EMD Serono Recognized as a Top GTA Employer for Second Year

• Shares Honour with Local Charities by Launching New Employee Matching Progam

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Dec. 6 /CNW/ - EMD Serono, a Division of EMD Inc., Canada, an Affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has been recognized as a Greater Toronto Top Employer for 2011, by Mediacorp Canada Inc., as featured in the Globe and Mail. This marks the second year in a row that EMD Serono has been named a top GTA employer.

To honour this recognition, EMD Serono is reaffirming its commitment to supporting the health and well-being of people in the community by launching a new program that matches corporate funds to individual employee fundraising and volunteer efforts.

"One of the things that makes our company a great place to work is having engaged, committed and caring employees," said EMD Canada President Deborah Brown. "Truly engaged individuals care on both a personal and professional level, not just about the quality of their individual work but about how together we can positively impact the lives of others and the communities where we live and work. That's our passion and our commitment." 

The Greater Toronto's Top Employers award is compiled by Mediacorp Canada Inc., on behalf of the Globe and Mail. This special designation recognizes the Greater Toronto employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. Organizations are selected based on eight criteria: physical workplace; work and social atmosphere; financial and family benefits; vacation and time-off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement. Employers are compared to others in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs.

EMD Serono was awarded based on several programs that make it an excellent place to work. For example, it provides parental leave top-up payments for employees who are new mothers, fathers or adoptive parents; it supports employees' continuous career development by covering the full cost of course tuition, and it rewards employees when they refer someone who is successfully hired by the company. Other programs also make the company stand apart. It offers a wellness subsidy for employees and their families, a comprehensive benefits package and a generous pension program.

The first year EMD Serono received the Top GTA Employer award, it committed $100,000 to three local charities -- The Mississauga Food Bank, The Halton Learning Centre and Halton Women's Place - in support of key initiatives, such as purchasing a refrigerated truck for the Food Bank. EMD Serono established a long-term commitment to these organizations, which it continues to honour with additional support for key programs and giving employees time off work to volunteer. 

This year, EMD Serono is launching an Employee Matching Program, which is designed to recognize and support the individual fundraising and volunteer efforts of employees in their local communities. Through this program, the company will match a percentage of what employees fundraise for a charitable organization up to a certain limit or make a set financial contribution to a charitable organization for which an employee has volunteered a minimum number of hours. 

"I'm currently raising funds for an event to increase awareness about the risks of prostate cancer. I've also regularly volunteered my time to a program in my community that supports underprivileged and at risk youth," says Eddie Pereira, a patient services representative with EMD Serono who assists patients with their reimbursement questions. "These types of programs are eligible for corporate funding under the new Employee Matching Program. I appreciate the recognition and support that it offers. It encourages me to continue doing what I'm doing and maybe even do more." 

"As a company, our main focus is on delivering innovative products and services that improve the health and well-being of individuals with unique healthcare needs," added Brown. "As a corporate citizen, we also realize that individuals may have other unique needs which, if left unsupported, can negatively impact their health and well-being. That is why we also strive to play a role in building healthy communities where we live and work. Having an employee matching program supports employees who share this vision and enables us to take our corporate giving to the next level."

EMD Serono is part of Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Germany, which was also recently named one of the top 10 employers in the biotechnology industry for the third year in a row by Science Magazine, a leading peer-reviewed international scientific publication.

About the Greater Toronto's Top Employer Award

Now in its fifth year, Greater Toronto's Top Employers is an annual competition organized by the editors of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. This special designation recognizes the employers in the GTA that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. The project is unique in that it's the only editorially based competition recognizing outstanding workplaces specifically in the GTA.

Employers apply for the Greater Toronto's Top Employers competition through the Canada's Top 100 Employers application process. For this year's national competition, Medicacorp editors examined the recruitment histories of over 75,000 employers across Canada that it tracks for its popular job search site, Eluta.ca. From this initial group, Mediacorp invited 10,000 of the fastest-growing employers to apply, plus another 2,500 companies and organizations in industries its editors wanted to examine more closely. Employers completed an extensive application process that included a detailed review of their operations and HR practices. Over 2,750 employers started this year's application process.

About EMD Serono's Corporate Giving Program

Through its corporate giving program and the efforts of employees, EMD Serono supports community events which help raise awareness and much needed fundraising dollars for charitable organizations. EMD Serono supports a broad range of charitable and not for profit organizations with a health, education, or social services focus, which provide hope, independence and opportunity to otherwise vulnerable or at risk groups in the community. 

For more information about the charities that EMD Serono supports go to their websites:
www.themississaugafoodbank.org , http://programs.hdsb.ca/hlf/, www.haltonwomensplace.com

About EMD Serono, Canada

EMD Serono is a Division of EMD Inc., Canada. EMD Inc., Canada, is an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. In Canada, EMD Serono provides innovative drug therapies that address unmet medical needs in the areas of neurodegenerative diseases, fertility and endocrinology. EMD Serono employs approximately 150 people across Canada and is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario.  For more information, please visit to www.emdserono.ca

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Merck KGaA is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with total revenues of € 7.7 billion in 2009, a history that began in 1668, and a future shaped by approximately 40,000 (including EMD Millipore) employees in 64 countries. Its success is characterized by innovations from entrepreneurial employees. Merck's operating activities come under the umbrella of Merck KGaA, in which the Merck family holds an approximately 70% interest and free shareholders own the remaining approximately 30%. In 1917 the U.S. subsidiary Merck & Co. was expropriated and has been an independent company ever since. For more information, please visit www.merckserono.com or www.merck.de

For further information:

Norm Berberich
Tel. [phone]