Inclusion & Diversity at Teva

At Teva, everyone belongs, and all opinions are valued. We welcome and embrace individuals of all ethnicities, races, religions, cultures, genders, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, and abilities. When our people are heard, respected, and empowered, they can realize their full potential and apply their skills and talents. This strengthens our organization, fuelling our creativity and innovation as we work to improve health for people of all backgrounds.

Together we're united in building something greater than ourselves – and we do this by treating our people fairly and with respect. But simply telling you we care isn't enough.

Hear from our people what working at Teva means to them in their own words.

What does an inclusive workplace look like?

Our inclusive culture is what binds us. By removing the barriers between our people and their ideas, beliefs, and ability, we can harness the truly diverse insights that underpin our innovative work. It's about being accepted for who you are and feeling you belong. 

And, of course, individuality comes from the way people think, too. So as part of our initiative to increase the number of neurodivergent people working for Teva, we're currently piloting a neurodiverse recruitment program focused on Autism. We'll be working closely with a specialist agency that assists in recruiting talented individuals, training employees on autism acceptance in the workplace, and supporting candidates and managers throughout the placement experience.

From how we hire to closing the gender gap, we encourage the spirit of togetherness. Here are some of our stories:

The women changing our perspectives

Achieving gender equality across our organization is about empowering individuals to achieve. We provide leadership and development programs as just one of the ways to promote the success of women at Teva. Here, we shine a light on the many inspiring women of Teva as they discuss their outlook, journey, and their successes.

Empowering you to be heard

Across the board, we want our people to feel empowered to be their true selves and inspire others in doing so. Our Employee Resource Group (ERG) provides a platform to take action and express your unique voice, offering networking opportunities, mentoring, and leadership training with like-minded employees to connect. 

Here, the leaders of our ERG share their personal stories about Inclusion and Diversity at Teva.

Proudly celebrating difference 

The diversity of our workforce gives us insight to the many different groups of people that are part of the Teva family. One of which is the LGBTQ+ community, which we support through celebrating Pride all year round with talks, marches, and events. We're always seeking to improve how we do things and looking for ways to be more inclusive. Read about how we've been raising awareness for Pride across the globe through some exciting initiatives.

Nurturing your unique skills

People join us with a range of unique work and life experiences, each offering something. The path might not be obvious at first, but we'll help you get there, offering you the support and guidance you need to thrive and reach your full potential. That's how Woody went from being a professional football player to a Respiratory Sales Specialist for Teva. This is his story.

We believe our desire to influence society and make the world a better place starts with us. We must drive diversity and behave inclusively at Teva, inspiring other organizations to do the same so we can impact society together.

In the past months, Teva Malta has been accredited as a work placement company by the Netherland's Vocational Education Labour Market, making it easier for interns to work and educate themselves more in this industry while getting a taste of sunny Malta!

Robert Schembri interview

1. Why is February important to you and your family?

February is an important month for all of us because as a parent of two children with a rare disease, we work to share and raise awareness on Rare Disease Day.

Rare disease day is specifically celebrated on the last day of February, or on the 29^th when it’s a leap year – it stands out as the rarest day of the year, which we have it on our calendar once every 4 years.

2. What is a Rare Disease?

A rare disease or disorder is a life threatening chronic or debilitating being weak because of the condition or disease that effect fewer than 1 in 2000 people. Over 6000 rare diseases re characterised by a board of disorders and symptoms and special combine effort is needed to address them.

Relatively common symptoms can hide underlaying rare diseases leading to misdiagnoses and delaying further research and treatment to patients.

3. Can you share a bit about your personal journey with rare diseases and how it has influenced your perspective, both personally and professionally?

As a family our life changed, what we thought it will be it turned up to be a mission. In our family we have 2 children aged 6 and 3 years that have been diagnosed with a rare disease called MEF2C haploinsufficiency/deletion. We are the only two cases in Malta and around 350 other cases are known in the world. A short description on the MEF2C deletion, the MEF2C is a protein found in the DNA structure, of which a part is missing. It is like having a book with a missing paragraph. This leads up to hypotonia (lack of muscle mass) creating a delay in crawling, walking, grasp, pointing, coordination, falling, lack of eye contact, delay in gross and fine motor skills, with absence of verbal communication, cognitive delay and lower immune system.

4. Having two kids with rare diseases must present unique challenges. What advice would you give to others navigating similar situations?

The journey for the wellbeing of our children is a duty for us as parents to full fill as best we can. We never thought it is an easy task, but this is beyond our imagination. In all this, we are not alone, family, friends, dedicated doctors, psychologists, physiotherapist, ophthalmologists, occupational therapists, early developmental interventionists and other members of the team, that reaches over 10 who assist us continuously in the needs, necessities of our children and family. Furthermore, NGOs such as the Equal Partners Foundation who started the journey from the initial months of our children, Agenzija Sapport, National Parents Society of Persons with Disability, The National Alliance for Rare Diseases Support Malta, Malta Trust Foundation and other NGOs were and will continue to be the backbone for our wellbeing and support. 

Challenges seems to be never ending, there are times where life knocks you hard to the floor not for once but twice or even more. Other times when you become clueless and speechless, feeling lost and broken is the time to admit and ask for a helping hand whether it is financially, physically, or mentally. When help is given you start to pick up yourself, be mentally focused and acquire resilience. The lack of communication brings its own daily challenges at school, childcare, INCLUSION, but we try as much as possible to keep positive. Once we got to know better their carers, LSEs, teachers and staff helped us to feel confident with one another and creating a certain understanding.

5. In the context of Rare Disease Day on February 29th, why do you believe it's important to raise awareness about rare diseases, and what impact do you hope increased awareness will have on the community? 

The path followed towards diagnosis took us a long 5 years, thanks to a free of charge United States research program, Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN), funded by the National Institutes of Health. It was thanks to the contacts provided through the networking of the National Alliance for Rare Diseases Support Malta that managed to initiate the process. Our family took action to raise awareness on the condition itself. Therefore, Rare Disease Day is an opportunity not to miss, to continue to raise awareness, join other parents, individuals and organisations who have the same goal.

Learn from more of our people what Inclusion and Diversity at Teva mean to them.