Baxter Honored as a 2019 'Top Company for Executive Women' By the National Association for Female Executives
From board representation to pay equity, company promotes an ongoing commitment to advance women in leadership
DEERFIELD, Ill. -
Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX), a leading global medical products company, announced today that it has been named one of the 2019 NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE). This recognition highlights the company’s efforts to advance women in leadership and foster an inclusive and diverse culture.
"Driving initiatives that advance women in their careers is a high priority for me personally, and is critical to our business success," said José (Joe) E. Almeida, chairman and chief executive officer. "We are honored to be recognized by NAFE as a top company for executive women, and will continue to prioritize our efforts to support the recruitment, retention and advancement of women at Baxter, as well as ensure strong representation on our board of directors."
The NAFE list recognizes U.S. companies with an emphasis on best practices that demonstrate effectiveness in moving women to senior positions, including mentorship and sponsorship programs, employee-resource groups and leadership development training. The recognition also highlights company benefits, including workplace flexibility, company culture and CEO involvement in these efforts and initiatives.
Baxter has a comprehensive approach to supporting women and underrepresented minorities at all levels of the company. Since July 2017, all new appointments to the company's board of directors were women, including the addition of two new female directors in February. These appointments are consistent with Baxter's commitment to the diversification of its board, which is critical to helping the company deliver sustainable top-quartile performance for its stakeholders.
Baxter also completed a pay equity study last year with an independent firm that found no significant pay differences among men, women and ethnic minorities. The study, which included Baxter's U.S. salaried workforce, reinforced the company's equitable compensation practices -- regardless of gender or ethnicity.
The company supports a wide range of initiatives geared towards the recruitment, retention and advancement of women. These include eight employee-led Business Resource Groups (BRGs), one of which is the Baxter Women Leaders BRG – a global community that encourages and empowers women to increase engagement and achieve career goals. Employee benefits like workplace flexibility help enable employees to succeed, both at home and in the workplace. Additionally, the company’s Gender IQ leadership development program brings senior-level men and women together to better understand gender differences and biases that arise in the workplace, and how to leverage those differences to work together more effectively.
"Not only are we passionate about advancing women in leadership roles today, but we are also developing a pipeline of talented women across the organization to serve as our future leaders," said Jeanne Mason, senior vice president, Human Resources. "Our equitable pay practices reinforce our steadfast commitment to attracting and retaining diverse employees interested in growing their careers at Baxter."
Diverse, high-performing teams boost innovation, accelerate Baxter's transformation and fuel its efforts to be recognized globally as a Best Place to Work. Baxter is honored to have also been recognized for its commitment to inclusion and diversity on Working Mother's ‘100 Best Companies' list, Forbes' 'America’s Best Employers for Diversity' and 'America's Best Employers' lists, as well as the Diversity Best Practices Inclusion Index of U.S. companies. The company has consistently received a top score of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), and has been honored by Equal Opportunity Publications as a ‘Top 50 Employer of Women Engineers’ and a ‘Top 50 Employer in STEM Workforce Diversity,’ among numerous other regional and country-specific recognitions across the globe.
The NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women, released today, will be featured in the April/May issue of Working Mother magazine. For more information on Baxter’s global inclusion and diversity efforts, please visit https://www.baxter.com/careers/inclusion-diversity.
About Baxter
Every day, millions of patients and caregivers rely on Baxter’s leading portfolio of critical care, nutrition, renal, hospital and surgical products. For more than 85 years, we’ve been operating at the critical intersection where innovations that save and sustain lives meet the healthcare providers that make it happen. With products, technologies and therapies available in more than 100 countries, Baxter’s employees worldwide are now building upon the company’s rich heritage of medical breakthroughs to advance the next generation of transformative healthcare innovations. To learn more, visit www.baxter.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Baxter is a registered trademark of Baxter International Inc.