{"id":1901,"date":"2022-02-10T16:30:46","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T16:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.recruitireland.com\/advice-centre\/?p=1901"},"modified":"2023-04-14T17:21:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T16:21:50","slug":"eli-lilly-pioneers-in-supporting-women-in-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.recruitireland.com\/advice-centre\/eli-lilly-pioneers-in-supporting-women-in-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Eli Lilly: Pioneers in supporting women in leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pharma giant announces that it \u201cwill continue\u201d its flexible, inclusive approach post-Covid<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Since it began operating in Ireland in 1978, Eli Lilly and Company\u2019s Kinsale campus has significantly grown in size and stature.<\/p>\n

Today, it is home to both biotech and chemical synthesis manufacturing plants, a workforce of 1,500 (1,000 employees and 500 contract staff) and is one of the company\u2019s key manufacturing sites globally.<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of their operations, Lilly has pioneered diversity, equality, and inclusion amongst their employees through a flexible, employee-focussed work culture.<\/p>\n

Noreen Lynch is currently Senior Director of Technical Services and Manufacturing Science at Lilly. She first began her career at Lilly 21 years ago and recalls being made aware of their forward-thinking approach long before starting her position.<\/p>\n

She says: \u201cWhen I was finishing my PhD, I had already heard that they had a great reputation for inclusivity, and an almost family-type culture, but it wasn\u2019t until I joined that I realised how fundamental it was to the business. It really is an inclusive and welcoming culture at Lilly.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to their focus on inclusivity, employee satisfaction and professional growth and development are consistently outlined as top priorities for Lilly.<\/p>\n

Kinsale Biotech Plant Manager Lorraine O\u2019Shea joined Lilly as a process engineer in 2007, and she explains that her journey has led to international career opportunities with regular overseas visits and assignments over the years, which she says has assisted her in growing and shaping her career.<\/p>\n

Taking advantage of these international opportunities, Ms O\u2019Shea has spent nearly seven years working for Lilly on assignments in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking at Lilly has afforded me more than I had ever imagined with my career if I am honest. The thinking [with international assignments] is that it supports you to learn different elements of the business and share what we know here in Kinsale with other sites too. This helps create a unified \u201cTeam Lilly\u201d across the entire manufacturing network with a global view of the world,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Catherine Giblin joined Lilly in 1999 and is currently the Director of Environmental, Health and Safety at the company. Ms Giblin also attributes her professional development to the company, pushing her to take her career in directions she wouldn\u2019t previously have considered.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften, as women we think because we do not meet a particular job spec, or we don\u2019t tick all the boxes, we won\u2019t apply for it. Well, here they say, \u2018you actually have the capability\u2019, or \u2018we see the capability\u2019. And that support is really encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her own experience since she began her career, she says that support and flexibility were offered \u201cfrom the get-go.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cJust as I accepted my first job at Lilly, I found out I was pregnant. The first person I told said, \u2018That\u2019s wonderful news, do you know we have these flexible policies in place? And we\u2019re delighted for you\u2019. Since then, I have had my family and recently had the opportunity to take a 12-month career break and returned to work full time last October.\u201d<\/p>\n

Female representation in the Pharma and STEM industries has grown exponentially over the past 20 years, but Lilly\u2019s female leaders speak strongly of the company\u2019s non-gendered approach to careers and opportunities, highlighting that Lilly policies on diversity and inclusion have always been ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Shea commented: \u201cWhen I joined 15 years ago, I think Lilly were already ahead of their time. We had leaders at the time, and I don\u2019t think they ever saw male or female, it was always a case of \u2018who was the right person for the job?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Lynch said: \u201cI can honestly say gender has never been an issue or a consideration to my career. There is huge value placed on female leadership at Lilly. As a woman, and as a mother, you are aware that there might be potential challenges but honestly it has never been an issue or an inhibition, there has just been support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel the encouragement by Lilly to take on different site assignments outside your comfort zone really gets you thinking about doing something different and exploring different areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, in the campus leadership team of eleven, eight are female.<\/p>\n

Visibility for females in the workplace is another major priority for Lilly \u2014 and they have well-established mentorship and training programmes in place \u2014 which have been cited by Ms Lynch, Ms O\u2019Shea and Ms Giblin as invaluable support tools.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the future of their workforce and more flexible options for employees within Lilly, Ms O\u2019Shea said the pandemic required the company to prove they were \u201ccapable of working in really unprecedented situations and still deliver\u201d, adding that the company will continue to provide a flexible work approach and a focus on encouraging employees to develop a healthy work-life balance.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cAlready as we move forward, that\u2019s become a huge focus \u2014 to give people that flexibility and more opportunities to balance things out.<\/p>\n

\u201cCovid-19 demonstrated to us that the traditional boundaries we had around the 9-5 working day clearly don\u2019t exist. It\u2019s just going to be a different way of working.<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Shea concludes: \u201cAt Lilly there is a huge focus on the team and how we work together. How to get the best of both – balancing flexible working and ensuring that we always have that team dynamic is what\u2019s going to be the next step to continued success.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more details, head to www.lilly.ie\/careers.<\/a><\/p>\n

For more on latest news in the hiring space, make sure you checkout our recruitment news<\/strong><\/a> section.<\/p>\n

If you are a recent graduate or just someone seeking to explore the job market, make sure to check out the different recruitment opportunities with Recruit Ireland:<\/p>\n