Global Citizenship

Creating a Culture of Citizenship Our Workplace

Diverse Workforce at Abbott in Germany

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Employee Leadership Program in Shanghai

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Honored as a Leading Employer

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A Culture of Health

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At Abbott’s offices in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and around the globe, we work to create a diverse workforce and an inclusive environment.

Employees at our Shanghai facility were interested in gaining additional leadership training and in building a caring corporate culture. In response, we launched a new program that encourages volunteerism and fosters leadership skills.

As a global health care company, we are committed to creating a culture of health for our employees. Our wellness programs provide resources, information, motivation and support to help our people make healthy lifestyle choices, minimize health risks and manage chronic health conditions.

Abbott is committed to helping employees fulfill their potential and build rewarding careers. We choose our people carefully and guide them toward meaningful career paths, ensuring our human resources strategy reflects the dynamic opportunities inherent in the breadth and diversity of our global businesses. Abbott exposes our people to a wide array of exciting challenges and experiences, affording them remarkable opportunities to address emerging health care needs around the world.

We recognize that current and prospective employees’ skills, interests, values and priorities may differ from one country or region to another. In each market where we operate, Abbott uses internal and external research to develop a competitive, locally relevant employee value proposition and total rewards package – and to more effectively address local challenges and priorities in areas such as diversity, inclusion and work-life harmony.

We are honored to have been recognized as a leading employer in more than a dozen countries around the world in 2011. Australia is our most recent affiliate to receive the prestigious Great Place to Work designation, joining Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. These awards are based on surveys measuring employee confidence, pride and sense of unity conducted by the Great Places to Work Institute. Additionally, the Corporate Research Foundation recognized our affiliates in China, Germany, Italy and Spain as top employers, and Business Data Israel ranked Abbott that country’s third-best pharmaceutical employer.

Elements of Abbott’s award-winning workplace environment include:

• A commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion
• Extensive professional development, mentoring and training programs
• Efforts to encourage work-life harmony
• Opportunities for employees to provide feedback
• Competitive compensation and benefits, tailored appropriately for each market
• Protection and promotion of human rights
• Encouragement of wellness campaigns
• Commitment to employee health and safety

Our employees themselves play a key role in advancing the working environment in our operations around the world. In Korea, for example, our Pride campaign seeks to establish Abbott as the country’s premier employer. A cross-functional team of more than 50 employees work together to advance Abbott Korea’s performance in four key areas: enhancing mentoring, training, career mapping and leadership development; improving the work experience for women; becoming a local employer of choice; and being a fun place to work. Since the Pride program’s launch in 2008, our internal Abbott Culture Survey has shown improvements in employee innovation, motivation, leadership and coordination.

Similarly, in 2011, our employees in China expressed interest in gaining additional leadership training and building a caring corporate culture. In response, we launched a broad employee volunteer program that enables our Chinese employees to use their skills and talents to serve the community while gaining leadership experience. Among other opportunities, the program enables Abbott scientists in 10 Chinese cities to visit local grade schools and teach hands-on science experiments.