Our Performance

 

Community Engagement

Across the Pfizer Corporation we have a very strong community engagement programme often engaging very directly with people in local communities.We particularly focus our efforts on deprived areas and marginalised communities where inequalities in health provision are greatest and where help is needed most.

In the UK, Pfizer runs three programmes which improve health in the communities in which our colleagues work and live.

• Pfizer UK Foundation
  A national programme specifically designed and dedicated to providing funding and support for grass-roots organisations dealing with health inequalities in disadvantaged communities across the UK.



• Volunteering
  Pfizer’s volunteering programmes, Reaching Out at Sandwich and Health Relief at Walton Oaks, encourage colleagues to spend five days a year to support organisations improving health. It is industry-leading in terms of the days offered and has high levels of employee uptake. It is linked to Pfizer’s Learning & Development programme and is used to develop and motivate Pfizer staff both as individuals and in teams.
  
  We also support Pfizer’s global volunteering programme, Global Health Fellows through which Pfizer colleagues are seconded to overseas charities to use their skills to improve health in the developing world.



• Healthy Communities Programme
  Both our UK sites run programmes which offer grants, time and in-kind support to local people to improve their health and well-being. Whilst we focus on our area of expertise health, we also offer additional support which contributes to the overall well-being of our local residents and communities.

Pfizer at Sandwich

Pfizer at Sandwich has been a major contributor of community-based projects since the company first began operating in Sandwich, Kent, more than fifty years ago. During this time, Pfizer has made more than 10,000 donations to charities, communities and voluntary organisations in East Kent in pursuit of its mission to become ‘the most valued company to the communities where we live and work’.

Supporting local community projects allows us to proactively seek areas of support which will have a real impact on the local community, as well as engaging and encouraging employees to take an active role in their own communities whilst enhancing the company’s reputation as a ‘good neighbour’.

In 2008, Pfizer at Sandwich made 104 charitable grants totalling £200,000 to local community organisations.

Our key aim is to contribute to initiatives that improve the health and well-being of communities in East Kent. Almost 60% of grants are committed to projects related to improving health through the Pfizer ‘Healthy Communities’ programme.

In addition to health spending, Pfizer actively supports personal and social education and welfare through local sports and community groups.

Engaging colleagues in community activities is a core tenant of Pfizer’s policy. The company operates a payroll giving scheme through which staff can donate to charities of their choice. The company matches these individual donations and the scheme donated £418,000 in 2008. In addition, Pfizer encourages its employees to share their skills and expertise with local voluntary organisations. The Pfizer ‘Reaching Out’ Volunteering Programmes allows employees to take up to five days paid leave a year to work with a range of community projects.

Pfizer at Walton Oaks

Since moving to the area in 2001, Pfizer at Walton Oaks has been committed to supporting its local community.

The Walton Oaks community programme consists specifically of employee volunteering, supporting our colleagues’ efforts to support local charities through matched funding and payroll giving, and offering the local communities of Walton on the Hill and Tadworth assistance through a local community fund and our gifts in kind programme.

This site is also responsible for the award winning Pfizer UK Foundation, which was established by Pfizer in 2005 to address health inequalities across the UK arising from social, economic, cultural and demographic factors. Since then, the programme has invested over £4m in grants to community-based projects addressing health inequalities in some of the UK’s most deprived and disadvantaged communities.