As the U.S. economy recovers from the impact of COVID-19, the job market in America has become red hot – meaning that companies are competing intensely to attract the best new employees and working hard to retain their current staff. The business publication Forbes has identified the companies that are doing this the best – and Amgen is one of them.
In April, Forbes published its annual list of “America’s Best Employers for Diversity” and – for the fourth straight year – Amgen is among the honorees.
“As the Covid-19 pandemic and numerous social justice movements have rocked the U.S., the need for more corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs has become more pressing than ever before,” Forbes reporter Kristen Stoller writes. “Some businesses appear to be stepping up.”
Stoller notes that, “Of the thousands of companies considered for the ranking, 60% are proactively sharing on their websites what they’re doing to promote diversity, up from 46% this time last year. Additionally, 28% now have a senior leader whose sole responsibility is [diversity, equity, and inclusion], up from 18% in 2020.” Amgen has long had a section on our website dedicated to diversity, inclusion, and belonging (DI&B), and, in a step toward greater transparency, recently added detailed information about the make-up of our workforce.
“It’s always gratifying to have our DI&B efforts recognized externally,” says Tamika Jean-Baptiste, who was recently promoted to vice president and chief diversity officer of Amgen. “We also recognize that there is still a lot of work left to do and we are committed to achieving meaningful, lasting change.”
Amgen also claimed a spot on Forbes’ 2021 list of “America’s Best Employers for New Graduates.” The list was compiled by surveying 20,000 Americans with less than ten years of experience working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees.
Opeoluwa Abiona was a summer intern at Amgen in 2020 before joining the company as a full-time staff member in Process Development, based at our Cambridge, Massachusetts, facility.
“Interning with Amgen’s Cell Therapy team gave me an inside look into the company environment and culture,” says Abiona, who graduated from Howard University, one of the leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities. “In my interactions with teammates and other staff, I saw the Amgen values lived out daily. I also felt that my input was valued by my team, and that I could be myself fully at work.”
