AstraZeneca Annual Report and Form 20-F Information 2008

Human rights

We are fully supportive of the principles set out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and our Code of Conduct and supporting policies outline the high standards of employment practice with which everyone in AstraZeneca is expected to comply, both in spirit and letter. This includes, as a minimum, compliance with national legal requirements regarding wages and working hours. We also support the International Labour Organisation’s standards regarding child labour and minimum working age.

We believe that every employee should be treated with the same respect and dignity. All judgements about people for the purposes of recruitment, hiring, compensation, development and promotion are made solely on the basis of a person’s ability, experience, behaviour, work performance and demonstrated potential. As part of this, we are committed to complying with the provisions of all equality legislation including the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

We continue to work to ensure that diversity is appropriately supported in our workforce, reflected in our leadership and integrated into business and people strategies. Diversity is included in our Talent Management SET objectives and we have a set of minimum standards that support global alignment in the integration of diversity and inclusion into our human resources processes. As an indicator, 21% of the 82 senior managers reporting to the SET are women. The change from 2007 (26% of 81 senior managers) is not a result of reduced commitment to diversity, but is a consequence of our continued re-organisation of the Company at all levels, which continues to impact SET reporting lines.

We have made significant investment in improving our human resources information technology and are in the process of implementing a global system that will drive consistent people management and data capture worldwide. Launched in the UK, Sweden and China in 2006, the system is now in use in 16 countries which means we have consistent, detailed and integrated people information available at a global level covering over 40,000 employees.

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