Turn Social Distancing Into an Opportunity to Create Social Closeness
In the spring of 2020, the internal comms team at Philip Morris International (PMI) faced a triple challenge. They wanted to keep their global workforce engaged and connected, increase confidence in the company\’s ongoing business transformation, and equip employees with content and resources to help navigate the new remote working reality. To do this, they took inspiration from The New York Times wellness challenge and employees\’ shared passion for food and the arts to create impactful internal communications programming that can be leveraged at any organization—no matter the size, industry, or geography.
Bessie Kokalis Pescio is Vice President of Global Internal Communications at Philip Morris International (PMI) based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her focus is to engage the nearly 80,000 employees across the organization as PMI transitions its business toward better alternatives for adult smokers on the road to delivering a smoke-free future. In her 15-year career with the company, she\’s worked in multiple functions including research & development, sales, commercial planning, and communications. Before joining PMI, she worked as a healthcare consultant and as a linguist. She studied French literature and political science and holds an MBA. She\’s an avid runner, practices yoga regularly, and is currently reading about Renaissance art and working on her Italian.