Sustainability Education

To achieve Baxter’s sustainability goals, the company works to educate and engage all employees in its sustainability initiatives. In Baxter’s 2009 employee engagement survey, 78% of employees worldwide indicated that the company’s sustainability programs were important to them.

Baxter communicates its sustainability efforts to employees through various channels:

• CEO Bob Parkinson discusses sustainability during every quarterly all employee webcast;
• A sustainability Intranet site provides company sustainability success stories, tips and tools to help employees contribute to progress on the company's sustainability priorities and encourages employee feedback;
• The company translated the Baxter 2009 Sustainability Priorities Report into three languages in addition to English and distributed it to employees worldwide;
• Quarterly press releases highlighting the company’s sustainability achievements are translated and posted throughout facilities;
• The company includes sustainability-related information in new hire orientation sessions and packets; and
• Baxter representatives share information about the company’s sustainability programs and performance with job candidates during recruiting events and interviews.

Employee Engagement to Support Sustainability

In 2010, Baxter sponsored the second annual "Baxter World Environment Week" to promote sustainable living in employees' communities and encourage employees to support the company's commitment to creating a more sustainable world. "Water" was the theme of the 2010 event, which took place May 30-June 5, 2010. More than 70 Baxter facilities worldwide holding employee activities to promote environmental stewardship and raise awareness that resources worldwide in this area are threatened by climate change, misuse and pollution. Highlights included:

• Buenos Aires, Argentina – Employees received information on the importance of water and Baxter’s global and local efforts in environmental stewardship.
• Mississauga, Canada – Leaders at the facility organized a Baxter Stewardship Day at a local nature preserve to educate employees on water systems and conservation, and employees conducted a water conservation project.
• Cherry Hill, New Jersey, United States – Employees calculated their water footprint and took a “Water Quiz” to raise awareness about water consumed during everyday tasks.

Each October, Baxter employees in the Asia Pacific region volunteer time and contribute funds to "Making a Meaningful Difference" month activities to improve the lives of people in local communities and care for the environment. Highlights from 2010 projects include:

• Tokyo and Miyazaki, Japan – Employees collected plastic bottle caps to support Ecocap Movement’s “Love the Earth, Love the Children” initiative. The bottle caps are recycled, and profits from the sale of caps to resource recyclers provide vaccines to children in developing countries.
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Baxter employees donated nearly $650 to purchase shelving and English books for a children’s library in the Ongkil Orang Asli settlement. They also donated more than $1,600 toward the purchase of raw materials, and volunteered to build a water storage tank that will supply running water to 20 families in the village of Dusan Kubor. Without the tank, villagers had to travel 30 minutes each way by foot for clean water.

Employee Perspective