Stephanie Craig, PhD, the Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability (CSR&S) Pillar Lead of CLIMB, has been busy planning this year’s Earth Day initiatives at BMS—an effort that is just one small piece of the group’s year-round commitment.
“Our team has been focused on action-oriented initiatives, in particular for Earth Day, because sustainability can be a bit of a buzzword,” said Stephanie. "We want to have measurable outcomes for what we're doing and make a true impact."
CLIMB (Cultivating Leadership and Innovation for Millennials and Beyond) is one of the eight PBRGs (People and Business Resource Groups) at BMS that offers employees a chance to develop leadership skills and collaborate with other passionate colleagues, while supporting our company's mission.
From promoting community cleanups to environmental awareness in the workplace, CLIMB partners closely with the CSR&S team to empower employees with the knowledge they need to, as Stephanie puts it, "live every day like it’s Earth Day."
“Earth Day is just one day out of 365,” she said. “I find that being involved in sustainability initiatives and then talking about them gets other BMS employees—and even my friends and family—inspired to go out and do things themselves, too.”
Opportunities to Make a Difference Are Part of the BMS Culture
Stephanie’s colleague, Tao Wang, PhD, R&D MBA Rotational Program Associate and Co-Lead of CLIMB’s CSR&S International Partnerships workstream, also has a passion for sustainability and sees himself as a global citizen with a responsibility.
“I grew up in China and have worked out of the U.S., so I have a global perspective,” Tao said. “My long-term goal is to help BMS serve more patients in the Asia-Pacific area, and my experience with CLIMB helps us think globally when it comes to international CSR&S efforts.”
As senior scientific writer, Stephanie spends most of her time coordinating the clinical trial reports that health authorities use to evaluate the safety and efficacy of BMS’ transformative drugs. Thanks to our PBRGs, she’s able to devote 10% to 15% of her work week to pursuing other passions with CLIMB.
“I’ve been really very fortunate to work with CLIMB, where I'm gaining leadership experience and also getting to pursue my interest in sustainability,” Stephanie shared. “BMS PBRGs provide additional opportunities for career growth and development, which is really amazing.”
Tao spends his days evaluating outside biotech opportunities in oncology and hematology to help facilitate internal innovation. Like Stephanie, Tao was also empowered to step up and make an impact on the world outside of his regular job. And since BMS is a multinational company, his global perspective comes in handy with his work in CLIMB.
“BMS has a large presence globally, so it’s important to be mindful of the CSR&S responsibilities we have in each country,” Tao explained.
Working to Transform the World
Tao, Stephanie and the whole CLIMB team partner with the Executive Director and Global Head of Corporate Sustainability Strategy and Operations, Victoria Emerick, to enable BMS’ Environment, Sustainability and Governance (ESG) strategy. This strategy builds on a legacy of comprehensive and global sustainability efforts, encompassing the products we make, how we make them, our facilities, our employees and our communities. With CLIMB’s help, BMS is able to help patients prevail over serious diseases in a manner that contributes to economic growth, social responsibility and a healthy environment now and in the future.
One of CLIMB’s most successful initiatives is our partnership with Grow-a-Row, a farming organization in central New Jersey that donates fresh harvested food to communities in need. BMS employees are invited to volunteer, and many departments use the cause as a platform for teambuilding activities. Another popular resource is the CLIMB CSR&S Sustainability Calendar Challenge, which runs monthly on a special app for employees to encourage simple acts of change.
Meaningful Work Coupled with Important Causes
“BMS is just an amazing place to work,” Tao added. “Not only are we on the cutting edge of the pharma industry, but it’s also a really great work culture with the added bonus of PBRGs for development opportunities and connections across the company.”
Stephanie shared the same sentiments adding, “As a professional, I've had really great opportunities in my regular day job. In CLIMB, I've been able to develop other skills as well. It's a really exciting group because it's so innovative, and we push boundaries.”
If you’re inspired to do meaningful work with a high-achieving group of thinkers and doers, explore job opportunities throughout our company. In the meantime, check out some of CLIMB’s 2022 Earth Day initiatives below.
Earth Day at BMS
April Acts of Change
The BMS workforce is challenged to reduce their impact on climate change by taking one action per week to reduce climate impact (i.e., eliminate paper usage, increase purchase of local goods). Any BMS employee can join and track their progress on the Virgin Pulse app.
Clean-up Guide
BMS employees are given recommendations on how to do a successful community clean-up.
Earth Day (Is Every Day) Materials
Employees are encouraged to learn about environmental impact, and are provided with resources on our GoGreen SharePoint, including sustainable options on our employee recognition platform, waste management, solar power, carpooling, beekeeping, and the Canopy Project/Carbon Capture.
BMS Go Green SharePoint
A website dedicated to empowering global employees to take action on reducing their carbon footprint.
