Diversity, inclusion central to company, says JTI UK

DIVERSITY and inclusion “are central” to Japan Tobacco International (JTI), an organisation that cares about its people and is mindful about creating a workplace where everyone is encouraged to be their best self, a senior executive has said.

 In a recent chat with Eastern Eye, Ruth Forbes, inclusion and office operations director at JTI UK, talked at length about the company’s beliefs and policies as well as thought process that drive its work culture.  

“Diversity and inclusion are central to JTI as an organisation,” she said. “We firmly believe that it will make us stronger as a business in three keyways – enabling employees to be themselves, encouraging new ways of thinking and allowing us to lead inclusively.” 

 A leading firm in the tobacco and vaping industry, JTI operates in 130 countries with a workforce of 48,000 employees from 119 different nationalities. 

 In 2023, JTI’s ‘introductions programme’ was awarded the ED&I Initiative Award at the GG2 Leadership & Diversity Awards, hosted by the Asian Media Group, publishers of Eastern Eye and Garavi Gujarat. The trophy was collected by JTI’s then inclusion and wellbeing director, Natalie Richardson. 

 Forbes said, “Our ‘Introductions’ programme has continued since we won the GG2 ED&I Initiative Award in 2023. This continues to break down barriers and increase collaboration and productivity through introducing colleagues to each other.”  

Among notable initiatives at JTI is ensuring that all employees have access to free mental health and wellbeing services.  

From 2021, the company also rolled out mandatory training on how to support the wellbeing and positive mental health of their teams to line managers. 

 Forbes said, “We have been mindful to create an environment where employees are able to speak out about their mental health struggles and encourage colleagues to openly share concerns and seek help when they need it.”  

JTI is in the process of refreshing its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) strategy and action plan to ensure employees feedback is considered throughout the process. Forbes said, “Over 10 per cent of our UK employees are currently participating in DE&I focus groups to guarantee that their voices are heard within the strategy. We are looking forward to sharing more later this year.”  

She added, “We also host regular awareness sessions for employees on various important issues, such as race and ethnicity, LGBTQ+allyship and disability awareness. On top of this, we run ‘unconscious bias’ training to support employees so that they can identify and manage their biases. Read More