The success of our business depends on our ability to attract, grow and retain talented individuals who understand the diverse perspectives of our customers, patients and other stakeholders. We strive to cultivate a company culture where our people are inspired by our purpose, curious about new ideas for better patient outcomes, empowered to be their best, accountable (unbossed) to deliver our strategy, and committed to operating with integrity to build trust with society.

In this section: Human capital policies | Learning and development | Equal pay and benefits | Health and safety | Wellbeing and mental health | Inclusion | Human Rights | Living wage | Freedom of association and collective bargaining | Philanthropy and community investment

Human capital policies

Novartis recognizes and commits to respect every employee's right to freedom of opinion, expression and speech, consistent with our policies and standards of respectful behavior. We value an open and fair workplace and are committed to cultivating an environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing opinions and contributing ideas. We communicate with transparency, and our employees can make appropriate use of suitable systems for direct communication, including social media.

We measure employee engagement every quarter through a voluntary and anonymous survey. It is sent to all employees and carried out by an external vendor to ensure independence. Aggregated results are used to identify potential risks and make improvements to working conditions, training and development, access to support programs and other areas where necessary.

Learning and development

We invest in the development and training of our people, offering access to business-critical, personal and professional development training. We place emphasis on continuous learning, career development and employees taking full ownership of their growth, guided by their manager and supported through enterprise tools and solutions. Employees can use internal AI-based platforms to manage how they learn, find new roles, and develop their skills and experiences through new projects, job rotations, mentoring, or volunteering. We develop our leaders based on their needs and role, through training programs and on-demand measures, such as individual coaching and team effectiveness resources.

Our approach to managing performance includes frequent check-ins between managers and employees on goals, career development, feedback and wellbeing. It is designed to focus teams on activities that create the greatest near- and long-term impact.

Employees are required to complete ethics, risk and compliance (ERC) training. Our global e-training curriculum provides relevant information to enable employees to make the right choices in the course of their work and to perform with integrity. It addresses identified and relevant company risks and helps to communicate new and upgraded policies and guidelines across the organization.

See ESG Data Summary 2025 (PDF 0.1 MB) for metrics including: training hours per employee.

Equal pay and benefits

Pay equity (i.e., paying employees fairly for similar work based solely on job-related factors) is a fundamental principle of our employment policies, reflecting a commitment in our Code of Ethics to treat all employees fairly and respectfully.

We offer a range of competitive local and global benefits. Our local Novartis retirement, health and welfare plans protect employees against the financial consequences of disability or death and provide attractive retirement benefits aligned with local social security requirements.

We provide a flexible, hybrid work environment that allows employees to balance their professional and personal responsibilities. Parental leave is available to all permanent employees regardless of gender or sexual orientation. New parents get a minimum of 14 weeks paid leave following the birth or adoption of a child, ensuring greater flexibility for birth and non-birth parents.

See ESG Data Summary 2025 (PDF 0.1 MB) for metrics including: pay equity; mean pay gap.

Health and safety

We have an internal health, safety and environment (HSE) management system that requires the implementation across our sites of strict health and safety controls that go beyond legal minimum requirements. Some manufacturing sites have also chosen to pursue external HSE management system certifications (ISO 14001, 45001 and/or 50001). Novartis supports individual site decisions on pursuing external certifications.

Novartis runs a comprehensive HSE audit and controls program across all operations to assess compliance with legal and company standards. The program includes topic-specific assessments such as process safety, industrial hygiene and contractor safety. Every site must complete an annual HSE controls self-assessment, with a sample reviewed annually by an independent internal controls review team. Additionally, all manufacturing, R&D and large office sites are audited every four years by an independent internal audit team supported by an external third-party audit firm.

Handling chemical and biological materials is an integral and essential part of research, development and manufacturing programs at Novartis. Biological materials can include human or animal pathogens, and experimental or transgenic animals. We take great care to ensure we prevent material misuse. Our biosafety program sets out standards, tools and practices for employees to manage potential risks when handling biological materials. We regularly assess compliance with our HSE requirements through audits at sites. Novartis also supports the goals and objectives of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) as well as the protocol on compliance with the convention.

See ESG Data Summary 2025 (PDF 0.1 MB) for metrics including: lost-time injury and illness rate; total recordable case rate; fatalities; coverage of internally validated HSE system; coverage of certified health and safety management system (OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001).

Wellbeing and mental health

We offer support and learning tools to help employees care for themselves and others by prioritizing their mental health and wellbeing. Through global and local campaigns and engagement activities, we build awareness and destigmatize the conversation around mental health. We maintain a Wellbeing Index, based on our quarterly employee engagement survey, which monitors perceptions of work-life balance and our commitment to wellbeing. This data is used to customize our mental health and wellbeing offerings. For example, we have a training program for mental health first aiders, who are equipped with the skills and confidence to have supportive confidential conversations with coworkers and peers, and guide them to the appropriate professional support if needed.

Inclusion

We focus on creating a work environment in which all our people feel they belong. We believe it promotes innovation as well as understanding for the diverse perspectives of our customers, patients and other stakeholders. Equal opportunity is an important part of our Culture & People Experience strategy. This is exemplified by our renewed Equal Pay International Coalition pledge, with three commitments to achieve by 2027*. These are: remain committed to maintain gender representation in management; to review our human resources practices beyond base pay to eliminate any further potential sources of bias in accordance with applicable law; and to make the requirements of the new EU Pay Transparency Directive our global minimum standard for internal pay equity and pay transparency reporting.

See ESG Data Summary 2025 (PDF 0.1 MB) for metrics including: gender representation; pay equity; pay transparency; mean pay gap.

*US-based affiliates of Novartis do not participate in the gender representation in management aspect of the EPIC pledge, but the US does participate in all other facets of EPIC, with the goal of ensuring all our employees are given equal pay for equal work, consistent with applicable law. Novartis makes employment decisions based on merit and relevant job-related factors, without regard to sex/gender or any other legally protected or other personal characteristics unrelated to the job.

Human Rights

Novartis is committed to conducting business in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of all people that may be affected by our business activities. We adopted our first Human Rights Commitment Statement in 2003, and we continue to make progress in expanding our efforts to respect human rights within our operations and throughout our supply chain. To mitigate negative impacts on human rights throughout our value chain, we conduct ongoing human rights due diligence and have policies and management systems in place.

We have four human rights priorities. We conduct an internal cross-functional human rights risk saliency exercise every year to review and evaluate them:

• Right to health: Access to medicines; safe and ethical clinical trials; product quality; falsified medicines
• Labor rights: Commitment to respect international labor rights (including freedom of association and collective bargaining; nondiscrimination and equal treatment in employment; occupational health and safety; living wages; child labor; modern slavery, including forced labor and human trafficking) in our own operations and contractually with our third parties
• Environment: Minimize the environmental impact of our operations and products over their life cycle, particularly where the harm impacts livelihoods of people and communities
• Technology: Responsible use of personal information; ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI)

See ESG Data Summary 2025 (PDF 0.1 MB) for metrics including: human and labor rights remediation actions with external partners.

Living wage

Novartis is committed to paying employees a living wage that meets or exceeds the amount for basic living needs, in line with our UN Global Compact commitment. Living wages are updated annually adjusting for changes in inflation, food prices and other market conditions. Each year, we review and adjust salaries that fall below the living wage level. The scope of the living-wage review includes all countries where we have our own employees*. 

See ESG Data Summary 2025 (PDF 0.1 MB) for metrics including: coverage of living wage review; cases of employee wages below agreed living wage benchmark.

*Our Living Wage commitment applies only to permanent and temporary employees in countries with at least one permanent headcount.

Freedom of association and collective bargaining

Novartis upholds the right of employees to freedom of association and encourages open communication and direct engagement to resolve workplace and compensation issues, without threat of intimidation or retaliation. Employees have the right to bargain collectively. Where collective agreements are in place, they are communicated to all employees in a language they can understand. Worker representatives are granted reasonable time and access to facilities and communication tools to carry out their role, in accordance with local laws. Novartis requires its third parties to apply the same approach, in line with expectations set out in the Novartis Third Party Code.

See ESG Data Summary 2025 (PDF 0.1 MB) for metrics including: coverage of employee representative body or collective bargaining agreement.

Philanthropy and community investment

Novartis works through its institutional business and strategic partnerships to address access gaps for neglected and infectious diseases (e.g., leprosy) and to expand the availability of our medicines in low-income settings. In addition to donations, we leverage supply programs with global health organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Fund to ensure sustainable access. All product donations comply with the WHO Checklist and the requirements set forth in the WHO Guidelines for Medicine Donations.

In addition, through the Novartis Foundation, we improve population health and equity through AI and multisector collaboration by strategically leveraging science, data and technology. Novartis also engages in various initiatives and projects in humanitarian emergency relief and local community giving.

Through employee giving with company matching, community initiatives and our skills-based volunteering program, our people can support partner organizations across several causes and beneficiary areas. Our aim is to transform the relationship between Novartis and local communities and to be a partner of choice for society.