Equity

We will create a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment that treats all associates with dignity and respect.

At Novartis, we’re striving to build an inclusive and equitable workplace that empowers all of our associates to achieve their full potential. That’s why we’ve publicly committed to achieving gender balance in management and ensuring pay equity and transparency for all of our associates globally. 

Pay equity and transparency

Pay equity is a fundamental principle of our employment policies and is reflected in our commitment to treating all employees fairly and respectfully, as outlined in our Code of Ethics. Our commitment to pay equity and transparency led us to join the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) in 2018. Learn more about our commitments.

We have established a multi-year program to implement global principles and processes to ensure pay equity and transparency across all our countries of operation. Our key actions include: use of objective internal and external benchmarking data to remove possible bias, removal of the use of historical salary data, annual pay equity analysis and adjustments, where appropriate, and transparent communication of individual pay position compared to internal and/or external benchmark data.

Gender balance in management

An overall gender pay gap is often caused by unequal representation of one gender in traditionally higher paid skill sectors and/or senior leadership levels. By focusing on achieving gender balance in management, we aim to positively influence the overall gender pay gap.

We know we have more work to do but we are making progress. Women currently make up 51% of our overall workforce, with 47% women in management and 31% women on our Board of Directors.

Globally, Novartis currently has a global median pay gap of -3.0% and a global mean pay gap of 3.1%.

Additional steps we are taking toward gender balance include the use of balanced slates and interview panels in our recruitment practices and gender-neutral parental leave.

We have established a Novartis gender strategy with tools to help leadership teams across the organization track their gender representation in both external applicants and current management population to help us work toward our aspiration for gender balance.

Embracing equity to reimagine medicine

At Novartis, we embrace equity through our pledge with the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) to achieve gender balance in management and ensure pay equity and transparency for all our employees globally. We do this because it's the right thing to do, and because it helps us reimagine medicine for more patients around the world.

Our commitment is brought to life by people like Payal, a Head of Social Marketing at Novartis, who has made it her mission to ensure women in her region of rural India are educated on the value of healthcare for themselves and their families.

LGBTQI Equity

As an organization, we actively promote Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer & Intersex (LGBTQI) equity and awareness at work and in our wider society. We want everyone to be free, to be their best and true selves at work without fear of discrimination. That’s why we were the first global pharmaceutical company to support the United Nations Standards of Conduct for Business, tackling discrimination against LGBTI People.

Learn More

We have 19 LGBTQI Employee Resource Groups in 15 countries.

Disability equity

Novartis is a member of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network, which promotes the inclusion of people with disabilities in workplaces around the world. We also work in collaboration with the Center for Disability Integration at the University of St Gallen, to identify and develop best practice solutions to enable people with disabilities to participate as equal members of our organization. We are also proud to be a member of the Valuable 500, supporting a global movement to drive systemic change and innovate together for disability inclusion.

Our culture is built on strong values and behaviors, underpinned by our Code of Ethics, that are designed to ensure our people feel safe, and are seen, heard and valued for who they are. We work to address all forms of discrimination or harassment, and provide our people with a safe and confidential process to report any misconduct.

Contact our SpeakUp Office.

Read our Code of Ethics.