Global Citizenship

Creating a Culture of Citizenship > Our Workplace Hiring and Advancement

Helping Employees Meet Their Potential

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Women’s Leadership Program in Shanghai

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Attracting and Retaining the World’s Best Talent

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Strengthening Our Leadership Pipeline

Factoid

Abbott strives to create and foster a workplace environment that enables our employees around the world to achieve their greatest potential.

Our women’s leadership program in Shanghai, China, focuses on hiring and training promising young scientists.

Abbott’s robust hiring, advancement and leadership development programs help us find and retain the best talent in the world at all levels. Our employees work together to find solutions to the world’s most challenging health care issues.

Global competition for talent is intense. Robust hiring, advancement and leadership development programs at all levels help our employees realize their potential and ensure that we attract and retain the best talent to fuel our growth.

Entry Level

Abbott offers numerous hiring and development programs to help employees begin or enhance their careers, starting with the Abbott internship program. In 2011, we hosted 311 interns at more than 15 facilities in the United States. Half of our interns were women, and 39 percent were minorities. Additionally, 45 percent of our 2010 internship class accepted full-time positions at Abbott in 2011.

In addition to the U.S. interns, 576 interns were hosted in affiliates around the world in 2011. We also established a new framework to support continued global expansion of our internship program.

University Relations

To further build our talent pipeline, we work with a wide range of universities to recruit entry-level talent through both campus career planning initiatives and student organizations. We partner with universities to identify potential talent in fields ranging from engineering, manufacturing and quality to finance, human resources, information technology, business administration and marketing, as well as physician and pharmacy training programs.

We also partner with multiple organizations focused on advancing women and minorities in specific areas of study. Our U.S. recruiting partners include the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting and the National Association of Black Accountants, among others. Outside the United States, we continue to implement new recruiting partnerships with local schools and student organizations while expanding internship and entry-level rotational opportunities.

Along with our efforts to recruit female and minority students, we also partner with a wide range of organizations to help recruit diverse candidates at more advanced stages of their careers. These partners include the National Black MBA Association, the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, the National Sales Network and the Consortium.

Professional Development Programs

Our two- and three-year Professional Development Programs provide employees with opportunities to gain diverse experiences by rotating through three to five assignments within the company, including assignments with our international affiliates. These programs have proven to be a leadership pipeline, with nearly one-quarter of alumni going on to senior leadership positions at Abbott. These programs also demonstrate our commitment to diversity. Of the 108 people hired through these programs in 2011, 43 percent were minorities and 59 percent were women.

Talent Management

We utilize a company-wide talent management process that creates a strong pipeline of leaders to sustain and grow the business. Our process includes talent review meetings in all lines of business and geographies, covering multiple levels and functions of our organization and culminating in reviews of executive positions by senior management. Leadership teams in each business unit and functional area identify talent for current and future leadership opportunities, and these teams prioritize the types of development needed for targeted employees to prepare for more senior positions.

All employees participate in our annual performance management process, known as Performance Excellence. This process helps employees integrate their work priorities with the broader objectives of our organization, understand management expectations and demonstrate behaviors that are consistent with our values.

Note: All data in the Global Citizenship section reflects activities prior to the separation of Abbott and AbbVie on January 1, 2013.