Ethics and transparency
Creating positive societal impact and promoting ethical behaviour in all markets across our value chain
Our approach to Ethics and transparency
We want to be valued for not only our medicines, but also for the way we work. We aim to build trust by demonstrating integrity, transparency and fair treatment in everything that we do. We have committed to equity in the delivery of healthcare. This includes ensuring equity in our workplace, access to our medicines, in our clinical trials and beyond.
Our shared Values underpin all our activities and serve as a compass to guide us in our interactions. The behaviours that describe our Values were updated in 2020 to explicitly highlight the importance of inclusion and diversity across our company and in the patient populations we support.
Our Ethics and transparency material focus areas
These focus areas reflect the outcome of a materiality assessment, a robust process that determines the topics that are most important to AstraZeneca and our stakeholders, giving us the opportunity to achieve the most positive impact. Click on the icons below to read more about each area.
Key performance indicators
We assess our performance by the delivery of annual key performance indicators and long-term sustainability targets for each material focus area. The following KPIs are based on 2020 data.
We recognise that several of these measures were impacted by the pandemic and may not reflect a typical trajectory. Independent external assurance for these KPIs was provided by Bureau Veritas as described in the sustainability letter of assurance. See the Sustainability Data Summary for all KPIs, targets and methodology.
46.9%
of senior middle management roles and above are held by women
89%
of employee survey respondents feel that AstraZeneca is a Great Place to Work
49.1
instances of non-compliance with the Code of Ethics per thousand employees in commercial regions
2
countries with new supplier diversity programmes launched
84%
of employee survey respondents feel that AstraZeneca has a ‘Speak Up’ culture
86%
of sites promote the four Essential Health Activities: healthy eating and drinking, tobacco cessation, physical fitness and workplace pressure management
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The UN SDGs are a universal blueprint for prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. They represent the collective actions the world can take to address the most pressing issues we face as a global community — inequality, injustice, poverty and climate change. Click on the arrows below to learn about AstraZeneca's contribution to the SDGs.
Ethics and transparency highlights
Your concerns related to our ethics or conduct are important to us
We value speaking up as part of our ethical business culture. We want anyone who has a concern about our ethics or conduct to report it without delay. With our new AZethics platform, we are making it easier for individuals to make a report using a simple, one-step intake form and the option to remain anonymous where permitted by local law. Internally, we also encourage a culture of transparent reporting of concerns to the relevant manager, HR or Compliance. We are committed to investigating and responding to all concerns of alleged misconduct or breaches of law or policy that are raised to us.
