The Top Places to Work in PR: Corporate—Pfizer

Pfizer’s corporate media relations department is “a global organization spanning more than 20 countries,” says one employee. “The global nature of this 24/7 operation offers opportunities for promotional growth within our team and throughout the larger corporation.”

The availability of this internal growth has also been facilitated by the communications overhaul that Pfizer completed over the course of the last two years. This, plus the “open-space office environment,” brought the team closer together and enhanced employees’ ability to innovate and collaborate on a much higher level. But that wasn’t just a by-product of the larger communications transformation. Says one employee, “The space involved everyone voluntarily giving up their private offices with doors, and the leader exiting his corner office. The leadership and the full team now sit side-by-side.”

Thus, employes feel a strong sense of camaraderie. “The self-monitoring nature of the team promotes mutual respect, understanding and flexibility,” says a staffer. “Team members are accountable for themselves, the team, their internal clients and the media they serve.”

Employees are also encouraged to branch out from their traditional roles and take on new projects. Recent examples include a program that gives uninsured Americans free access to medicines, as well as Pfizer’s recent entrée into Twitter, both of which “have been widely viewed as a surprise for a biopharma company culture.” PRN

October 19, 2009