Diversity

Novo Nordisk is committed to promoting diversity and ensuring equal opportunities in the company. This is not only an expression of our social responsibility, but also a strategy to ensure future business success.

Diversity is important to Novo Nordisk because it allows us to better understand customer needs, attract and retain talented people, and operate more effectively in a global business environment. Diversity fosters an international mindset that enhances innovation as well as our ability to work cross-culturally and expand into new markets. It also gives us a better understanding of the society in which we operate.

Diverse management teams are best suited to promote globalisation and drive performance. This is the underlying assumption of the company’s renewed diversity strategy. Inclusion is an integral element; the key to
success is valuing and utilising differences.

Selecting the best individual for a particular position remains the primary principle for recruitment. Secondly, ensuring equal opportunities and non-discrimination is part of the company’s values-based framework.

Performance 2008

This year witnessed the re-alignment of the diversity strategy to better address the challenges of our business. The objective is to leverage individuals’ unique perspectives, talents and skills to strengthen teams’ ability to deliver competitive business results.

Diversity in the organisation stimulates engagement and innovation. Novo Nordisk puts great emphasis on enhancing opportunities for current and future employees and creating an inclusive environment where individual differences are valued and respected.

Several specific initiatives drive diversity within Novo Nordisk, including a focus on women in leadership positions and further embedding diversity into the People Strategy.

In 2008, a conference reviewed diversity initiatives at various strategic affiliates, including China, Japan, US, Brazil and South Africa. This conference also launched a global network that will guide strategic diversity development, share best practices, and raise awareness of the importance of diversity to our business growth and innovation.

Below are additional 2008 performance highlights:

Compliance

An important element underpinning our strategy is preventing discrimination and promoting equal opportunities within the organisation. Novo Nordisk makes an effort to monitor the changes in local, regional, national, and supra-national equal opportunities regulation and adjust novo Nordisk’s policies to comply whether at local or corporate level. In 2008, the South African affiliate made a concerted effort to align with the ‘Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment’ legislation, which seeks to transform the social and economic legacy of the apartheid era.

Diversity in the People Strategy

At Novo Nordisk, diversity is important in all functions. Diversity in the product line helps ensure a growing presence in the marketplace. Diversity of the customer base is a reality of our global reach. Diversity of our employees helps us to manage and understand what we as a company need to do to sustain our growth and provide a workplace of choice.

The results of globalisation and the impact of demographic changes compel us to link diversity and the People Strategy. Embedding diversity into the five People themes will help to ensure that the goals and objectives of the Strategy are achieved.

To ensure that our future leaders reflect the global world in which we operate, we must make diversity an important part of talent and leadership development.
To ensure equity throughout the organisation and to minimize subjective ratings, objective measurements must be required of our performance management.
To ensure that we are able to attract talented people to our organisation around the globe, we must look to all sources of talent, discovered and yet-to-be discovered.
To ensure an engaging workplace, we must value, respect and use all our differences – maximizing every employee’s potential and contribution to the organisation.
To ensure organisational effectiveness, diversity must be guide design of the organisation, helping us to build cultural competencies and cross-functional strengths.

Whether it is expansion in China or shifting markets in Brazil, our business drivers are clear. Diversity can help in achieving the success we are striving for by helping HR professionals in all areas of the people life cycle achieve their targets and build a workplace of choice around the globe.

Women in management

The percentage of women in senior management at Novo Nordisk remains small compared to our overall gender composition. Not merely a challenge in Denmark, attracting, retaining and developing women into management positions can support growth around the globe. To this end, several initiatives have been launched to help Novo Nordisk achieve its goal of greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

In 2008 Novo Nordisk Inc., the US affiliate in Princeton, New Jersey, hosted a second annual conference to help women in Novo Nordisk navigate personal development, career advancement, and work-life balance. The WINN (Women in Novo Nordisk) Conference included workshops on effective communication, building networks and defining success. One outcome is an energized network of professional women in the company determined to help each other meet the challenges women face in the workplace.

In addition to female talent attraction initiatives, development and promotion are vital to increasing the number of women in management positions. The participation of women managers in the Lighthouse and Greenhouse talent programmes is one way in which Novo Nordisk is seeks to accomplish this goal.

Communicating about diversity

It is an important part of the company’s diversity strategy that all employees understand the value of diversity for the company. Communication initiatives:

A communication plan was developed in 2008 that will enhance our ability to effectively communicate our diversity ambitions. It includes media tools for both an internal and external audience.
Communicating effectively with all stakeholders, both internal and external, will be given higher priority in 2009.

Stakeholder Engagement

To ensure that the Novo Nordisk diversity strategy is relevant to the business and meets the needs of underrepresented constituents, it is important to engage in constructive dialogue and build networks among various stakeholders. Our internal stakeholders include employees across organised groups, functional areas, levels and job descriptions. External stakeholders include customers, competitors, NGOs and various groups in society. In 2008 Novo Nordisk expanded the outreach to stakeholders further, including:

Participating in a ‘Mainstreaming Diversity’ laboratory organised by the European Alliance for Corporate Responsibility on behalf of the European Commission.
Participating in a ‘Diversity and Innovation Laboratory’ in cooperation with several Danish companies and initiated by the Danish Human Rights Institute
Engaging with and participating in various organisations throughout Europe and the world, including Danish Human Rights Institute, CSR Europe, Mindshift, Catalyst and others.

Stakeholder engagement will continue to be a priority for 2009 as we build closer ties within our business and around the globe.

Employee surveys

eVoice, the annual employee survey of the working climate, measures how Novo Nordisk employees perceive the level of diversity and equal opportunities within the company In the 2008 annual employee survey of the working climate, eVoice, participants responded with an average score of 4.2 (out of a possible 5), indicating their level of agreement with the statement “My work gives me the opportunity to use and develop my competences/skills”. Employees were asked to indicate to what degree they agreed with a set of statements. These included: “Novo Nordisk is leading the fight against diabetes,” “Novo Nordisk’s results within the social and environmental area are important to the future of the company,” and “I know how my job contributes to the success of Novo Nordisk.”

Goals for 2009

For Novo Nordisk’s diversity strategy to be effective, implementation is key. Important focus areas in 2008 include building systems of accountability and creating relevant goals. In 2009, we will also:

Implement the Global Diversity Strategy that links business drivers to diversity needs.
Develop key performance indicators.
Facilitate and support of the creation of affiliate and functional area diversity strategies and programs.
Re-enforce the Equal Opportunities Guidelines.
Monitor compliance with our equal opportunities policy and all relevant laws and regulations.

Novo Nordisk's approach

The foundation of Novo Nordisk’s approach to diversity is guided by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. People seeking employment with Novo Nordisk, or those already employed with the company, have the right not to be discriminated against because of their background in respect of gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status, religion, colour, race, ethnic origin or political orientation. Novo Nordisk works to ensure equal opportunities with regard to recruitment, conditions at work, remuneration, training and promotion, and termination of employment.

Novo Nordisk’s Equal Opportunities and Diversity Strategy will be supported by a number of implementation measures as described below.

Implementation of Diversity at Novo Nordisk

In a first phase the focus will be on fostering gender and nationality diversity in management teams. Taking a five-year perspective, the aspiration is that all senior management teams should be diverse in gender and nationality. Currently, 12 of 28 senior management teams include men, women, locals and non-locals. To bring the remaining teams in line with this objective, a number of supporting actions are being introduced.

Greater transparency and a peer challenger function are being introduced, which includes succession lists and preparation of individuals through development plans. From 2009, inclusion of men, women, locals and non-locals must be considered for succession lists for all key positions.

Mentorship will be offered and supportive network initiatives including expatriates
networks and a ‘family-buddy’ system is being set up. The ‘Women in Novo Nordisk’ (WINN) network is being replicated in other regions to support women’s career development throughout the company.

Training in diversity and cultural inclusion is offered to all employees and is integrated in the company’s leadership development programmes for managers, vice presidents and young talent to build leadership capabilities and a global mindset.