Marc Werner

«Employees stay with the company when they identify with the company culture»

What trends do you see in how leadership is evolving in the age of digitisation, artificial intelligence, increasing individualisation among employees, and agility?
Repetitive tasks are increasingly disappearing, and new technologies are accelerating our work. The trend in leadership is twofold: on one hand, it involves creating conditions for employees to contribute their expertise and take on responsibility. On the other hand, data-driven organisation allows us to pursue goals much more agilely and to learn from them more quickly. However, our primary task as leaders remains to create a framework that motivates our colleagues and enables them to work successfully. Trust is one of the keys to success in this regard.

Currently, companies are meeting the gender guidelines with 30 % female representation in the Supervisory Boards and 20 % in the Executive Boards. From your perspective, what is next in the generational project of gender diversity after reaching this milestone?
As a company, it is important to us to create an inclusive and diverse working environment where everyone feels comfortable and can perform at his/her best. This includes promoting women into management positions. We aim for an equal representation of women in the future. Overall, at Galenica, we have had
a female representation of over 50 % in management for years. In the Supervisory Board, it is 43 %, and in the Executive Board, we have four women out of seven men, making it 36 %. A gender ratio of 50:50 could be an inspiring vision for the generation entering the workforce today. Because diverse teams have been proven to be more successful, we can only benefit from this.

The share of women on your Executive Board is already well above the required minimum. How have you achieved this and what other goals are you pursuing?
It is very important to systematically promote talent across all development stages in order to attract them to management positions. We are increasingly doing this across all companies in the entire Galenica network. This opens up new career paths for all employees – both women and men. After all, there is a shortage of skilled professionals not only in management positions but across all levels.

According to our surveys, the women who left their Executive Board positions last year only remained in office 3 years. What measures has your company taken to ensure a high retention of female managers?
Employees stay in a company when they identify with the corporate culture, have opportunities for development, and engage in meaningful work. Women, in particular, may be more sensitive to aspects of corporate culture and often have more pronounced values than their male colleagues. If women feel they cannot contribute sufficiently within male-dominated forums, for example, they may move on – usually not due to lack of opportunities or ideas. Therefore, we are working intensively on our understanding as a network and investing heavily in developing our corporate culture to be attractive to all employees.

We have observed that the average age in the Executive Board is increasing. How do you assess this trend?
For us, age is less important than the ability to adapt to change. The interaction between the generations in the company is an important component of diversity, as is the gender distribution. In the top management team at Galenica, for example, the average age of women is 43 and almost two generations (from 40 to 60) are represented. The role of experienced managers is crucial to ensure that future generations are ready for the challenges of tomorrow.

The ecological footprint of Swiss companies is large. How important is sustainability in your company and how have ecological considerations changed the focus of your corporate strategy?
Today more than ever, sustainability is a fundamental pillar of business operations. In a world characterised by constant change, we take responsibility for our impact on the environment, society, and the economy. As Galenica, we are convinced that our Group can only be successful in the long term if we take responsibility for society and use natural resources sparingly and efficiently. This conviction is expressed – in addition to our customer promise – in three central sustainability principles relating to corporate value, employees and resource efficiency. Supported by the Executive Board, they form an important part of our corporate culture.