The pharmaceutical firm is among the honorees on the Fortune 100 Greatest Firms to Work For Europe listing in 2025.
Ever since spinning off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013, AbbVie has made tradition a strategic enterprise precedence.
Why? “We predict sustained efficiency will probably be pushed by a constant tradition,” explains Jason Smith, senior vp and head of Europe business operations at AbbVie.
AbbVie’s extremely specialised work requires rigorous growth and coaching, with a mean tenure throughout Europe of 9 years and a few group members serving greater than 20 years of their roles.
“So, we’re not searching for a one- or two-year view on monetary efficiency; we’re searching for sustained efficiency,” Smith says. “When you do it not the best means, it’s possible you’ll win for 1 / 4 or a yr, however you’re not going to maintain the efficiency. You’ll see individuals much less engaged. You’ll see attrition.”
Mismanaging your group can create complications that last more than a few fiscal quarters. In just some months, a poor supervisor can negatively influence a group with a long time of collective service to the group.
That’s why AbbVie is deeply captivated with its expectations for leaders, captured in its “Methods We Work” — 5 behaviors that information steady conversations about management and efficient office norms — that are, briefly:
- All for One AbbVie. Everybody works collectively inclusively to pursue shared success.
- Resolve Sensible & Positive. Groups embrace ambiguity to make high-quality choices rapidly and ethically.
- Agile & Accountable. Everybody takes duty for outcomes, good or unhealthy.
- Clear & Brave. Transparency and open communication guarantee studying and enchancment for all.
- Make Potentialities Actual. Everybody commits to problem the established order in pursuit of excellence.
Most firms have values or management rules, however how the Methods We Work involves life at AbbVie is among the causes it made the 2025 Fortune 100 Greatest Firms to Work For™ Europe Checklist.
Leaders at AbbVie can count on these management behaviors to return up in efficiency opinions. “Finish of yr opinions are equal elements enterprise efficiency and behaviors,” Smith says.
Behaviors are measured by means of 360-degree opinions and worker surveys the place knowledge might be damaged down by operate to research the person influence of individuals leaders.
“We search for development variances yr over yr,” Smith says of worker survey evaluation. “We evaluate to your peer group, however we additionally look very particularly at outliers the place we now have individuals leaders who’re displaying up extra within the purple on a few of these behaviors.”
The place leaders have alternatives to enhance on points of their management, they create actions plans, with progress measured over time.
In consequence, 84% of AbbVie workers in Europe say managers present a honest curiosity of their well-being and success. That’s 33 factors greater than what’s discovered at a typical firm in Europe, the place simply 51% of workers say their supervisor reveals a honest curiosity of their lives, based on surveys from Nice Place To Work®.
Excessive ranges of belief in management are rewarded with greater ranges of discretionary effort and agility, key components of success for any enterprise. At AbbVie, 92% of workers give further effort at work in comparison with simply 59% of workers at a typical European office.
Sustaining a high-trust tradition
These numbers aren’t tutorial for AbbVie. It has needed to diversify the income as soon as generated by its bestseller Humira which now faces elevated competitors from generics. A sturdy pipeline of recent drug candidates is significant for progress — and in recent times AbbVie has closely invested in acquisitions so as to add new candidates to its portfolio.
With an increasing workforce, a number of practices be certain that new leaders perceive what is predicted of managers.
“After someone comes into a brand new function main a group or a corporation, you’ll have a facilitated dialogue with their direct reviews,” Smith shares. The dialog isn’t centered on enterprise efficiency however as an alternative investigates behaviors and tradition.
“It’s your duty as a pacesetter to take all of that and to not solely act upon it, however to be sure you’re conscious of it on an ongoing foundation,” Smith says.
One other system of assist is AbbVie’s tradition ambassador program.
About 70 volunteers in Europe be part of colleagues from throughout the corporate to tackle an advisory function, collaborating in a cross-functional Tradition Summit and growing motion plans to enhance office practices inside their native area. Being an envoy isn’t for the faint of coronary heart. “It’s a must to be keen to put money into going again and difficult your management group at a neighborhood stage,” Smith says.
Making tradition a precedence day-after-day
The Methods We Work isn’t one thing that leaders speak about annually throughout a tradition occasion or at a efficiency overview. “We wish it to be embedded each week in the way in which you do enterprise,” Smith says.
For instance, the group in Romania determined to deal with psychological security.
“We discovered that there was fairly a variety of the spectrum when it comes to individuals in groups actually feeling like they might converse up and problem their chief,” Smith says. For a pharmaceutical firm, an absence of psychological security can result in much less innovation, groupthink, and even programs failure.
The group had a collection of discussions and trainings for leaders within the subject, constructing consciousness and skillsets. The outcome? An 8-point bounce in measures of belief on the Nice Place To Work survey for these workers.
Information is a useful useful resource for making a high-performing office tradition, Smith says. “Don’t simply be unfavorable however search for the outliers,” he advises. “Search for the areas of enchancment and ask individuals about it.”
He shares his favourite query to ask workers as he travels from nation to nation throughout his portfolio in Europe: “If in case you have my job for per week, what are the 2 stuff you would change about AbbVie?”
The solutions generate invaluable data to assist information his efforts to make AbbVie stronger and extra resilient in a extremely aggressive market.
Get acknowledged to your tradition
Acquire accolades to your office setting and appeal to high expertise who share your values.
