Astellas Pharma Canada Recognized as a Great Place to Work® for Second Consecutive Year

Astellas ranked 24th Best in Large and Multinational Workplace and 28th Best Workplace for Women in Canada

MARKHAM, ON, April 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc. (Astellas), the Canadian subsidiary of Tokyo based Astellas Pharma, Inc., is honoured to be recognized again as a Best Workplace in Canada. The annual award, which is administered by the Great Place to Work® Institute Canada, recognizes employers across the country for creating and fostering exemplary workplace environments. This is the second consecutive year that Astellas has been included in this list, both as a Large and Multinational Workplace, and as a Best Workplace for Women.

"It is a tremendous honour to be named once again as a Best Place to Work and Best Workplace for Women in Canada," said Michael Tremblay, president, Astellas Pharma Canada. "Our unique culture is what defines this company and drives our performance, and as a global organization, it remains our best advantage.  It's all about developing programs and benefits that empower employees to thrive in their personal lives, as well as in the workplace."

This year's list, featured in a special national report published in The Globe and Mail, received over 400 nominations and over 60,000 employees participated in the 2017 "Best Workplaces in Canada" survey.  Astellas earned the awards after a thorough evaluation of its culture and processes, with the majority of the assessment based on direct employee feedback.

As a leading pharmaceutical company, Astellas prides itself on creating a culture of excellence driven by employee recognition, flexibility and balance for employees. Employees are offered the opportunity to grow both personally and professionally through programs such as: flexible scheduling; training and career development; RRSP matching for all employees; a wellness program; company outings and celebrations. Astellas also has a progressive Corporate Social Responsibility and volunteer program that provides employees with five paid days off per year. Additionally, the company provides an environment for women in the workplace that offers flexibility, work-life balance, maternity and parental support and career development opportunities. These efforts have been rewarded by consistently being named a best workplace by organizations including Working Mother Magazine, Forbes, Fortune Magazine, Newsweek and the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index among others in the Americas region.

"Receiving this recognition speaks volumes about the strength of our culture and the people who sustain it," added Tremblay. "Thank you to the incredible team that brings our culture to life."

About Great Place to Work:
Great Place to Work® is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. We are a research and consulting firm whose mission is to build a better society by helping companies transform their workplaces. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services, and employer branding programs, including workplace certification and Best Workplaces lists, Great Place to Work® provides the benchmarks, framework, and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplace cultures. In Canada, Great Place to Work® produces the annual 100 Best Workplaces list, released in a national feature in the Globe and Mail. This is part of the world's largest annual workplace study, which culminates in a series of national lists in over 50 countries, including the study's flagship list of 100 Best companies published annually in Fortune magazine. Globally, this survey represents the voices of 11 million employees, including approximately 300,000 from Canada alone. It's what makes this study so credible: the primary determinant used in selecting winners is an employee survey. There's only one way to get on this list – and that's if your employees put you there.

Great Place to Work® online at www.greatplacetowork.ca and on Twitter at @GPTW_Canada

About Astellas Pharma Inc.
Astellas Pharma Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan, is a company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. We focus on Urology, Oncology, Immunology, Nephrology and Neuroscience as prioritized therapeutic areas while advancing new therapeutic areas and discovery research leveraging new technologies/modalities. We are also creating new value by combining internal capabilities and external expertise in the medical/healthcare business. Astellas is on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into value for patients. For more information, please visit our website at www.astellas.com/en

About Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc.
Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc., headquartered in Markham, ON, is a Canadian affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc.  Astellas is dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. In Canada, Astellas has an intense commercial focus in the following therapeutic areas – Urology, Immunology, Infectious Disease and Oncology.

For more information about Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc., please visit the corporate website:  www.astellas.ca

SOURCE Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc.

Media contacts: Michelle Reale, Corporate Communications, Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc., [phone], [email protected]