How’s this for a job perk: knowing your work helps people suffering from painful, debilitating, chronic illnesses to get out of bed, move without agony and even enjoy life.
Every one of the 900 employees at Amgen Inc. in West Greenwich can enjoy that image if they choose to.
With headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and 20,000 employees worldwide, Amgen is the world’s largest biotechnology company by revenue. The West Greenwich facility produces Enbrel, a drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Another Amgen drug, Vecticix, treats colorectal cancer. And, in a pulse-driving development, clinical trials are underway at the West Greenwich facility for a wholly new drug to lower cholesterol.
Beyond the satisfaction of easing suffering, Amgen employees also enjoy a host of benefits: pay and bonuses based on merit; quality insurance plans; continuing education programs; health and fitness and nutrition programs, with rewards for progress; two weeklong shutdowns a year in addition to vacation days; companywide and personal charity and volunteering incentives; parties and help with specific needs, including adoption or treatment.
“Amgen is a place where all people can find their niche,” said Patrice Dudley-Aviles, director of human resources. “It is professionally rewarding, the work is cutting edge, and [employees] have a variety of activities, networking and partnerships.”
Dudley-Aviles said she did not have figures about the company’s retention rate, but added that “many employees” have been on staff continuously since Amgen opened in West Greenwich nearly 11 years ago.
Amgen employees are constantly aware of the company’s formal values, which include “compete intensely and win.” The topic of competition arises over trials of the cholesterol-fighting drug AMG 145, which Amgen hopes will replace statins, the big tool used against heart disease since the 1990s.
The enormous Amgen property almost resembles a small industrial town, easily visible from Interstate 95, but feels like a college campus, Dudley-Aviles said, because in its corridors and nooks and lunch rooms “people are conversing and studying and brainstorming. It is an environment of continuous learning.”
She said Amgen and its workers benefit collectively and individually because “we value the whole person, not just the worker.” She added, “We recognize that people bring a diversity of things to the organization and we should be able to bring that out to encourage innovation.”
One way that diversity is encouraged and used is through the company’s affinity groups, offering clubs within the company oriented toward women, veterans, blacks, Latinos, gay and lesbians, handicapped people and other subsets of people found in a large workplace. These affinity groups enjoy each other’s company, invite speakers on topics of common interest and host signature events open to everyone.
For example, ABLE – the Amgen Ability Bettered Through Leadership & Education affinity group – helps Amgen recruit and retain talented disabled people and serves as a resource for employees who may become disabled.
Jen Kapadia, who has worked as a manufacturing specialist at the plant for 10 1/2 years, Amgen offers flexible work hours, job sharing and telecommuting, to help people accommodate family needs.
Kapadia said Amgen workers do, indeed, feel appreciated. A program called “Bravo” allows anyone to nominate someone on staff for notably good performance. A Bravo award can be redeemed for gift cards to popular retailers.
She also appreciates the company’s effort to help employees maintain their own health. There is an onsite fitness center, open around the clock; exercise classes; a nutritionist; a “Maintain, Don’t Gain” program and a Simply Fit team; and healthy foods at the cafeteria. “Vitality” is the company’s health enhancement program. Participation earns people Vitality points, which are good toward discounts on future medical premiums.
Jennifer Bianco, head of communications for Amgen in Rhode Island, said the best thing about working at Amgen was the positive energy there. “The staff knows we are doing important work manufacturing innovative drugs – we are not making widgets. It is inspiring, and it comes with commitment. People here feed off the energy and the commitment. We challenge them to be more innovative without compromising quality or safety.”
The bottom line – or one of them – is the thanks Amgen employees get from patients. Kapadia said an email was passed around from a girl about eight or nine years ago who thanked the workers for a drug that allowed her to get out of bed, play outside and ride a bike. “We talked about that for days,” Kapadia said.
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