers. As a truly international business, JTI, which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has 364 offices across the globe. JTI began its operations in Georgia in 2000, and be-came the Head Office for the Caucasus Region in 2011. Over 220 employees representing 11 different nation-alities are employed in the region. Forbes Georgia had an opportunity to speak with JTI’s HR Director in the Caucasus region Mrs. Irina Voro-byova, and learn more about the company and how it achieved such success.

AUTHOR: ANA TSKHOVREBOVA PHOTOS: KHATUNA KHUTSISHVILI

Congratulations on JTI being certified as the Global Top Employer for 2016. Can you share with us some of the factors that keep the com-pany among the world’s top employers?

We are extremely happy to receive this honor

three years in a row. Talent strategy, workforce

planning, performance management, leadership

development, compensation & benefits, culture,

and the well-being spheres have been thoroughly

studied on a policies, practices and measurement

level during the certification process. Being care-

fully examined and compared to top companies in

Europe and the Asia Pacific means a lot to us. This

is when we really get to see what our strong areas

are, and what needs to be improved further.

Can you tell us more about the certification process?

The certification is performed by the Top

Employers Institute, which globally certifies excel-

lence in conditions that employers create for their

employees. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the

company has recognized Top Employers globally

since 1991. The Top Employers certification is only

awarded to the best employers around the world.

In other words, organizations that demonstrate the

highest standard of employee offerings, a forward-

thinking HR environment that is continuously

working to optimize its employee conditions, and

those leading the way in the development of its

people.

The certification process consists of several

steps, including the HR practices survey, informa-

tion/ documentation validation, and an audit.

What aspects create a high-quality work envi-ronment at JTI offices around the world and in Georgia in particular?

We believe that real success is only attain-

able when the company and employee develop

together. Our motto is ‘together we grow’. I think

that this phrase perfectly describes the company

approach to its employees, since each employee is

an invaluable asset to the company.

In addition, high-quality work environment

leads to higher employee satisfaction, and conse-

quently, higher employee retention. A secure and

comfortable workplace and at-

mosphere is provided as a ba-

sic respect to the employees

and the company. Much focus

is placed on workplace safety,

and our office space offers our

staff the most comfortable con-

ditions. We create the best work-

ing conditions, and we see increased

employee engagement in return.

We have a relaxation room in the office, where

employees can unwind if they feel stressed. Here,

everyone can find an activity of preference. For ex-

ample, they can enjoy the library, play Xbox, chess,

puzzles, simply listen to music, do some physi-

cal exercise, and even have a shower in the office

shower rooms.

We support a healthy lifestyle for our employees,

and there are several directions united under our

specially-designed Live Fit program. First of all, the

office kitchen offers fruits and vegetables, dairy,

honey and other seasonal products, as well as food

that meets the employees’ dietary requirements.

Periodically, a dietitian is invited to the office to

explain the basics of health and nutrition. The sec-

ond direction is physical activity. We organize sport

tournaments for our employees, and provide them

with gym and swimming pool membership cards.

Results are monitored and the most active sports-

men receive an award. Once a week, a doctor visits

the office and consults our staff or directs them to

other specialists.

What are other programs that help your staff become more active, develop professionally and strive to meet their goals?

Nine years is the average tenure in the company.

I think this is quite a long period of time in the 21st

century. Staying at the same job and completing the

same tasks over and over again might be a huge de-

motivation. So, we offer our employees a wide range

of opportunities to grow professionally. We offer

the chance to move geographically, and to develop

cross-functionally. A specific training and develop-

ment team is in place to assess the potential and

skills of our employees, and to provide a foundation

for a successful career.

Development is not only about training or

taking a course. We have a wide range of develop-

ment tools. Our employees have an opportunity

to participate in, or lead cross-functional projects:

we offer the necessary innovative tools to boost

creativity. The program BITL (Bringing Ideas to Life)

is an interesting initiative that solicits ideas from our

staff to make improvements in everything we do.

This bottom-up approach is highly popular among

our staff, and the most creative employees are

recognized for their efforts. This approach motivates

our staff to think bigger than their everyday tasks,

and to introduce their ideas to achieve continu-

ous improvement. Our continuous improvement

philosophy seeks opportunities for improvement,

converts them into tangible changes that positively

result in how people perform and apprehend their

work. This is the spirit that allows our business and

people grow together.

How do you support your employees in contin-ued education/training?

Our training budget for 2015 exceeded $2, 200

per employee. A variety of resources and tools are

available to those wishing to grow and develop,

starting with cyclic training courses, on-line learn-

ing solutions, mentoring/coaching programs and

office library.

Aside from that, we create a culture of learn-

ing and knowledge sharing through the program

“Manager as a Developer”. Within this program,

each manager is assigned to promote and support

the efforts of those who work for them; improve

their performance, and achieve their full poten-

tial by enabling learning, providing feedback and

coaching.

How does the company support the work-life balance of its employees?

Balancing work and personal life might seem

like a big challenge nowadays, but it is a necessity

for a happy and productive working environment.

We introduced flexible working hours, allowing

our staff to enjoy an element of flexibility over

Vladimer Chikovani, Supervisor: Bringing Ideas to Life (BITL) is a program that aims to promote creativity of employees to strive for excellence and constant development. I am extremely proud to be awarded a BITL Monster status - one that is experienced and one of the most active in BITL community.

This program creates a healthy climate of innovation and engages all who want to think outside the box and to contribute to the success of our business. But BITL is not only about the company’s objectives, it gives an opportunity of self-expression, an opportunity to discover new skills and sides. It is all about challenging yourself!

Nodar Gligvashvili, Product Manager: During my last year at university, I was actively searching for opportunities to use my theoretical knowledge in practice. I came across JUMP traineeship at JTI and started working as a Trainee in Market-ing Department

JTI was a great school for me, as I was given an opportunity to find it out for myself how everything works. Best professionals coached me throughout the year and as a result, I was offered the job of a Brand Coordinator. This job was truly unique and required creativity and innovation. This made my experience in JTI very diverse, interesting and challenging at the same time.

In my opinion, there are two things that drive development: one is support from company and colleagues to be brave enough to make decisions and sometimes mistakes; the other is healthy competition inside the company. I got both of this during more than two years which resulted in my development as a marketing professional and growth in career with latest appointment as a Product Manager.

their working schedule. The

staff decides upon the “core”

four hours for office work, and

another four can be balanced ac-

cording to the employee’s prefer-

ence. Once a month, employees

can enjoy telecommuting, or in

other words, they are permitted

to work remotely from home.

How do you discover new professionals? What is the company’s approach to enrich-ing the staff with fresh minds?

Over the last four years, JTI

has grown significantly. We have

tripled our number of employ-

ees. Our staff is fully professional

and advanced in their respective

fields. Though there are positions which require par-

ticular experience, we frequently focus on attracting

young, highly-motivated talents keeping in mind that

we hire for attitude and train for skills. We closely

cooperate with the leading universities in Georgia by

providing excellent traineeship opportunities to recent

graduates and students in their 3rd and 4th years of

study. Traineeship programs are specially-designed to

challenge the knowledge of young people, and to help

them start their career with us. The JUMP traineeship

initiative is a global program that offers them valuable

experience, competitive pay, on-the-job training, as

well as the opportunity to take part in interesting pro-

jects in an international business environment. I am

very pleased to say that the traineeship initiative has

proven to be extremely successful: 67% of the trainees

have become JTI employees so far.

Are there any other initiatives that target talent search and development?

We have developed a specially designed project for

students because we value bright minds and believe

in importance of supporting education. This is the

second consecutive year that we have offered students

scholarships. This helps reduce their financial burden,

and allows them to focus 100% of their attention on

their studies.

Apart from scholarships, we also organize JTI

Open-Door Days, where we give students an opportu-

nity to get a closer look at how international companies

operate.

I am also very proud of our guest speaker pro-

gram that we established. We have valuable expertise

onboard, and we are eager to share this with university

students. Our top managers deliver interesting and

interactive lectures at universities, and by doing so, they

share their experiences and answer any questions the

students may have.

What kind of qualities is JTI looking for in a prospec-tive employee (skills, attitudes, abilities, knowl-edge)?

JTI is a diverse and truly international business. On

the one hand, we are dynamic, creative, and full of en-

ergy. On the other hand, we are precise, quality-driven,

and have a long-term view.

First of all, we are enterprising, and have the cour-

age to do things differently. Second, we are open, and

diverse cultures inspire us. Lastly, we are challenging,

meaning that we strive for continuous development,

embedding quality into everything we do. Our em-

ployees share and live by these company values. This

promotes mutual respect and alignment in everything

we do. We expect our employees to care for the com-

pany as if it was their own. This means not only working

hard, but also having the courage to innovate, improve,

and always express their own opinion, including the

participation in the company-wide employee engage-

ment survey.

How do you improve employee performance? What are the factors that you consider when you are looking for improvements?

There are three conditions necessary for improv-

ing employee performance: ability (knowledge and

skills, including working with others), motivation

and opportunity. Our employees have it all. Moreo-

ver, improvement of an employee’s performance is a

two-way process at JTI. On the one hand, perfor-

mance appraisal is an annual systematic process

led by our training and development team, which

assesses individual performance versus achiev-

ing organizational objectives. On the other hand,

employees are also actively involved in this process

to ensure that their development needs are timely

addressed.

Another excellent tool to get employee feedback

is the Employee Engagement Survey, which is con-

ducted every three years. This is when employees

have an opportunity to express their opinion and

improve the way we do our business. The Employee

Engagement Survey measures the employee’s level

of motivation, involvement and dedication to their

work environment. Furthermore, a high level of

employee engagement drives business performance,

helps to achieve company goals, and improve

individual performance, as well as that of the whole

organization. We conducted the latest

survey in May of 2015, and based on

the results, action plans were pre-

pared and will be implemented over

the next three years.

We have spoken about the many directions of your HR strategy, as well as the efforts you are making to support your employees. This is very impressive. But why is so much effort spent in this sphere, and what do you expect as the final result?

It goes without saying that no

company, small or large, can win

over the long run without energized

employees who share the company’s

goals and understand how to achieve

them. Our goal is clear: to be the most

successful and respected tobacco company in the

world, and our employees are the main driving

force in achieving this goal. Moreover, there is a

clearly-defined path to achieve this goal. This is

accomplished by providing an attractive place to

work, which in turn leads to an increased level of

employee engagement. A high level of employee

engagement is vital to our organization, which aims

for long-term growth, sustainability and success.

We strongly believe that engaged employees really

care about the future of the company, and are fully

involved in the work process. They are loyal, com-

mitted, and enthusiastic about their jobs, linking

their personal future to the company’s progress and

long-term success. They are eager to “walk the extra

mile” and to invest additional effort in achieving

outstanding business results, improving organiza-

tional performance and success. All JTI Caucasus

employees can grow as the business grows, prosper-

ing in a highly diverse environment, where excel-

lence is the standard and the focus is the long-term.

I strongly believe in psychological contract

between the company and its employees. This

means that when the company keeps its part of the

deal, the employee will keep theirs, and together we

can make our company even better, aiming at even

more ambitious targets in the future!