Best Employers of 2020: Rapid Response to COVID-19, Diversity and Innovation

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When a painter boasts that his company, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, is “the most productive company I’ve ever worked for,” he tends to take note. This is just one of the comments from those who responded to the 19th Annual Survey of Best Science Employers. Another commentary related to Vertex, a Boston-based company that climbed 4 spots from last year to number 8, states that “Vertex puts its painters first. I’m very proud to paint here.

The Top Employers survey was conducted through Cell Associates and Brighton Consulting. This year’s online survey was conducted from March 3 to May 3, 2020 and included approximately 7,600 respondents from around the world. Overall, the survey highlighted the commitment of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to innovation and progressive corporate culture, as well as complex technologies and complex technologies, such as the use of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing and synthetic intelligence, and device learning for the design, progression and manufacture of curative products and interventions. noticed that these trends emerge again. But as we know, 2020 is unlike any other year. As the survey was taking place when quarantines took effect, respondents were able to provide a review of the ambitious projects their corporations were carrying out in reaction to COVID-19, which includes everything from creating new home work policies for workers in the family circle to converting commercial assets to address public fitness considerations and expanding new therapies

For corporations that emerged among the 20 most sensible, respondents’ comments reflected their pride and gratitude for the fact that the organizations they represented had continually invested in their well-being while prioritizing science and patients. empower them and in each and every way possible, they respond in the same way: they produce their most productive work. And in the field of pharmacy and biotechnology, this seamlessly translates into better outcomes for patients.

Gratitude is especially strong among respondents whose corporations have already been on the list. “Being identified is a smart thing,” says Hervé Hoppenot, CEO of Incyte (No. 2, moving from No. 3 in 2019), a Delaware-based pharmaceutical company. “It means a lot to be on the list. Being at the forefront of science and having other people who need to paint here [gives] a sense of pride. John Frels, vice president of R

Explore the profiles of some of the 2020 employers to learn more about career opportunities at those organizations.

Having a culture of painting aligned with the painter’s values is another vital driving force for most sensitive employers and is discussed in the survey comments. According to one respondent, “Vertex innovates with speed and ferocity like no other company, while prioritizing a solidarity culture. “A painter from Syngenta, the fourth Swiss biotechnology company that focuses on agrochemicals and seeds, points to what they see as the benefits of his business: “Organizational culture, fear for the environment, fear for the well-being of painters”. a respondent referring to Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts (No. 3), he almost shouted his answer: “GREAT culture!! You got it!Exciting!”

What is the winning formula that puts companies on the list of the most sensitive employers?The main element is an articulated project for scientists and science. Almost all major employers indicated that they were focused on science and the patient. And, on many occasions, the encuestados. se echoed this philosophy.

“Regeneron is based on a science-based approach,” says Drew Murphy, executive vice president of studies at the Tarrytown, New York-based U. S. biotechnology organization, which toped the survey this year. “Unlike other companies, our sellers don’t tell our researchers what to do. Scientists have set the agenda. And if you do science the right way, you never fail. Either you succeed or you’re informed of something more valuable. The strategy is obviously being implemented because the weed rate of its 8600 workers (approximately part of whom are in RD or administration) was less than part of the industry average in each of the more than five years. For example, Regeneron’s turnover rate in 2019 was 7. 8% compared to an industry average of 18. 7%, his organization’s turnover R

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In the life sciences sector, there is a symbiosis between science and patient priorities, and the most productive employers (and many respondents) point to this as an indicator of a giant company This synergy manifests itself in many ways. . 20), for example, welcomes patients’ days, in which scientists have the exceptional pleasure of interacting with those who gain advantages directly from their effects and have an idea of the patient’s journey. “You get a window into what it means to be a patient facing the demanding situations we seek to solve,” says Philip Gregory, clinical director of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that develops genetic treatments for serious genetic disorders and cancer. “It’s a way to link workers to the patient, they can see why they’re doing this. It motivates you and reminds you that you have a purpose beyond the only step you plan to take. “

Abbott puts the R

Access to career progression goes hand in hand with professional advancement, of course, and most sensible employers are generous and proactive in designing and implementing systems that enable skills development, networking, self-advancement, and leadership progression. adding an engineering rotation program so that new workers are informed about the company’s divisions. Their clinical workers are encouraged to produce individual progression plans to chart their careers, and workers have many opportunities to move between departments, purposes, and sites.

Language matters too. Bluebird executives refer to their workers as “birds” and the company itself as the “nest”. They provide leadership progression to everyone and have leadership coaches on hand to allow workers to move in the direction they want. To facilitate a larger and more meaningful internship – Public Messaging, the company uses a psychometric tool called Insights Discovery, which has a four-color genre to help others perceive their non-public tastes and preferences, adding similar ones to communication. When you walk past someone’s desk, you can see a lot of colorful bricks in your cubic; The maximum sensitive brick indicates the habit of communication you’re directing with. For example, Cool Blue indicates a preference for data, design, and/or process. “It’s helping others to interact with me, for example, in the most effective way. You sense who you interact with and their communication preferences,” Gregory says. Create a dialog. ” And, of course, greater communication makes business increasing.

Flexibility is also, and many companies actively demonstrate this trait, according to the survey, which is transparent from the responses to COVID-19, as indicated below, but it is also evident in other respects, that is, when it comes to harnessing the strength of new technologies. and advanced technologies, such as the science of knowledge. Vertex, for example, uses the kaleidoscope of knowledge science benefits and programs across the enterprise, from human resources to legal and legal aspects

As was done last year, a blank sheet describing the survey and task schedule was sent to the human resources and public relations contacts of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry from the AAAS database several weeks before the launch of the online survey.

This annual online survey conducted from March 3 to May 3, 2020 The survey conducted over one more month was based on applications from several giant employers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A combined method that was used to recruit this year’s survey components. The first component of this method included email invitations to approximately 50,000 people worldwide; Those Americans were members of the AAAS, people registered on the online scientific page, and people registered in clinical careers. Several social media posts were also used to advertise the survey. The time component of the method included several emails sent to approximately 400 human resources contacts in industry corporations and biotech/pharmaceutical advertising agencies in the Science Careers sales database.

The total number of research submitted this year is similar to last year. This report is based on an overall pattern of approximately 7,650 completed surveys; 97% of these surveys were the result of the cross-mail to HR contacts. and advertising agencies, while 3% came thanks to the end-user crusade and social media efforts.

One of the parameters that delineate a high-level employer is their commitment to a culture of innovation, and workers realize innovation. In fact, one of the most common words respondents used to describe their employer as “innovative” is one of the most common words respondents used.

Vertex, for example, has its VOICE Challenge, which involves workers to ensure that “everyone is on the innovation mission,” altshuler explains. This annual innovation tournament begins with the identity of major clinical and advertising challenges, which Altshuler describes as “Things that would make a big difference from what we do. “He adds: “We invite the whole corporation to propose concepts. Last year we had 360 concepts. ” These concepts were advised through 1,000 workers in all business sets (re-provisioning about a third of the company). Key tips get resources to develop, deliver, and design a program that advances them from design to implementation. Recent truth-telling tips come with Vertex’s Sickle Anemia and Beta-Thalassemia Processing Programs, a cellular app and iPad terminal formula to help “Vertexians” locate convention halls and colleagues at their Boston headquarters, and a commuter bus program to reduce traffic jams in Boston’s Seaport district.

“Innovation can come from anywhere,” says Natalie Hosea, takeda California site manager and drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (No. 18). ” Our scientists feel empowered to innovate in the area and feel comfortable with the generation of concepts. We are a patient-centered company: for each and every day necessary for an intervention to download a patent, a patient suffers. It motivates us. ” The organization’s official innovation framework for research, Portfolio Entry, is to actively read about concepts and verify hypotheses between its internal clinical network and external collaborators. Knowledge is reviewed interfunctionally, added, and feedback is provided as an R team

Novo Nordisk, a nearly century Danish pharmaceutical multinational with more than 43,000 international workers and R

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Biocon Limited (No. 5) adopts a decidedly entrepreneurial technique for “passionate innovation,” says Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder and executive chairman of the Bangalore, India-based institution. Its successful innovation program, Novel Biologics, acts as an incubator within its R division

Other companies, while still advocating for innovation, do not have formal systems to stimulate innovation. Regeneron executives prefer to capitalize on biological discoveries. “Innovation is so ingrained in the way we do everything, we don’t want a synthetic mechanism to verify instille,” Murphy says. We don’t formalize this, and the lack of formality and the ability to get out of the script allow us to pursue and verify concepts. “Regeneron’s culture is such that workers have autonomy to communicate about assumptions. “We don’t like other people hiding the concept until they get all the data,” he says. “It’s like Beatles lyrics” Take an unhappy song and that”: you have to communicate about those things. We inspire others to be beneficial with their concepts. »

Not all industries grant their workers the privilege of human health, and very few organizations are agile enough to give their staff the opportunity to replace their priorities and strengths to deal with an emerging scourge. The pharmaceutical and biotechnological corporations on this list are notable exceptions. And these corporations temporarily seized the opportunity to serve humanity by fighting COVID-19.

Abbott has extensive experience diagnosing infectious diseases; conducted the world’s first HIV screening in the 1980s. Shortly after SARS-CoV-2 was identified, Abbott scientists took action and introduced the cross-progression of fascheck diagnostic products into the history of the company. “We leveraged the merit of the state-of-the-art computer and sequencing equipment to design prototype controls,” says Frels. “Our scientists collaborated temporarily and well to help drive the progression of the product. ” By the end of March, the groups had evolved and introduced COVID-19 molecular diagnostic controls in the laboratory and at the point of immediate care. This was temporarily followed in mid-April with the launch of the first large-scale, high-throughput laboratory COVID-19 serology test. Since then, groups have continued their paintings by uploading and posting more immediate lab checks and diagnostics. “We had top-level help and leadership on all of this,” says Frels, “and with committed groups of Abbott staff running 24/7, we made it happen.

Incyte has mobilized its resources to allow painters to paint from home. “While running remotely after March 13, we introduced a new product and also learned that two of our established products can be useful for COVID-like respiratory disorders,” hoppenot explains. “Our teams, nights and weekends, have combined a clinical program to ship to the FDA [US Food and Drug Administration]USA] And get your approval. All this was done remotely and represented a lot of paintings. Having an active role in combat opposed to COVID is vital for all of us, and being able to do it running remotely is even more motivating.

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Takeda has responded to COVID by concentrating its efforts in five spaces: studies to deal with long-term pandemics; collaboration with the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance to expand plasma-derived hyperimmunoglobulin treatment for COVID; reuse of approved products or assets in progress; exchange of knowledge and training; and the status quo of D-D associations. Takeda alin a puesto has a culture that encourages external collaborations, so they were in a position of this type of pivot. One of the spaces of corporate experience is in therapies derived from blood plasma. In May, the company joined nine other biotech corporations to shape the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance, described on its online page as “an unprecedented partnership between the world’s leading plasma corporations, covering plasma collection, progression, production and distribution. “In addition, Takeda has been instrumental in the creation of COVID-19 R

But COVID’s reaction didn’t just mean pumping new drugs; at Bluebird, this required a lot of attention from the workers. The company established an additional day off according to the month for each staff member, organized open Q&A sessions in open microphones to chat with the entire control team, and organized support systems for “bird babies” (workers’ children). to help parents and guardians, movements that were consistent with their core values.

While these corporations have waged war opposed to a microscopic virus, a macroscopic challenge has arisen, as social justice talks in the United States have reinforced many organizations’ commitment to providing stimulating and inclusive spaces for all employees. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI systems) are strongly connected to corporate cultures. Scientists see these systems as symptoms of a position in which they can thrive, where their contributions are noticed and where their voices are heard. On the other hand, respondents expressed gratitude to employers for creating systems that such critical efforts.

But there are still paintings to be done. “There is a lack of diversity in this industry,” admits Hoppenot. “Racism and science do not go hand in hand. If you need to be successful in science, we cannot have racism. Hoppenot, like many CEOs of Top Employer companies, is committed to having complicated but mandatory discussions about race, inclusion and diversity, and is already making company-wide adjustments to advance this mission. The firm’s leadership reaches out to organizations to help improve the recruitment and mentorship of underrepresented minorities, especially African Americans, in their ranks of painters. “We have had this as a very sensible priority, however we learned that we needed to come with more people in the discussion. To this end, our Inclusion team is actively working to identify and implement projects that foster inclusion and also provide progression opportunities for our painters, ”said Paula Swain, Executive Vice President of Human Resources for Incyte. “We don’t need to see this as a moment in time. Investing in inclusion, mentoring, progression and retention will be a component of what we do as an organization now and in the future. “

bluebird bio is one of many organizations that have instituted DCI practices into their structure. “Our philosophy can be summarized as follows: ‘all birds fly closer together. ‘ The diversity of the “herd” is anything we measure. We protect an environment where everyone can be the most productive of themselves and know for them. Diversity, fairness and inclusion allow us to dream boldly, ”says Gregory. He explains that the company has 3 “areas of action and responsibility”: inclusive business practices, inclusive workforce culture, and workforce diversity, adding, “Our core values ​​are intertwined. to our five non-negotiable: we challenge our colleagues to be original and courageous. Dress up humble, be caring and transparent. DCI projects come with top-down investments in hiring, retention, and progression, as well as resource teams for workers, such as those helping LGBTQ, Black, Latino, Asian, women, veterans, the disabled, and parents and caregivers. The company has a DEI manager on its control team and has developed rapid systems to help underrepresented workers and foster an inclusive culture.

Regeneron is also in a position to review his own diversity practices. “We believe that the diversity of workers is as vital as the diversity of ideas. We are proud of a diverse workforce in terms of immigrants. But we’re looking to do more. We can do better,” Murphy said. The increase in recruitment activities in traditionally black schools and universities is an example of the company’s determination with this philosophy. “There’s more talent. In fact, we need to reflect the United States and the world. Biotechnology is not as varied as it is. »

Although the MeToo motion has been helped for gender diversity among many of the most sensitive employers, Biocon stands out because Mazumdar-Shaw has sought to publicize gender parity. Of the company’s 12,000 employees, part are in R

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Major employers continue to seek tactics to express their commitment to their communities. Environmental and sustainability care is of paramount importance. In Syngenta, for example, climate change is not just a focus, it is the engine of innovation for farmers.

“We believe that what we do is contribute to global food security and help the planet’s agriculture,” says Gusui Wu, head of global seed research. “The world is facing significant environmental and nutritional challenges, which are expanding in emerging countries and recently highlighted through COVID. ” Detailed and rigorous decisions on how to help food manufacturers in an environmentally friendly way are reinforced through the science of knowledge that permeates each and every touchpoint in the organization. But knowledge doesn’t make the series work, it’s humans. ” In the many surveys we have conducted over the years, our workers have an honest feeling that we are proud of what we do because we contribute to the global food supply. By 2050, there will be a world population of 10 billion, so the world wants to build components of its food supply, “he adds. ” Employees know that our consumers want our continued work. Farmers count on the products and technologies that we develop. Our workers are an integral component of the agricultural economy. “

In fact, the long-term pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and indeed science, is decidedly human, and our employers celebrate it.

“Employees are the driving force of our business,” Murphy says, noting that his company has been on the list of most sensitive employers at number 1 or no. 2 for more than ten years. they make drugs, other people do it. “

1. Office for National Statistics, “Measuring Handicap: Compare Approaches”, August 6, 2019, available at www. ons. gov. uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/disability/articles/measuringdisabilitycomparingapproaches/2019-08-06#disability- prevalence through age.

2. P. Jain-Link, JTKennedy, “Why Other People Hide Their Disability at Work,” Harv. Bus. Rev. , June 3, 2019, available in https://hbr. org/2019/06/ why-other-people-hide-their-disabilities-in-work.

Alaina G. Levine is a STEM career consultant, professional speaker and Networking for Nerds (Wiley, 2015).

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