Andreia Vitoriano, with over 20 years of diverse HR expertise and a prestigious MBA, leads the People and Culture division at a prominent Brazilian pharmaceutical company. With a focus on empowering talent and fostering inclusivity, she drives innovative initiatives that align people strategies with impactful business results.

In a recent conversation with Global Woman Leader Magazine, Andreia shared insights on elevating HR from a support role to a strategic catalyst. Key topics included aligning innovation with talent development, exploring unconventional retention strategies, ethical data use, and pioneering well-being frameworks in high-stakes environments.

How do you ensure that HR is not merely a supporting function but a catalyst for competitive advantage? How do you align rapid innovation with the structured pace of talent development?

Innovating to stay ahead in our market is one of the attributes of Aché's culture, for that, we have been implementing various initiatives to make our culture tangible daily and reflecting it on talent development.

One of HR's missions is to become an enabler of the organization's success and performance. A good example is our Culture team, we have implemented a team of managers that are sponsors for our organizational culture, this group is responsible for leading discussion about our main behaviors which includes innovation, performance and other attributes that places our industry in a different place comparing to our competitors in the market. During these meetings, team discuss initiatives that enhance our culture and leverage our results, this is a powerful tool for capturing innovation and monitoring ideas through the involvement of the Board of Directors.

Our efforts towards innovation are also based on the Performance Management, annual cycle implemented at Aché in 2023. Based on four pillars (Plan, Monitor, Evaluate and Reward), we systematically map opportunities for talent development and address them with initiatives that can be internal or rely on external partners to support us. During this evaluation process, we also identify critical positions for the organization, which directly impact business results and transformation journey in the medium to long term. Applying this methodology, our organization can map potential successors internally and externally, in a structured way aligned to the organization's needs. Also, our corporate university is planned to be launched soon, this will be a platform of corporate education accessible to the entire organization. The Academies are being launched in phases, and the Innovation Academy is due to be launched in 2025. The main objectives are to foster an innovative mindset and alignment with the organization's strategy, provide training for innovation and support Aché's transformation journey.

What unconventional retention strategies have you experimented with? Can you discuss a counterintuitive or bold move that significantly improved retention in an unexpected way?

We are on a five-year journey to transform and regain market leadership, which began in 2023. At this moment, we are focused on restoring Aché's historical strengths. From the point of view of retention, we have implemented a risk mapping to identify the real impact of turnover of critical leadership positions. In addition, we cross-check this data with information such as criticality of the position strategic talent is responsible for, whether they are assessed as high potential and whether they are mapped to replace executive leaders, for example. Based on this grouping of information, HR BPs work strategically with leaders to determine assertive Individual Development Plans (IDPs) and identify engagement factors. As examples of initiatives that strengthen leadership engagement, we have started the Executive Mentoring Program and the Executive Development Program, also aimed at expanding executives' social skills. We also apply people analytics to identify salary recognition and engagement actions, which are defined to boost retention of key professionals in the organization.

How do you maintain cultural cohesion without diluting the local nuances that give a team its unique strength?

Our cultural cohesion movement has manifested itself through a number of actions such as:

 1) Coffee with the president; 2) Bi-monthly rituals with leaders and bi-annual rituals with the entire organization; 3) Formation of culture multiplier teams (TMs), made up of leaders representing all the business areas and who leverage results while strengthening the attributes of our culture; 4) Formation of people agents, also made up of leaders who may or may not be TMs. This group has the role of representing the People & Culture team in their area, answering questions, taking concepts and bringing input back to the P&C area; 5) Continuous communication and moments of celebration, represented by the Bulletins, bell and other symbols. We recently launched the innovation program, which encourages professionals to bring innovations to our industry and register patents that could become perennial for the future of our business.

What specific frameworks or philosophies have you found effective in managing this delicate balance?

To evaluate effectiveness, we have recognition rituals that show the daily practice of culture attributes, as well as evaluations in the Performance system and Papo Reto survey (our survey that measures the climate and engagement of people), which evaluates our cultural maturity. Thus, we have mapped the attributes by directorate, job category, length of service and other identity variables. Based on the findings, the employees themselves are invited to get together and structure action plans, which must be monitored and sponsored by the Directors themselves.

How do you navigate the ethical considerations of using advanced data analytics to manage and evaluate employees while respecting their privacy and individuality?

This is an extremely relevant question and crucial for the business future at Aché. In People Analytics area, we are constantly seeking the balance between use of data and respect for the individuality of our employees.

Firstly, it is important to recognize that we are on a journey. We have the privilege of working in a company that deeply values ethics and integrity, which gives us a solid foundation on which to build our data analysis practices.

On a day-to-day basis, our approach is one of caution and responsibility. We have worked hard to ensure that our indicators and analysis do not expose sensitive employee data. We are always attentive to the requirements of the LGPD, incorporating respect for privacy into our organizational culture.

One of our biggest challenges and one of our priorities is to foster a data-driven mentality throughout HR and the company, without losing sight of the human aspect. We believe that data is a powerful tool for decision-making, but it should never replace empathy and human judgment.

Looking to the future, we recognize that we have room to grow, especially in regards to employees' informed consent for more advanced uses of their data. We are planning to implement more robust processes in this regard, always with transparency and respect.

At Aché, we have a strong culture of ethics and compliance, which helps us navigate these complex issues. Our goal is to integrate these established values into our People Analytics practices, creating an environment where data-driven innovation coexists harmoniously with respect for individual privacy.

In summary, we see our approach as a constant balancing act and we are committed to using the power of data to improve our HR decisions and processes, but always taking care to preserve the individuality and privacy of each employee. It is undoubtedly a great challenge, but one we face with enthusiasm and responsibility. We believe that by maintaining this focus on the balance between data and ethics, we not only respect our employees, but also strengthen trust and engagement, which are fundamental to the success of any organization, especially in a sector as sensitive as the pharmaceutical industry.

What innovative leadership development programs have you designed to prepare leaders not only to manage but to thrive under chronic uncertainty?

We are revamping our corporate education area and opening functional academies, such as the Leadership Academy and the Supply Chain Academy. To better prepare our leaders in times of uncertainty, we bring in classic themes such as strategic people management, feedback, feed forward, communication, but we are also incorporating themes such as diversity, equity & inclusion. Other tools for preparing our leadership are mental health meetings aimed at leaders, so that they can provide psychologically safe environments for their teams and know how to act if someone on the team is going through a vulnerable situation.

In addition, for executives we are offering an Executive Development Program, with the aim of expanding participants' social skills and accessing their relational intelligence. This is a program with an individual interview stage, workshop sessions and team coaching, building lasting relationships and stimulating team engagement and high performance.

What revolutionary steps have you taken to design an employee well-being framework that specifically addresses the high-pressure environment of pharmaceuticals where burnout can have direct business consequences?

We created a governance model and well-structured culture and communication rituals to provide transparency and clarity in organizational decisions in order to keep all employees well-informed, reducing uncertainty and stress.

To structure this model, we worked to standardize and improve processes, eliminating unnecessary activities, minimizing rework and reinforcing the importance of putting energy, time and financial investment into programs and projects that are essential to the organization's growth. 

As a result, we have achieved increased efficiency on various business fronts, consistency in activities, standardized methods that facilitate integration and increase people's trust in their colleagues and leaders. Standardization has also made it easier for newcomers to learn and integrate into the company.

We have observed that these initiatives have been reflected in the satisfaction of being part of Aché and, consequently, in a more positive organizational culture. We have a structured program, Estar Bem Aché, which encourages the practice of a healthy lifestyle through physical exercise and activities for mental, professional and social health. It is a broad program where employees benefit from numerous initiatives that are available to them, many of which extend to their families.