Sustainability
At Adverum, our values define how we conduct business, shape patient care, apply science to medicine, and work and grow as a company. We strive to put our corporate values into action every day through our actions and behaviors. Our values inspire us to reduce the environmental impact of our research and operations, provide a safe and engaging workplace for our employees and pioneer through our science and technology to benefit patients.
Sustainability Oversight
We integrate environmental, social, and governance objectives into our decision-making to deliver long-term value to all of our stakeholders. Our leadership creates and monitors our sustainability-related programs, with our board of directors maintaining ultimate oversight.
To identify the sustainability issues material to our business, we are guided by best practices, feedback we receive from our stakeholders, including employees, regulators, patients and investors, and third-party thought leaders, such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals.
Our Core Values
Lead with Integrity
We take individual and collective responsibility to put patients first and to make evidence-based decisions as we embark on a bold mission.
Strive Together
We aim high, tackling complex issues through diversity of perspectives, shared decision-making, and collaboration.
Pioneer with Patients
We use our science, technology, and expertise to innovate and optimize breakthrough products that preserve the sight of patients across the globe.
Lead with Integrity
Adverum is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards. We understand and respect the obligation we have to our patients, their families and caregivers, to always operate ethically and maintain legal compliance.
Ethics and Compliance
We are guided by our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (Code of Conduct) that applies to all directors, officers, and employees of the company.
Adverum maintains a toll-free, 24/7 anonymous ethics hotline and reporting website for reporting any ethical concerns by employees or other parties. All reports are logged into our database, investigated, and tracked until resolved. A copy of any complaint is forwarded to our Chief Operating Officer, SVP, General Counsel, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Audit Committee Chair.
Adverum maintains a strict policy against any form of retaliation for an employee reporting in good faith a suspected Code of Conduct violation. We provide legal protection in accordance with applicable laws, including identity protection, and protection from retaliation, harassment, or intimidation.
Clinical Trial Standards
(SASB Safety of Clinical Trial Participants, HC-BP-210a.1)
Adverum is committed to conducting its clinical trials ethically and adhering to best practice principles. Our policy is to use Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines for designing, conducting, recording, and reporting our trials to provide assurance for the rights and safety of trial subjects. We conduct our own trials.
For each clinical study, a master Informed Consent Form (ICF) template is required and is submitted to an Institutional Review Board for approval before adoption. The ICF template provides information regarding the rights of trial subjects and includes relevant contact information in the event of a concern or complaint.
We require our clinical employees to complete GxP training.
Environment
We understand our responsibility to help protect the environment and seek to minimize our environmental impact.
Our Environmental Health and Safety staff actively manage our impact to ensure compliance with laws and regulations. We conduct routine internal inspections and are audited on an annual basis by a Certified Unified Program Agency (San Mateo County). We recognize the importance of carbon and waste reduction and monitor our footprint. To reduce our energy use and related carbon emissions, we have updated portions of our headquarters and laboratories to more energy-efficient LED lighting.
To reduce our climate impact, we source electricity from Peninsula Clean Energy, which provides clean energy, including from sources that are 100% carbon-free.
Carbon Emissions from Energy Usage
(12 months ending August 23, 2023)
| Energy Usage (MWh) |
CO2 (metric tons) |
|
| Scope 1 – Natural Gas Usage |
1,900 | 343 |
| Scope 2 – Electricity |
2,570 | 15 |
| Total | 4,470 | 358 |
| Scope 1 – Natural Gas Usage |
|
| Energy Usage (MWh) | 1,900 |
| CO2 (metric tons) | 343 |
| Scope 2- Electricity |
|
| Energy Usage (MWh) | 2,570 |
| CO2 (metric tons) | 15 |
| Total | |
| Energy Usage (MWh) | 4,470 |
| CO2 (metric tons) | 358 |
Strive Together
Our employees are crucial in our mission to provide hope to our patients and their families by delivering life-changing medical innovation for ocular diseases. We recruit, retain, develop, and reward exceptional talent to meet our objectives for helping patients.
Diversity and Inclusion
Adverum’s success depends on the diversity of perspective, thought, experience, and background within our company. We value diversity and offer the same welcome to all employees and partners regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, age, or sexual orientation. We have a zero-tolerance policy: bullying, intimidation, or harassment of any kind is not acceptable in our workplace. We require anti-harassment training every two years for all employees and actively tackle any issues that arise.
Our diversity and inclusion programs are managed by our People Team, with guidance from our Executive Sponsors. As part of fostering a diverse workforce, we support employee-led resource groups.
Adverum’s 2022 EEO-1 Employee Diversity Statistics
| Job Categories | Hispanic or Latino | Non-Hispanic or Latino | Overall Totals | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | ||||||||||||||
| Male | Female | White | Black or African American | Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | Asian | American Indian or Alaska Native | Two or More Races | White | Black or African American | Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | Asian | American Indian or Alaska Native | Two or More Races | ||
| Exec/Sr Officials & Mgrs | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 | |||||||||
| First/Mid Officials & Mgrs | 2 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 58 | ||||
| Professionals | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 1 | 51 | ||||
| Technicians | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Sales Workers | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Administrative Support | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Craft Workers | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Operatives | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Laborers & Helpers | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Service Workers | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 5 | 3 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 4 | 26 | 8 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 3 | 128 |
Training and Development
(Employee Recruitment, Development & Retention, HC-BP-330a.1)
We take great pride in listening to our employees and making Adverum a great place to work. Adverum offers programs to foster both leadership and professional skills development. Employees at all levels of the organization have access to Adverum University, learning forums, work rotations, and management certificate programs. Our comprehensive training and development programs aim to cover topics from new hire training to professional, management, and leadership development.
Employees are encouraged to be involved in their career development. Our managers are trained to have development conversations with their direct reports, supporting employee development planning at all levels of the organization. Adverum aims to support its employees at every step of their careers by sponsoring relevant training, conference attendance, and certificate/degree programs where applicable. Every employee has the opportunity for development planning and performance reviews.
Compensation and Benefits
We offer our employees industry-leading benefits, including competitive salaries and bonuses, 401K match, 20-day PTO for new hires, and health benefits, covering 90% of the insurance costs for both employees and their dependents. Benefits available to all employees working 30+ hours per week include:
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- 401K retirement program with company match
- Employee stock purchase plan
- Paid parental leave
- Prescription drug coverage
- Supplemental health insurance
- Life and disability insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Travel assistance program
Recognizing the benefits of an engaged workforce, we encourage our employees and their managers to proactively manage their work-life balance, such as by using “Core Meeting Hours,” “no meeting-zones” and judicious time off.
Pay Equity
(as of September 30, 2023)
| Female Salary as a Percentage of Male Salary | Number of Employees | Percentage of Women | Median Percentage | Mean Percentage |
| Leadership* | 20 | 35% | 99.7% | 105.3% |
| Salaried – G&A | 26 | 73% | 94.6% | 91.3% |
| Salaried – R&D | 68 | 60% | 89.5% | 98.3% |
| Hourly – G&A | 4 | 0% | N/A | N/A |
| Hourly – R&D | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Overall | 118 | 57% | 97.5% | 103.1% |
* Leadership represents all VP’s & above.
| Female Salary as a Percentage of Male Salary | |
|---|---|
| Leadership* | |
| Number of Employees | 20 |
| Percentage of Women | 35% |
| Median Percentage | 99.7% |
| Mean Percentage | 105.3% |
| Salaried – G&A | |
| Number of Employees | 26 |
| Percentage of Women | 73% |
| Median Percentage | 94.6% |
| Mean Percentage | 91.3% |
| Salaried – R&D | |
| Number of Employees | 68 |
| Percentage of Women | 60% |
| Median Percentage | 89.5% |
| Mean Percentage | 98.3% |
| Hourly – G&A | |
| Number of Employees | 4 |
| Percentage of Women | 0% |
| Median Percentage | N/A |
| Mean Percentage | N/A |
| Hourly – R&D | |
| Number of Employees | 0 |
| Percentage of Women | N/A |
| Median Percentage | N/A |
| Mean Percentage | N/A |
| Overall | |
| Number of Employees | 118 |
| Percentage of Women | 57% |
| Median Percentage | 97.5% |
| Mean Percentage | 103.1% |
* Leadership represents all VP’s & above.
Adverum is committed to the principle of equal pay for equal work for our employees and seeks to ensure employees are paid equitably for substantially similar work. We undertake a pay equity analysis after each merit and promotion cycle. If a discrepancy appears to be identified, we conduct an internal review to evaluate and resolve, if necessary.
Our overall raw ratio of median female salary to median male salary is 97.5% (and the mean raw salary ratio is 103.1%), as of September 30, 2023. This reflects our commitment to recruiting and promoting diverse talent across all levels of our organization as we work across our company and industry to advance equity.
Employee Engagement
Our Leadership Team assesses engagement as well as detailed employee turnover data to understand and identify potential opportunities for improvement. As part of our efforts, we conduct annual, anonymous employee engagement surveys supplemented with pulse surveys, focus groups and 1-on-1 input interviews throughout the year. Our latest employee net promotor score was 29.
Additionally, we actively monitor our Glassdoor score and review feedback. As of September 2023, we earned an overall 3.8/5 rating and a 4.5/5 rating for diversity. 82% of the raters approve of the CEO.
We were recognized as one of Bay Area’s “Top Workplaces” by Bay Area News Group, for 2021, 2022, and 2023.
We believe these scores and awards represent our dedication to keeping our employees connected, especially as we transitioned to working remotely during the pandemic and then into a more hybrid model, which we still maintain. We have held many Zoom and in-person events, including happy hours, where our employees connect with each other on a social level to continue to build relationships.
Adverum is committed to fostering an open communications environment. As part of our formal grievance procedure, employees can report issues to their supervisor, human resources business partners, or anonymously submit a complaint on our corporate intranet.
Pioneer with Patients
Product Quality and Safety
The safety of patients is a company-wide focus. We are committed to the continuous evaluation of the benefits and risks of our investigational products and proactively take action to protect the safety and well-being of those taking our therapies. We set high standards and focus on achieving continuous improvements in the effectiveness of our quality processes.
Our quality and safety programs are ultimately overseen and accountable to our President and Chief Executive Officer. However, our entire senior leadership team has a hand in managing decisions and ensuring quality and safety.
To ensure safety, we have extensive emergency response processes in place for testing, and in adverse circumstances, to notify the FDA and investigate the issue. We have standard operating procedures in place for incident investigation and corrective action. We provide new hire safety training for all relevant employees on product safety and quality procedures.