Trailblazer PACESETTER Late Bloomer

Biogen, a pharmaceutical company, has been ranked as a PACESETTER on the Women’s Power and Influence Index. Biogen is actively pursuing pay parity through regular reviews aligned with its pay philosophy.

Through their ‘Women on the Rise’ program, Biogen is actively promoting the leadership and professional development of their female employees. Biogen provides a ‘Women’s Innovation Network’ that offers mentorship and ongoing learning opportunities. They provide 16 weeks of maternity leave and eight weeks of paid parental bonding leave for nonbirthing parents. To propel women’s representation in the life sciences sector, Biogen launched the Bioscience & Investor Inclusion Group (BIIG).

As of 2022, women make up 52.72% of Biogen’s workforce, and 51.38% of women hold leadership positions within the company, an increase of 2.75% from 2021.

Sufficient information related to Biogen’s pay parity, annual pay analysis reviews, women’s recruitment efforts, or subsidized childcare offerings could not be found.

Review the comprehensive WPI criteria and methodology.

✓ Does the company demonstrate a clear and transparent commitment to equal pay? 

“By 2025, Biogen aims to achieve gender parity in roles at the Director level and above. As part of our commitment, we have prioritized a focus on equal pay for equal work, as outlined in our Philosophy on Pay Equity. In 2022, we shared the results of our global gender pay gap across multiple levels.” Ref: Pg 31, Biogen ESG Report 2022

✘ Does the company perform an annual analysis of gender pay equity and pay disparities? 

Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.

✘ Do female employees earn at least 95% of what their male counterparts earn?

Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.

✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to actively attracting, retaining, and/or promoting women within the organization? 

“As of December 31, 2020, globally, 48% of director-level-and-above positions were held by women, a 2% increase from 2019. We work toward gender parity in all functions globally and develop the next generation of women leaders through our Women’s Leadership Program, which cultivates high-potential women for leadership roles.” Ref: Pg 9, Biogen DE&I Report 2021

✓ Does the company provide professional development programs designed specifically for female employees? 

“To create and sustain a workplace as diverse and inclusive as the patients we serve, we offer programs that invest in our talent pipeline and in our current leaders, including: Women on the Rise: Cultivating and driving engagement and retention among emerging women leaders. Participants of the program, delivered with Simmons University, uncover and leverage their strengths and core values to intentionally nurture their leadership brand and impact.” Ref: Pg 27, Biogen ESG 2022 Report

✓ Does the company provide professional development programs designed specifically for diverse employees?

” To create and sustain a workplace as diverse and inclusive as the patients we serve, we offer programs that invest in our talent pipeline and in our current leaders, including: The Partnership, Inc.’s BioDiversity Fellows: Continuing to bolster our talent pipeline with a diverse mix of leaders. Approximately 1% of employees have participated in The Partnership programs.” Ref: Pg 27, Biogen ESG 2022 Report

✓ Does the company offer a formal mentoring program to support the career advancement of all female employees? 

“The Women’s Innovation Network is committed to ensuring this employee population is fully included, engaged and valued at all levels. In addition to creating networking, mentoring and learning opportunities, WIN further drives increased representation of women in senior leadership positions.” Ref: Pg 28, Biogen DEI Report 2021

✓ Does the company offer a formal mentoring program to support the career advancement of diverse employees?  

“In 2020, membership increased across Biogen’s seven Employee Resource Networks (ERNs), internal groups for employees who share characteristics, life experiences and interests – and their allies. These networks provide opportunities to exchange knowledge, find mentors and receive support, which can be invaluable for career development. Employees interested in advancing inclusion are welcome to join any network. MOSAIC: A multicultural network that aims to foster awareness, appreciation and collaboration within Biogen through a richer understanding of employees’ cultural heritage and identity differences.” Ref: Pg 28, Biogen DEI Report 2021

✘ Does the company have policies and programs in place to actively recruit female candidates?

Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.

✓ Does the company have policies and programs in place to actively recruit diverse candidates? 

“In 2020, we launched a new People Analytics Dashboard, which provides Human Resources professionals and business leaders real-time metrics to support decision-making in line with our talent priorities. Providing access to anonymized insights at any time is an important step toward understanding our performance and any gaps in hiring and retaining underrepresented talent while maintaining employee privacy.” Ref: pg. 8, Biogen DEI Report 2021

✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to providing support and/or time off for women with children?

“We support you and your loved ones in your pursuit of health and well-being so you can thrive both personally and professionally. Our benefits can vary by region but might include: On-site childcare” Ref:Biogen Career Benefits

✓Does the company provide child care support for employees?  

“To meet the needs of new parents, in the United States, we provide a range of additional support, from breastfeeding support and on-site lactation facilities to childcare. For example, we work with Bright Horizons to offer early childhood education for infants through kindergarten prep, as well as summer programs.” Ref: Pg 30, Biogen ESG 2022 Report

✘ Does the company offer subsidized child care?

Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.

✓Does the company offer paid maternity leave for birthing parents?

“Our U.S. maternity leave provides 100% of base pay for up to 16 weeks, including eight weeks of short-term disability benefits and eight weeks of parental bonding leave.” Ref: Pg 28, Biogen ESG 2022 Report

✓Does the company provide paid parental leave that extends beyond birthing parents to include surrogacy, adoption, and paternity leave?

“Non-birth parents of a newborn or adopted child, including those using a surrogate, receive eight weeks of paid parental bonding leave.” Ref: Pg 28, Biogen ESG 2022 Report

✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to supporting the health benefits of its female employees?

“We strive to offer comprehensive, industry-leading benefits, which we updated in 2022 to include even more robust mental health support and medical travel coverage. We provide employees and their families with convenient, free opportunities to improve mental health, sustain emotional well-being and increase resilience. Introduced in 2022, our U.S. Healthcare Travel Reimbursement is now available for employee travel to access health services not available within a 100-mile radius of their home. This supplements other benefits, including paid pregnancy-loss leave and paid leave for new parents.” Ref: Pg 27, Biogen ESG 2022 Report

✓ Does the company offer women-specific health benefits for female employees?

“Employees completing an adoption or surrogacy may receive up to $10,000 (lifetime maximum of $20,000) in reimbursement for related expenses such as adoption and surrogacy fees, court and attorney fees, travel and lodging expenses, agency and placement fees, medical expenses of the birth mother and child prior to adoption or surrogacy, immigration fees, and immunization and translation fees.” Ref: Pg 28, Biogen ESG 2022 Report

✓ Does the company have a policy listing prohibited behaviors, such as harassment and retaliation?

“Regardless of the type of misconduct reported, we will not tolerate retaliation against anyone who cooperates in an investigation or who makes a good faith report of an alleged violation of laws, regulations, the Code or policies. We take claims of retaliation seriously. All such claims will be thoroughly investigated and resolved.” Ref: Pg 45, Biogen Code of Business Conduct

✓ Does the company mandate all employees to undergo harassment and discrimination training?

“All Biogen employees are trained on our Code of Business Conduct upon hire and undergo mandatory annual refresher training thereafter. This training includes information about our issue reporting hotlines and other tools and familiarizes our team with the system that allows us to address, resolve, and track any human rights or other issues that may arise.” Ref: Biogen Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

✓ Does the company have a defined harassment policy that includes promptly addressing reported incidents?

“Speak up if you have any concerns. Biogen strictly prohibits retaliation. This is a cornerstone of the Compliance Program. We do not tolerate any form of retaliation, whether by a manager or co-worker, against an individual because he or she made a good faith report of a legal or ethics concern. This non-retaliation policy also extends to anyone who assists with or cooperates in an investigation or reports a legal or ethics concern.” Ref: pg. 12, Biogen Code of Business Conduct

✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to helping external stakeholders address gender equality issues?

“To inspire the next generation of scientists and to build a diverse pipeline of talent beyond our walls, we support a variety of programs for underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This work seemed particularly important in 2020, a year that highlighted persistent racial and ethnic inequities at a time when the pandemic heightened barriers to equal educational opportunities. Biogen rose to overcome these challenges and engage diverse student groups in new ways” Ref: Page 10, Biogen DEI Report 2021

✓ Does the company offer and support initiatives that promote gender equality in the community?

✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to helping internal stakeholders/employees address gender equality issues?

“We work toward gender parity in all functions globally and develop the next generation of women leaders through our Women’s Leadership Program, which cultivates high-potential women for leadership roles.” Ref: Page 9, Biogen DEI Report 2021

✓ Does the company offer equity-focused trainings, speaker programs, or events for employees?

“We rolled out all-employee training, which includes sessions on confronting bias, building allyship and practical strategies for developing agility between fast and slow thinking. The sessions are encouraging company-wide awareness, dialogue, empathy and involvement toward a more diverse and inclusive workplace.” Ref: Pg 6, Biogen DEI Report 2021

*Our Index utilizes binary measurements, where ✓ represents a score of 1, and ✘ represents a score of 0.

*All links are valid as of April 2024