As a healthcare company dedicated to helping people live healthier lives all over the world, the job starts with our own employees. It is no secret that our employees are our greatest asset, and we invest in our workplace programs because they help our employees and their families live healthier, happier, and more productive lives.
Diversity
One of our top priorities at AstraZeneca is promoting equal opportunity for all of our employees. Another is building, encouraging, and supporting a more diverse family of employees.
Our success as a company depends on our ability to attract, retain, and inspire the very best people. To do that, we must respect, embrace, and derive strength from all that makes individuals unique. Over the past two years, the percentage of AstraZeneca minority hires has grown from 24.6% in 2005 to 26.4% in 2006 as of November 30th and the number of women hired has grown from 55.1% to 60.4%.
We employ a diverse sales force. In 2005 24.3% of new sales hires were minorities and to date for 2006 22.6% hired were minorities. In the first eleven months of 2006, 50% of hires for field positions at the director level and above were women, and 50% were minorities. Promoting diversity in hiring is just one important diversity goal. To create a more inclusive culture, we provide a variety of Employee Network Groups. These forums, which range in size from 50 to 300 individuals, are centered on timely topics of concern for AstraZeneca employees. For example, one group focuses on the evolving role and needs of women in the workplace, and another on the demands of those who care for elderly family members. We currently have 11 Employee Network Groups at AstraZeneca.
We understand that we are only at the beginning of developing a truly diverse workforce. To this end, we now mandate that each functional area of the company pursue its own diversity action plan. As of 2005, we require all AstraZeneca managers to have a diversity objective, which is reflected in their performance plan. To help managers meet these objectives, we provide specific training on ways to more effectively promote diversity among their teams.
At AstraZeneca, employees are empowered to express diverse perspectives and are made to feel valued, energized, and rewarded for their ideas and creativity.
In 2006, we received local and national recognition for our efforts to make AstraZeneca an outstanding place to work. AstraZeneca was recognized, "Top as one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" by Working Mother magazine, as a Diversity INC Noteworthy Company, and as a top Employer for Adoptive parents in Adoptive Parents Magazine.
Promoting work/life balance
To attract, retain, and motivate the best employees, we offer a number of work/life effectiveness programs, policies, and resources that help our employees manage their work and personal responsibilities.
We promote a variety of flexible work arrangements, resource and referral programs, and dependent care initiatives. In addition, we offer AstraZeneca employees and their families a range of services designed to promote emotional health, work/life balance, and wellness. One example: the AstraZeneca Child Development Center near our Wilmington, Delaware, headquarters. The number of employees using this center grew by 23% in 2006. Other employees took advantage of AstraZeneca-sponsored programs for school-aged children, such as holiday programs and summer camp. As part of the Just in Time Program, our employees are eligible for 10 days of back-up care for their children and elder family members; we subsidize 90% of the cost. In 2006, we provided a total of 7256 days of care for employees and their dependents.
Employee development
We are committed to maintaining a culture of fairness, as well as a supportive and flexible work environment. Of course, competitive realities also dictate that we promote a high-performance culture by educating and developing our leaders. Our AZ University delivers more than 900 online and classroom courses, spanning a wide range of functional areas, to AstraZeneca employees and their families. Each month, on average 3,500 individuals participate in “AZU.” In addition, we provide tuition reimbursement assistance for our employees who choose to pursue external training and development in the fields of business and science. We are as devoted to our employees as we are to the patients, customers, and communities we serve.
