One of the key pillars of success for Alnylam – a leading multinational biopharma company and a 2023 UK's Best Workplace™ – is the sense of pride employees have in their work and the organisation.

Keep reading to see how Alnylam creates an environment where employees across multiple countries can thrive and feel proud to be a part of the team.

The company

Alnylam is the world's leading RNAi therapeutics company, pioneering this new class of medicines since 2002. Alnylam's vision is to harness the potential of RNAi to transform the lives of people living with diseases. In the UK, they have over 100 employees working towards this mission.

Having been named a UK's Best Workplace™, Best Workplace for Women™ and Best Workplace for Wellbeing™ in 2023 - as well as being Great Place To Work Certified™ in 8 countries across the globe - it's clear that Alnylam are experts at crafting an exceptional employee experience. What is perhaps especially remarkable, though, is the immense sense of pride their people feel in the organisation and in their work - as evidenced in their latest Trust Index™ survey:

Why is pride important in the workplace?

Fostering a feeling of pride is vital to building a thriving, engaged workforce. When employees have pride in their workplace, they believe in the company – not just what it produces, but how it operates, how it treats its people, and how it engages with the community at large. 

Pride is more than just a feel-good thing. It creates a stronger, better, more engaged workforce. In fact, Great Place To Work® research has found that when employees feel proud to work at a company, they are: 

• 6 times more likely to endorse their workplace to others

• 2 times more likely to want to stay with the company for a long time

What are the 3 levels of pride in the workplace?

It all boils down to 3 levels:

1. Your job – e.g. you take pride in the work itself.
2. Your team – e.g. you are proud to work with the people around you.
3. Your company – e.g. you are proud of the company’s mission and reputation.

Pride is cumulative - it's built over time, and there is no quick fix for making it happen. It's also hard to measure - it's not an easily quantifiable attribute, which is where anonymous employee surveys come in. For employees to believe in the organisation and in the work they do, it has to be affirmed every day in lots of little ways. Here are some of the ways Alnylam fosters all 3 levels of pride every day:

Building pride in the organisation as a whole: putting patients first

The medicines that Alnylam employees pioneer and make available are life-changing for people living with diseases for which there may have been few treatment options previously, and these patients are always at the heart of the company's mission.

This commitment to patients not only improves the lives of individuals, it also plays a crucial role in fostering pride among employees, as one employee noted:

"Our purposeful sense of urgency to deliver results that can transform lives makes Alnylam a great place to work - countless times I have seen or been part of teams that pivot in a very short time frame due to circumstances in order to ensure a patient gets their medicine.”

Clearly, these efforts are paying off - in their annual Trust Index™ survey, conducted by Great Place To Work for the past 4 years, Alnylam consistently score above the benchmark for statements around pride.

And when employees feel proud of their organisation, they become advocates for it - in fact, 92% of Alnylam employees in the UK "would strongly endorse their company to friends and family as a great place to work", which is 31 percentage points higher than the UK average!

Plus, workplaces whose employees are having a consistently great experience are also the companies who are enjoying increased profits and higher levels of productivity year on year - no wonder Alnylam's revenue has almost doubled in the past two years.

Building pride in the company: Corporate Social Responsibility at Alnylam

With a strong commitment to making a positive impact on society and the environment, Alnylam has established a comprehensive corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme that reflects its core values and principles.

Not only does this benefit the communities they work with, it also boosts employees' experience and their sense of pride, with 97% of Alnylam employees in the UK agreeing that they "feel good about the ways in which the company contributes to the community."

As part of its global Alnylam Challengers programme, the company supports Refugee Action in the UK to help refugees and asylum seekers prepare for work and find jobs.

Alnylam also aids the next generation of scientists - particularly those from communities underrepresented in the STEM field - to access education and support.

Employees at Alnylam are given the chance to participate in its CSR efforts themselves too, and have dedicated over 2,500 hours of their time to volunteering with dozens of charitable organisations around the world.

Building pride in the work itself: rewarding and acknowledging employee performance

Recognising employee achievements is crucial for cultivating a workplace culture infused with pride. Acknowledging individual successes validates employees' efforts and helps them see the value in their work. 

Alnylam's STELLAR Awards programme recognises employees who have delivered exceptional and innovative work that demonstrates and upholds their company values. Employees can nominate individuals or entire teams, who are rewarded with points that can be exchanged for a huge number of gifts and gift cards.

As Alnylam continues to thrive globally, the cumulative effect of fostering pride at every level becomes increasingly clear. The company's impressive growth, coupled with its stellar employee satisfaction metrics, serves as a testament to the transformative power of pride in the workplace.

How does your workplace pride stack up against the competition? Find out with our employee experience survey