Novo Nordisk among UK’s Great Places To Work
pharmafile | July 8, 2008 | News story | Business Services |Â Â Novo, careersÂ
Three pharmaceutical companies have this year been ranked inside the top 50 places to work throughout the UK.
Novo Nordisk, Schering-Plough and Daiichi Sanyo were awarded places 5, 24 and 26 respectively in the annual contest judged by the Great Place to Work Institute.
The awards can go to companies from all industries, and it was Google who landed the number one spot for 2008, but the survey has recently witnessed an increased interest in the competition from pharma.
Richard Widowson, senior consultant at the Great Place to Work Institute, attributed the trend to the current lack of significant growth in the industry, and said there was increasing need for companies to stay attractive to employees despite the harsher environment.
He told Pharmafocus: "The idea of keeping people on board is crucial, and pharma has woken up to that."
The Institute defines a great place to work as that where 'employees trust the people they work for', 'have pride in what they do', and 'enjoy the people they work with'.
This is translated into the five-dimensional Great Place to Work model, where three dimensions, credibility, respect and fairness, refer to the concept of trust. A fourth dimension refers to the sense of pride felt by employees in what they do, and the fifth dimension, camaraderie, considers the extent to which employees enjoy working with their colleagues.
The identification of 'best places to work' is primarily based on employees' perspectives and their responses to an anonymous standardised survey, containing questions related to the five aspects. The body then gathers additional statements for employee opinion on their company's corporate responsibility performance.
Schering-Plough UK, which came 39th in 2006, said moving up the ranks to 24th was proof of the company's continuous internal improvement.
Yan Mallet, director of strategic partnerships at Schering-Plough UK professed a "real sense of pride and achievement."
He added: "There is a culture which runs throughout the business which teaches us that every single one of our achievements, however big or small, all go towards building a different type of pharmaceutical company; one which is successful and makes a real difference to our customers and their patients."
Novo Nordisk not only came fifth in the contest for Best Overall Workplace in the UK, but also scooped the award for the 2008 UK Special Award for Corporate Responsibility.
The company said winning the award is credit to its innovative 'triple bottom line' – a scheme invented by Novo Nordisk to help it maintain an equal commitment to its financial, social and environmental responsibilities.
Viggo Birch, vice president Europe and managing director of Novo-Nordisk UK says: "In all our work, we strive to be economically viable, socially responsible, and environmentally sound. Balancing the triple bottom line is about considering each of these elements when making business decisions. In this way, we not only manage a sound business, but we also demonstrate our commitment to driving sustainable development – both locally and globally."
Daiichi Sanyo, which was ranked 26th, is a company known for its high-blood pressure drug Benicar. The Great Place to Work award was given following the assessment of its 80-strong UK sales workforce based at the company's UK office in Buckinghamshire.
Daiichi Sanyo international group has expanded recently with the acquisition of Ranbaxy, the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in India, but it has also made clear an agenda to focus on Europe.
Last month it made the acquisition of U3 Pharma, a German biotechnology company, and it also recently purchased the European marketing rights to the osteoporosis medication Evista from Eli Lilly.
The Great Place to Work Institute has already begun its process for the 2009 awards, which will be the sixth year of the annual competition.
It already has meetings scheduled with a number of pharma companies wishing to enter – a trend it expects to continue to increase.
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