In 2018, Novartis made a public pledge with the United Nations’ Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) to help close the overall gender pay gap by:
Monitoring pay equity with global consistency
Removing the use of historical salary comparisons from our internal and external job offer process to remove possible bias
Creating pay transparency
Achieving gender representation in management
To sustain our progress, we renewed our EPIC pledge in 2023 to:
- remain committed to maintain gender representation in management (which seeks to ensure nondiscrimination and equal opportunities for both men and women to advance)
- review our human resource practices beyond base pay to eliminate any further potential sources of bias from the system
- make the requirements of the new EU Pay Transparency Directive our global minimum standard for internal pay equity (i.e. ensuring nondiscrimination in pay by compensating employees fairly for similar jobs based solely on job-related factors) and pay transparency reporting.
Novartis makes employment decisions based on merit and job related factors, including the skills, qualifications and experience of the individual, without regard to sex/gender, race, ethnicity or any other legally protected or personal characteristics unrelated to the job. As a global company, Novartis is committed to complying with all the applicable laws, regulations and standards in the jurisdictions where we operate, and our policies and practices may vary accordingly to reflect local legal and regulatory requirements.
**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.