Great Place To Work, the global authority on workplace culture, has named biopharmaceutical company AbbVie as one of the best workplaces in pharma and healthcare in Ireland. Only 20 companies in the sector are recognised on the list and this is the second consecutive year that AbbVie has been included.
“Being named as one of Ireland’s best workplaces in pharma and healthcare again this year is an incredible accomplishment for the company,” says Gary O’Mahoney, AbbVie HR director for Ireland. “It is a validation of our efforts to create an inclusive workplace that supports employee development and also empowers them to make a broader impact in the communities where they live and work. I would like to thank colleagues across our six locations in Ireland for their commitment to our company culture and ongoing dedication to patients around the world.”
Great Place To Work helps organisations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees, he explains.
“Ireland’s Best Workplaces in Pharma & Healthcare 2023 is an industry recognition compiled by Great Place to Work Ireland honouring organisations building great cultures in the pharma and healthcare industries,” says O’Mahoney. “The recognition highlights listed companies as employers of choice in an increasingly competitive talent market. To be considered for Ireland’s Best Workplaces in Pharma & Healthcare in 2023, participating organisations are required to be certified as a Great Place to Work.”
AbbVie, which employs more than 2,600 people across six different Irish locations from Sligo to Cork, and Mayo to Dublin, has also been recognised for its achievements in other categories. The company was named as one of the best large workplaces in Ireland in the most recent Great Place to Work awards, the tenth consecutive year that the company has featured on the list. The company was also acknowledged as one of the best workplaces for women in Ireland for the fifth year in a row and was ranked fourth in the World’s Best Workplaces list in November.
The company’s Irish heritage dates back to 1974 and AbbVie, which was formed in 2013 following its separation from Abbott, has consistently and significantly invested in Ireland over the course of the past decade. Those investments have included the acquisition of Allergan and its significant Irish operations in 2020.
In September 2023, the company opened a new €23 million European services hub in Clonshaugh, North Dublin. The state-of-the-art facility spans two sites within the IDA Business Park in Clonshaugh and serves as an international base for a range of supply chain, manufacturing and engineering services, supporting AbbVie’s global network. The expanded Clonshaugh site, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2024, now employs close to 400 people.
The development in Clonshaugh follows a €60 million investment in Cork in 2022 creating approximately 70 new jobs. A range of new technologies will be introduced to the site in Carrigtwohill which will allow it to support AbbVie’s aesthetics business and brings total AbbVie investments in Ireland over the past 10 years to more than €430 million.
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“AbbVie is committed to going beyond medicine, not just developing innovative therapies but also playing a wider role in improving healthcare outcomes and enhancing local communities and the environment,” says O’Mahoney. “Our mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow.”
As well as the Great Place To Work recognition, the company took the sustainable business team accolade at the 2023 Sustainable Business Awards and was also awarded the best use of CSR title at the 2023 Life Science Industry Awards in recognition of its Week of Possibilities volunteering initiative. The initiative, which celebrated its eighth year in 2023, is AbbVie’s landmark volunteering programme. It is a unique scheme that seeks to empower employees to personally improve the communities in which AbbVie people work and live.
In June 2023, more than 1,100 employees from the six AbbVie locations in Cork, Dublin, Sligo and Mayo contributed 3,635 volunteer hours to the initiative. The volunteers came together to refurbish facilities at five national and secondary schools, a local community centre as well as assembling more than 2,000 activity packs which were distributed directly to 18 schools in Mayo, and to children accessing services supported by the charity Barnardos.