Expanding Learning and Development Opportunities at Viatris: A 2022 Overview

The Chief Officer for Human Relations, who reports directly to the CEO, is responsible for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Viatris. This role involves providing quarterly updates to the Viatris Board of Directors. Despite our colleagues hailing from various geographical locations and cultural backgrounds, we acknowledge that our DEI journey is still in its early stages. In 2022, our focus was on identifying initial steps, formulating our strategy, and establishing the necessary foundations to promote DEI at Viatris.
 
As part of our assessment in 2022, we developed a roadmap outlining our journey, maturity, vision, focus, and actions. We also communicated our initial company-wide DEI goals to help us track our progress. Our first Viatris Voice Survey prioritized DEI, setting the groundwork for continuous feedback and understanding the diverse viewpoints of colleagues globally.
 
In 2022, the Viatris Board of Directors implemented a Policy on Diversity and Inclusion. Our company-wide DEI goals include:
 

 
Our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) play a crucial role in sharing experiences and raising awareness through programs like Allyship in the Workplace, delivered in collaboration with the non-profit organization Out & Equal. Throughout the year, our ERGs organized educational panel discussions, mentor matching, guest speakers, and talent spotlights. We started publishing a quarterly Learning & Development blog featuring DEI topics such as Creating Inclusion and Addressing Bias to build knowledge.
 
In addition to our voluntary ERG learning events, we plan to introduce the first mandatory course in our DEI learning series in 2023 to help us achieve our goal of engaging at least 90% of employees globally in DEI learning by the end of 2023. The course, Focusing on Inclusion, will be included in every employee’s learning curriculum.
 
Achieving this goal marks the beginning of a long-term DEI roadmap and strategy. In 2022 and continuing into 2023, we have collaborated with experts to enhance DEI learning over the next few years with a focus on complex, intersectional, and multi-cultural experiences. In 2023, DEI will also be an integral part of our new Management Coaching Program and Executive Leadership Academy at Harvard Business School.
 
As we continue to strengthen our foundation, we are evaluating our colleagues’ experiences and scrutinizing our processes, systems, support, and programs to further pinpoint actions that will help us achieve all our objectives. Key areas such as talent acquisition, talent management, colleague experience and engagement, wellbeing, and compensation and benefits are all crucial in systematically promoting and advancing DEI. We have also invested in partnerships, recruited experienced DEI talent, and are enhancing awareness through talent data and analytics to understand our baselines and what is required to improve diverse representation.
 
Expanding Our Employee Resource Groups Our voluntary ERG networks unite colleagues and allies with shared interests and diverse experiences. All colleagues are welcome to join any of our ERG communities, and we encourage membership in multiple ERGs. These groups provide opportunities for skill development in areas such as committee leadership through formal leadership roles in councils and chair seats, communications support, and event planning. Our active and forming ERGs include:
 

 
In 2023, we will inaugurate our first DEI council – the Global ERG Leadership Alliance. This Alliance comprises executive sponsors, chairs, and support partners for each of our active and forming ERGs and is fully backed by top company leaders. The Alliance’s efforts will contribute to our overall DEI objectives and connect ERG activities to the overall DEI strategic plan.
 
We are also establishing best practices and infrastructure to expand our ERG communities by adding partnerships and resources to further develop our next ERGs for launch.
 
Developing Our Workforce We aim to foster a workplace that empowers colleagues to fulfill their ambitions and maximize their potential through various means, including:
 

 
We encourage employees to establish annual goals and objectives, facilitated by our system-led tools and guiding resources. Viatris offers resources for colleagues and managers to connect, set goals in line with company priorities, discuss career aspirations and development plans, and monitor progress throughout the year.
 
We adhere to a pay-for-performance philosophy and are dedicated to fairly rewarding colleagues’ achievements across various performance levels. The annual performance review process that encourages a healthy exchange of feedback between managers and their team members is crucial for this. All employees are urged to reflect on their performance, and in 2022, 94% of employees completed their performance evaluations.
 
In 2022, we concluded Viatris’ first full cycle of talent review and succession planning. We conducted a comprehensive talent assessment focusing on establishing a baseline across the entire organization. We also concentrated on exploring strengths and opportunities for growth, evaluating population characteristics in line with our DEI goals and objectives for gender (globally) and ethnicity (U.S.), aligning support to key talent in the succession pipeline, and assessing the readiness of our talent pool. More than 20% of all Viatris colleagues experienced internal career progression in 2022.
 
Moving forward, we will implement a multi-year talent strategy with four main pillars: building efficient and effective global processes, leveraging talent insights, development planning, and deepening our diverse talent pipeline.
 
As we concentrate on developing our talent, we continue to engage in mapping talent trends using various external partners and trend data; evolving our internal people insights for deep-level data and analytics expertise; and aligning our talent and total rewards portfolios to remain robust, competitive, attractive, and ahead of market trends.
 
“We are cultivating a diverse, compelling, and inspirational leadership culture through the health of our talent pipeline and a purposeful development focus. We are genuinely developing our talent for today, tomorrow, and the future,” said Sheila Muhl.
 
Learning and Growth Opportunities
We provide a range of training, learning, and development opportunities throughout the year to foster the continuous growth of our colleagues. These opportunities include a mix of self-paced, facilitated, and team learning activities.

We have broadened our professional development offerings, including the introduction of skill benchmarking capabilities that allow colleagues to track their personal skill development. Over 160,000 voluntary online trainings for professional development were completed on topics such as enhancing individual professional performance, project management methods, and personal productivity.

In line with our commitment to uphold high ethical standards and a quality-first mindset, colleagues are required to complete a comprehensive suite of annual continuing education on our company-wide online training platform. In 2022, approximately 99% of colleagues completed nearly 4 million learning items on key topics such as cGMP, sales and marketing protocols, regulatory and compliance.

Other initiatives included: