Science survey ranks top biopharma employers

Science annual survey of Top Employers polls employees in the biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, and related industries. Respondents to the web-based survey are asked to rate companies based on 23 driving characteristics, including financial strength, easy adaptation to change, and a research-driven environment.

This year, Genentech, Inc., of South San Francisco, California, again receives top honors in a ranking of the world's most respected biopharmaceutical employers. The company has placed first in seven out of eight years that Science has carried out this survey. Boehringer Ingelheim of Ingelheim, Germany, comes in a close second, with Genzyme of Cambridge, Massachusetts, completing the top three.

This year's survey identified 17 other top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, making up a top 20 of biopharma employers.

The rankings, determined from a study conducted by an independent research firm commissioned by the business office of the journal, will appear in a special business feature of the 2 October 2009 issue.

Like Science's 2008 ranking of biopharma employers, the 2009 survey sought to identify the companies with the best reputations as employers, based on over 2,300 survey responses from readers of Science and other respondents in industry. Survey participants came from North America (73%), Europe (15%), and the Pacific Rim (8%); 85 percent worked in private industry.

Survey responses were analyzed by The Brighton Consulting Group, which used a mathematical process to assign a unique score to rate the companies' employer reputation. Each company received a ranking, for example, on the basis of whether it treats its employees with respect, whether its work-culture values align with employees' personal values, and other factors.

Source: American Association for the Advancement of Science