Ethics and transparency
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Our approach to Ethics and transparency
Science can keep people and their communities safe
We seek to create positive societal impact and embed ethical behaviour in all our business activities, markets and value chain. We do this by promoting ethical, transparent, and inclusive policies and practices, both within our company as well as across all our partners and suppliers. It’s important that we create value beyond the impact of our medicines on patients. Building trust by demonstrating integrity, transparency and fair treatment is central to everything we do.
Our focus areas
We are committed to driving the highest ethical standards guided by our Code of Ethics and Values. We encourage Values-based decision-making in all we do and across our entire value chain. This includes many different areas, such as bioethics, bribery and corruption, ethical use of personal data, sales and marketing practices, and human rights, to name a few. We aim to meet the expectations of our patients, investors and society.
We are strengthened by a diverse workforce, one that is empowered to challenge conventional thinking. We value our differences because we believe we are at our most creative and innovative when we have diversity of thought. We are committed to a workforce which reflects the communities in which we operate and the patients we support. We aim to create a working environment where every employee has a sense of belonging.
We are committed to providing a healthy and safe working environment and are embedding a safety, health and environment (SHE) culture across the whole organisation. Areas of focus include fostering a culture of learning, human and operational performance principles, engineering and preventative maintenance, and supporting employee health through flexible ways of working, access to disease prevention, and treatment and mental health services.
Our ambition
By 2025:
Gender equality
Maintain 100%
75% reduction
10 new countries
Our achievements
49.5%
83%
72%
7 countries
*As at end December 2022, source: Sustainability Report
Your concerns related to our ethics or conduct are important to us
We value speaking up as part of our ethical business culture. We want anyone who has a concern about our ethics or conduct to report it without delay. With our AZethics platform, we are making it easier for individuals to make a report using a simple, one-step intake form and the option to remain anonymous where permitted by local law. Internally, we also encourage a culture of transparent reporting of concerns to the relevant manager, HR or Compliance. We are committed to investigating and responding to all concerns of alleged misconduct or breaches of law or policy that are raised to us.
