
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.