Our commitment to the UK and Ireland is far-reaching and goes beyond our medicines. It includes hands-on support for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) sector as a whole and contributions by our staff to their local communities.
There is a huge gap between the number of people with STEM skills and the number of roles across the sector that need to be filled. As the STEM sector expands, this gap will widen further. For the UK to maintain global competitiveness, it is imperative for businesses and government to work together to address the skills shortfall.
Very few of those currently working in STEM occupations in the UK are women. Tapping into the pool of female talent will be key to helping ensure the future success of this sector. And research shows that businesses perform better with a more diverse workforce and more women in senior management.
In 2018, we collaborated with other biotech and pharmaceutical companies to deliver ‘Balance the SySTEM’, working in partnership with the UK Government Equalities Office (GEO) and UK Women’s Business Council (WBC) to provide support, guidance, and practical tools to help small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in STEM offer a more gender-balanced work environment.
We prioritised this work to reinforce the value of sharing best practice in championing diversity and inclusion in STEM, and saw value in providing practical and implementable tools, validated in the large company setting, to smaller organisations wishing to make positive changes to improve diversity. Click here to download the report.
We support our staff to give back to the communities in which we operate through an Amgen Impact Day, where staff can volunteer at a charity or community group of their choice. This gives staff the opportunity to improve the lives of others, their communities, and to help tackle social challenges.
Some of the organisations supported by our staff include the Cambridge Science Centre, Barretstown, the Edmund Trust, Middlesbrough Environment City, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH), the Peter McVerry Trust Detox Centre, Slough Homeless Our Concern (SHOC), Shooting Stars, and Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust. A number of our staff have also participated in the annual Myeloma UK London to Paris Bike Ride.
