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This Cambridge company is committed to both its science and its 1,000-plus people. These dual priorities create an environment where employees put their egos aside and work together to create groundbreaking treatments for patients.
In a word: Mission
View from the top: “Any time you’ve got a company focused on making a difference for patients, you obviously get an engagement level of your employees that is unparalleled,” says chief executive John Maraganore, who is stepping down at the end of the year after 19 years at the helm. “That mission, that purpose-based approach, is just incredibly powerful.”
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Workplace pride: In 2017, a group of Alnylam employees got together to host an event with a major LGBTQ professional organization. That meeting sparked a companywide, grass-roots effort to recognize and celebrate diversity in all its forms. The result has been a welcoming work environment that truly embraces employees’ differences, says investigative toxicology scientist Saket Agarwal, who chairs the company’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance. “It’s really fulfilling to be at a place where I don’t have to hide any part of me,” he says. “As a gay male, I feel very empowered and safe to bring my whole self to work.”
Open doors: When Joanna Pearson started her job as a patient education liaison, she was often told how accessible Alnylam’s leaders were. She’d heard that at other companies — but this time it turned out to be true. At her first all-company meeting, she struck up a conversation with Maraganore about how excited they both were to be at Alnylam. “If I hear that much drive from the CEO and the leadership, it’s like, ‘Let’s do this,’” Pearson says.
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TO PARTICIPATE IN NEXT YEAR’S TOP PLACES TO WORK SURVEY: Visit bostonglobe.com/nominate.