Markham, ON, April 22, 2016 - Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc. (Astellas), the Canadian subsidiary of Tokyo based Astellas Pharma, Inc. (Tokyo: 4503), announced today that the company is being recognized as one of this year’s Best Workplaces 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 list, and related stories, will appear in a special national report on Friday, April 22, 2016 in The Globe and Mail.

 “We are thrilled to be selected as one of Canada’s Best Workplaces,” said Michael Tremblay, president, Astellas. “This recognition is a reflection of the passion and commitment our team members have to each other and to the success of our company. It is also a testament to the level of engagement our people have with our core values, which has enabled us to foster a unique culture that is driven by our commitment to living the Astellas Way through the areas of: patient focus, ownership, results, openness, and integrity.”

As a leading pharmaceutical company, Astellas prides itself on creating a culture of excellence driven by employee recognition, where employees are offered the opportunity to grow both personally and professionally. Notable programs at Astellas include flexible scheduling; training and career development; RRSP matching for all employees; a wellness program; company outings and celebrations; and a progressive Corporate Social Responsibility and volunteer program that provides employees with five paid days off per year.

The Great Place to Work competition process is based on two criteria: two-thirds of the total score comes from a 58-statement survey completed by a random selection of employees, along with their open-ended comments about their organization; the remaining one-third of the score comes from an in-depth review of the organization’s culture, including an evaluation of HR policies and procedures. This offers a rigorous representation of the organization from an employee perspective, and an overall portrait of the workplace culture. Together, they provide crucial data relative to the five trust-building dimensions of a Great Place to Work: credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie.

This year’s list received over 300 nominations and over 60,000 employees participated in the 2016 “Best Workplaces in Canada” survey. 

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 almost 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