13 November 2014: Allergan South Africa (Allergan) is proud to announce that it has recently been voted by its employees as the Best Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company to Work For in South Africa, in the 2014 Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey. The company was also awarded fifth place in the overall category for Small Companies (50 to 300 full time employees), across the entire Southern African region including Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; as well as presented with a Standard of Excellence Achievers Award for achieving a mean score in excess of the excellent threshold of 3.7.
This is the first time that Allergan has entered this award since the survey was established in 2000.
“Allergan has been operational in South Africa since 2011, and as a management team we decided that it would be a good idea to benchmark ourselves against other companies in our industry. For us, the most important measure of our success is the happiness of our staff, which is why we decided to participate in the Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey,” says Allergan Country Manager, Morne Steenkamp.
The Best Company to Work For Survey is conducted annually by Deloitte, with the aim of identifying and celebrating the best companies to work for across the Southern African region as rated by their most important stakeholder group: their employees.
Apart from the benefits of Industry, Size, Category and Regional benchmarking, each participating organisation gains invaluable insights into the employment priorities and experiences of its employees, providing the company with first-hand knowledge of how they can improve their employees overall employment experience, thereby further enhancing the organisation’s performance and status as a recognised employer of choice.
Steenkamp believes that this award has not only given the management team confidence in its ability to lead, but has also pulled the entire Allergan team together by instilling a sense of pride in the company and what it stands for.
But perhaps the best explanation of why Allergan won this award, and what it means to staff, can be found at the source:
Says accountant, Yolandi Reichert: “Allergan has a very strong, healthy corporate culture. All of us in team Allergan understand this culture and subscribe to it. This creates trust and trust allows us to create value, and be valuable. Winning this award makes me realise what a truly proud tribe we are. We have something special at Allergan, and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Product specialist, Akash Ramjeeth adds: “Allergan South Africa knows how to satisfy the needs of individual employees and for that reason we are all highly motivated to do our best! This award affirms what I already know – that Allergan is the Best Pharma Company to work for in South Africa! I love working here and have felt immense pride working with such a passionate team of professionals.”
Medical product specialist, Joanne Hayward, says: “It wasn’t a surprise to me when Allergan was voted the Best Company to Work For. There is a sense of excellence and tradition in the company which is obvious not only to us, but also to the broader business environment. This is what sets us apart.”
Allergan is based in Midrand, employing approximately 68 staff members. The company believes wholeheartedly in the power of engagement and strives to develop an environment which encourages open and frank discussion and participation.
The company offers one of the best incentive schemes in the country and also provides access to a range of learnership and mentorship programmes, encouraging staff to grow and develop both professionally and personally.
Rest assured, this achievement doesn’t mean that the team at Allergan is going to rest on its laurels.
“It means that our management team needs to work harder to ensure that we maintain our number one position. Allergan is currently experiencing double digit growth in sales and we hope to continue to do so even in this difficult economic climate in which we operate,” says Steenkamp. “I would like to thank all our valued employees for their honest and sincere feedback in this survey, without them the company would not be such a success.
