INTERVIEW WITH ABLA BENSLIMANE, CORPORATE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR, PHILIP MORRIS

“The digitalisation of the sector is booming”

Where does your company stand today? (Activity, teams, turnover …)

Tobacco is one of the sectors affected by the economic crisis caused by the Covid19 pandemic. Philip Morris Maroc’s activity has been on a downward trend since the start of the pandemic, because points of sale temporarily ceased trading. As a result, Philip Morris Maroc, which mainly sells products in the Premium segment, has recorded a drop in volumes of around 17% since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. However, despite this difficult situation, we have rolled out numerous measures to support and assist our tobacconist partners so that they can ensure the continuity of their business in the best possible conditions.

What arrangements have you put in place to ensure the continuity of your business and guarantee the safety of your teams?

Aware of the importance of its human capital and making the well-being and safety of its employees a priority, PMM has put in place several measures to better support its women and men during this crisis. Since the beginning, almost all employees have been working remotely. Our engagement and communication programme allows us to maintain the same social ties as in the office, through virtual platforms. The physical and mental health of our employees is also a priority for us. To this end, a telehealth service has been made available to employees and their family members. They thus benefit from remote medical consultations and, for cases requiring urgent intervention, transfer to contracted clinics is also provided. In addition, there is an online psychological support service provided by licensed professional therapists. On the financial side, since the beginning of the crisis the company has paid salaries early. For sales staff, targets have been revised to allow them to achieve the same level of variable pay in order to maintain their financial stability. As for employees who may need to be physically present in the office, they receive a special bonus in recognition of their efforts.

In your view, what would be the positive aspect of this crisis?

This crisis has enabled us to accelerate our digital transformation. For example, on the commercial side, we have digitalised order-taking thanks to an application that we have made available to our partners. It allows tobacconists to place orders at any time from their phone, as well as to manage their stock properly, while being assisted and advised remotely by our employees. This digital transformation has also enabled us to foster learning and skills development among our human capital. In concrete terms, a DigiHUB has been set up so that employees can learn tips to make remote working easier. PMM has also made an online language-learning programme available to its employees and their family members. Finally, as we continue to recruit new employees despite this crisis, an onboarding programme for new recruits has been set up to ensure better remote integration.