Pfizer Aamir Malik, Payal Sahni Innovating Through Crisis at CNBC Work Summit

Obviously Pfizer was one of the companies that we were all watching during the pandemic, such heroic work. Talk to us a little bit about what it was like behind the scenes. Obviously a lot of people went home, but there were people who had to do mission-critical work and had to stay here. How did you suddenly change things around to make that happen?

But you also had to keep safety in the mix. You're in charge of innovation, that had to be innovation in the moment. How did you make it so that people could do this important work yet at the same time be safe themselves? I'm thinking about the researchers who often have to be right on top of one another, right?

I think about how so many people suffered burnout, you know, particularly when you talk about healthcare workers. They were certainly energized by the moment and the need to be heroic, and they rose to that occasion. But we've seen so much burnout, so many people leaving the field because it was just exhausting. How have you all handled your teams after having done such heroic work at really such a high level of stress? Where are you now in terms of how you handle that with your personnel?

And how has the environment changed in terms of how people work together now? You know, we hear a lot about younger people in particular saying, 'I'm out of here, I'm moving to the next job.' You know, you've been here for 25 years and have moved from job to job within the company. How do you keep that same sense of urgency and excitement and the, you know, the energy of having triumphed to create the vaccine and the antiviral? How do you keep that moving now?

Can you give me an example of something that is really that kind of a turning point in terms of how you work and a shift and a change in the way you work?

It sounds like it puts more pressure on everyone.

And when you think about some of those problems and some of that new approach, there is a whole new expectation about work now where people expect that there's more flexibility. We've seen so many people leave jobs even as the labor market is starting to feel a little iffy. Payal, how do you deal with that and what are you doing to respond to this new sort of expectation of the workforce?

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, workers really want and people in general want to be tied to a purpose. And I think one, we have the best purpose that, you know, one could offer. But the other part is flexibility for the jobs that will allow for that flexibility. As you mentioned, you can't be making products at home, I don't think anybody would want to take those. You can't be coming up with the best science just at home, you need to collaborate. But there are lots of other roles that you can do not completely at home, but you have a lot more flexibility and that gives you choices. And we've implemented a policy that says, you know, post-COVID, whenever our country operations in the U.S., whenever it's safe to come back, we follow the local guidelines, you come back. But you don't have to come back every day. But when you do come back, you come back with a sense of purpose to collaborate with one another. And that has been really widely received positively. People are excited, they miss each other, they want to come back. And I think, how often are people in the audience in the office? Two to three days a week is our guidance. And, you know, I think people are dipping their toe in as offices are opening up. We're in the process of actually moving our headquarters office, so we're expecting a lot of people to come in and see what their new facilities look like. And they're going to look very different. They're going to be a lot more collaboration spaces rather than little offices, because we've all proven that we can do our emails from home, right? When we come in, it should be for conversation, it should be to build trust, it should be to come up with that next breakthrough. And we build on each other's ideas. And I think the other piece, you know, people are asking for is growth in their career. And what we really are offering across Pfizer, like you mentioned, I've been here over 25 years and I don't think I've held a job in the same way for over two, because we continue to change and iterate and evolve as an organization. There's so many opportunities. And what we're really encouraging in our population now is to do what we call zigzag moves, going from one department to another department, completely different discipline, and you get different experiences which allows you a 360 view on a particular problem. We, you know, we've had over 500 moves in the last two years now, and I'm really proud of that because it meant people took chances and said, I don't have to leave because I can get a whole different experience by just looking at a different department that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of.

How prevalent is it that someone would do that? Or some people, I mean, I would imagine if you were, you know, a researcher working on a lab bench, you're not necessarily going to go into marketing.

That's right, that's right. And I think it happened less a few years ago, it's happening a lot more. And there are definitely some disciplines that allow for more of that to happen than others. Some folks are really excited and that's perfectly fine. We continue to challenge the way that they operate and, you know, give them enrichment in the jobs that they're doing. And there's far others in our digital group, in our marketing group, in our manufacturing group. Actually, I had two people on my team that used to run businesses that joined HR, our people experience is what we call it. And we had somebody from people experience going to digital recently. So it's amazing what you do for yourself or as an individual, but what also you bring to the team that you're on and the company as a whole. You look at a problem very, very differently.

What do you think the last couple of years have brought to you in terms of thinking about leadership and in terms of really engaging the workforce? Obviously you have a CEO who is himself very engaged and very demanding. How has that shaped the way you're thinking about keeping that workforce engaged now?

You know, our CEO, he's very passionate in all that he does, including our workforce. And the past two years have been incredible with, you know, what's happened throughout the world in this pandemic, not only to bring a solution but to make sure we were taking care of our colleagues and investing in them. So no matter where we were, it was what do the colleagues need to do their best work. You know, ensuring that we had all of our tools, our resources, giving managers freedom, making sure that, you know, the ability to attract the right kind of talent and also leveling us up. You know, basically showing us that when you aim high, it's amazing what you can accomplish. And so I think organizationally, when I think about the colleagues at Pfizer, they don't just rest on their laurels. They want to do more, they want to solve the next issue and crisis, whether that's for patients or even for society. And that's the kind of workforce that we are. So if, you know, people are just interested in status quo, it's not going to be the place for you and it probably will be really uncomfortable. But for those that actually want to make a difference and be able to change the world, you know, send me your resume.

And Aamir, if you think about sort of the biggest innovation that has come out of the pandemic, clearly the vaccine and the antiviral, but in terms of the way we work and the way you motivate staff, what would that be?

And has the workforce also stepped up and shown, what have you learned from them?

And finally, you know, it seems as though you two are very much in sync. And I would imagine if Albert were here that you'd all might be finishing one another's sentences. How important is it to be able to be authentic with your leadership, with your CEO, and how direct is your access to him to be able to say, 'Hey, this isn't working, we need to change course,' or 'This is working really well, we need to change course' to really do that?

Want me to start? Sure. So I think, you know, he's just a push of a button away or just walking into his office. He FaceTimes when he's not with you and will actually demand that you be honest and transparent. And that's when we have the best decisions. Even through the pandemic, there were, you know, as we were going through the trials and before we even had a vaccine, there were lots of decision points and we weren't always all on the same page. And he would call, our meetings were very much about go around the room, around your Zoom circle, your Brady Bunch circle, and say what you think without any judgment and making sure that he was drawing out every opinion. And then collectively we would make a decision. So even if you started somewhere at the end and you may not have agreed with it, you exactly knew where you were going. So we always feel, I personally do, I'll let Aamir speak for himself, but you can always be yourself and he expects it.