Staff in Finance and Site Services, Human Resources, Information Services, Legal Affairs, Environmental Health and Safety, Quality Assurance, and Communications and Public Affairs comprise the Administrative Services unit, providing critical support to the scientific teams.
Finance and Site Services
Working closely with the Basel head office and the local Roche business groups, the Finance group handles all planning, accounting and analysis. The Purchasing organization works in conjunction with other Roche North American organizations to assure the cost-effective procurement of goods and services through innovative Roche-wide buying arrangements.
Site Services manages all buildings, grounds, and property on our 105-acre park-like campus. As part of this effort, they are focused on creating amenities for our employees to take advantage of the site's green space.
In 2001 the Site Services group also significantly reduced the site's energy consumption to meet the challenge of the California energy crisis. Cost and energy-saving measures have long been, and continue to be a priority.
Human Resources
The Human Resources group facilitates hiring, training and development, as well as managing compensation and benefits programs. This includes a Postdoctoral Fellowship Program through which talented researchers can contribute to basic research efforts and program discovery goals. The group also manages a college internship program that takes place each summer.
In addition, Human Resources oversees a range of services and amenities for employees including an onsite dental van, commuter check program and child care programs, including back-up child care. The group also coordinates an annual "Bring Your Child to Work Day," a popular event both for employees and their children.
Information Services
Working in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Palo Alto Information Services group is a leading developer of strategic information systems for Roche worldwide. The group creates and deploys information technology to enable the most efficient generation, dissemination, and retrieval of information. The group works in collaboration with scientists to develop tools that optimize leads through data mining, prediction, modeling, and visualization.
In addition, Palo Alto Information Services assumes a leading role within Roche in investigating and deploying new information technology solutions, particularly in the areas of distributed computing, collaboration and security.
Legal Services
The Legal department creates solutions that enable Roche to compete effectively and to implement its business strategies promptly and efficiently. Drafting, negotiating and advising on all agreements such as research, collaborations, alliances, supply, license, clinical trials, consulting services and software, provide a major focus for the group. Advice on, employee relations, policies, and benefits is a major preventive activity.
Responsibility for management of corporate records resides here as does the implementation and education on business conduct, scientific integrity and other ethics in business policies.
Lawyers and a paralegal deal with legal issues in real property/real estate and a number of environmental issues and manage litigation and other disputes affecting the company.
Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance professionals collaborate with the Roche Palo Alto scientists who conduct regulated research. Quality Assurance ensures that information from such studies submitted to the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies is complete, accurate and in conformance with the regulations. To accomplish this, they monitor the facilities, equipment, personnel, methods, practices, records and controls used for each study to ensure regulatory compliance. The group is also responsible for keeping management up to date on the company's compliance with regulations.
Environmental Health and Safety
The Environmental Health and Safety department ensures that all business operations are safe for our employees, the local community and the environment. The Environmental Health and Safety staff ensure compliance with the laws and regulations regarding occupational health and safety, and environmental protection. The department also interprets laws and regulations, and develops compliance strategies, which include training, inspections, consultations, and emergency response services in the disciplines of fire protection/safety engineering, industrial hygiene/biosafety, radiation protection, hazardous materials/hazardous waste management, environmental regulatory affairs, general safety, occupational health, disaster preparedness, and workers compensation. In addition, the group promotes and encourages recycling, energy and water efficiency, waste minimization and resource conservation.
In 2001, in recognition of volunteerism and funding to support local park lands, the City of Palo Alto Community Services Department named Roche as one of five recipients of it's annual Community Star award. Efforts on behalf of EH&S employees to organize an annual Environmental Day clean-up day, benefiting several local parklands and other non-profits, were a major factor in securing the award. In a press release issued by the City, Roche was cited as "the pacesetter for volunteerism and environmental awareness in the local business community."
Communications and Public Affairs
The Communications and Public Affairs department coordinates both external and internal news and events. The group keeps employees informed about business activities and developments through an intranet homepage with daily news and events, quarterly employee meetings, a six-time per year employee online newsletter and an annual event for employees and their families. Past events have included a night at The Tech Museum in San Jose, and a Giants baseball outing at San Francisco's Pacific Bell Ballpark.
The Communications and Public Affairs group also leads our community involvement and volunteer activities. Current priorities include supporting science and health education, the environment, and organizations providing services for patient populations related to our research therapy areas. In particular, we provide support to several non-profits whose aim is to benefit aging populations.
