Biogen Idec is among the best Swiss companies to work for. During the past few months, the Great Place to Work Institute reviewed 800 companies in Switzerland with the potential to be a top employer and selected 100 companies to participate in their contest.
Biogen Idec ranked fourth after companies such as Google, Cisco and Microsoft.
The ranking is based primarily on employees' responses to a proprietary employee survey plus a culture audit conducted by the Great Place to Work Institute. According to the outcome of the study, the top-ranked companies are characterized by a culture which focuses on innovation, flat hierarchies, small teams and empowered employees.
But let's start from the very beginning:
It was in January 2004, when Biogen Idec sent three employees to a booming little city in the heart of Switzerland. The mission was simple: the establishment of a new International Headquarters.
The assignment was the creation of a new multi-cultural, high performing, motivating work environment to drive the international growth and expansion.
After only a few months the critical positions were filled: many people with entrepreneurial spirit and ambition were interested in joining Biogen Idec.
The members of the team had very different strengths, origins, experiences and talents but they all had something in common: The desire to make a difference!
Five years later the International headquarters is a fully integrated organization with nearly 150 employees from more than 30 different countries. Our retention rate is close to 100 percent.
The secret behind this: our unique culture. This culture was developed by all employees and is based on respect, commitment, empowerment, recognition, team work and flat hierarchies.
In the Zug office we often hear colleagues, candidates or business partners say how impressed they are by our positive and vibrant atmosphere. But if you hear this all the time you get skeptical and start to wonder: Is this really such a "Great Place to Work"? How do you compare with other companies? Is there a way to find out?
The answer is not difficult: You can participate in an independent, well-recognized employer branding survey, which at the same time provides:
- An internal and external benchmark
- Data to identify areas of weakness
Therefore, Biogen Idec International GmbH took the decision to participate in the Swiss 2009 Great Place to Work survey - the first to be conducted among all industries in Switzerland.
What would the chances be for a company our size to make it onto the list of Great Places to Work in a country with a very visible and strong pharmaceutical industry and the usual big players?
First of all, there is no single or function area that makes a company a great place to work. It is not merely about a good salary, a parking space, or any single thing. It is the sum of all, which is significantly greater than the single components. It is about everyone contributing to making our company a "Great Place to Work".
The "Great Place to Work" survey consists of three parts:
- Quantitative (i.e., statistics on the organization and workforce)
- Qualitative (i.e., culture audit)
- Employee survey (i.e., an anonymous all-employee survey consisting of approximately 50 questions)
For the culture audit portion, we submitted seven massive binders demonstrating all initiatives, tools, processes, policies, programs, events, employee benefits, development programs and communication mediums in place at Biogen Idec International. We created a booklet of 45 pages addressing the specific questions from Great Place to Work and illustrating why we think we should be top ranked as an employer.
In the survey we received not only a response rate of 90 percent but also scored very highly across many different areas. Finally, and with pride, we can officially call Biogen Idec International headquarters a "Great Place to Work".
Our next mission is clear: We want to keep it that way and are committed to making it even better.
