OUR PURPOSE PIONEERING SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT COMMUNITY REPORTING 61 BIOGEN 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW PATIENTS OUR PEOPLE SPOTLIGHT Bringing Elements to life in the United Arab Emirates Setting up high-functioning, ethically grounded affiliate offices is a key part of Biogen’s business strategy. In 2021, we opened an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to provide patients in the Gulf Cooperation Council with access to key therapies. Currently, this office has 87 employees from 20 different nationalities – the majority of them new to Biogen. With so many new employees with diverse experiences and perspectives, we increased regional onboarding activities with a focus on Biogen’s Elements and ethics. We aimed to explain the critical connection between ethics and Biogen’s culture, processes, performance management, goal setting, and development programs and activities. We also outlined ways to bring the Elements and our Code of Business Conduct to life in day-to-day operations to achieve strategic objectives and build an inclusive and rewarding workplace. To sustain the momentum and forge a strong and positive culture, UAE employees created BIOneers, which operates similarly to an Employee Resource Network, to organize cultural and social events. The group has introduced meeting-free afternoons, wellness challenges, family-involved holiday celebrations and Caring Deeply engagement, including volunteering to support kids with Down syndrome. 100% of our UAE employees rated ethics as the most critical factor in our business and a source of pride Enabling employees to thrive In our 2021 ESG materiality assessment, both internal and external stakeholders told us that among their top 10 issues overall are employee health and safety, as well as talent recruitment, retention and engagement. Many factors influence employee success and well-being. We encourage a work environment that fosters what’s important to our employees and mitigates their challenges. From career development to wellness to workplace environment, there are many opportunities to meet employee needs, and to build a workplace where people are empowered to learn, grow and build rewarding careers. When it comes to understanding and addressing the diversity of individual needs, we see each employee much the way we see each patient – not as a profile, but as a person. Launching Thrive@Biogen As macro trends such as the so-called “Great Resignation” impact an already competitive job market for skilled workers, the life sciences industry overall is facing a challenging environment for attracting and retaining talent. Like many companies, Biogen saw an uptick in voluntary turnover. In response, we began working on a retention and engagement approach called Thrive@Biogen. Thrive@Biogen provides resources to help managers understand and respond to employees’ personal engagement drivers, all toward ensuring talent remains and grows at Biogen. It starts with an open 1:1 conversation between managers and their direct reports, with both receiving preparation tasks and tips in advance. The conversations are intended to focus on learning about what is most important to each employee, the challenges team members may be facing and what might entice them to leave – or stay. After the conversation, managers summarize potential actions and match employee needs with Biogen solutions and offerings, creating an individualized Thrive@Biogen plan. These plans may center on areas such as career development, workload and alignment with Biogen’s purpose, work environment and/or overall wellness. Managers discuss We work hard to impress upon all employees the importance of upholding our Ethical Principles. In 2021, we held the first global Compliance Week as a reminder to hold ourselves to the highest standards of business conduct. It was met with engagement and enthusiasm. As part of Compliance Week, we distributed a People Manager Toolkit so employee questions and concerns could be uniformly and supportively addressed. Employees then participated in small group events to consider and discuss multiple scenarios designed to illustrate the Ethical Principles.