Our employees, our foundation: Employee Appreciation Day

Last Friday (March 1, 2019) was Employee Appreciation Day in the U.S. and Canada. This day carves out time to take a moment and thank all the hard-working men and women who, frankly, make everything possible, in business, in government, in the non-profit sector, in the health sector. Everywhere.

We hear the names of leaders often. Mark Zuckerberg, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau, Arlene Dickinson. We know these names and associate them with power, with vision, with ideas, and with accomplishment. But none of them would be where they are today if not for tens of thousands of dedicated workers who take their vision and turn it into action. You know that saying “The devil is in the details”? Well, the leaders usually have the big ideas, but bringing them to life, getting those details just right, is another thing entirely.

This dynamic is no different at Express Scripts Canada. As an organization, we are a leader and an innovator in the area of health benefit management. We deliver the data analysis and insights that make it possible for employers to continue to deliver top-notch drug benefits for their employees, while reining in runaway prescription drug costs. We are also one of the faster-growing pharmacy networks in the country. But who makes that happen? It’s thanks to the tireless efforts of the talented men and women who are part of our team.

Here are just a few examples:

• We are inspired by the tireless dedication of our front-line healthcare workers. The pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and technicians, and the logistical staff, who together ensure that patients receive the best possible care. These remarkable individuals put the patient at the centre of everything they do, and thus are able to overcome any obstacle to deliver on the promise of better care and sustainable benefit plans.

Read: A day in the life of an Express Scripts Canada pharmacist

• We are in awe of the creativity and innovative spirit of our clinical, product and technology teams, who prove every day that it is possible to reinvent the wheel, because we live in a time and in a sector where long-accepted ways of doing business are running up against historic financial barriers that require us to throw out the old playbook and rethink what’s possible. Employers are telling benefit providers to deliver more value and better care for THEIR workers for fewer dollars, and our people are making it happen.
• Finally, we marvel at the fact that our people truly live our values: Integrity, Mutual Respect, Passion, Alignment, Collaboration, and Service. If you didn’t know that those were the core values that define Express Scripts Canada’s place in the Canadian healthcare landscape, you could just watch our people at work, and those values would quickly become obvious.

2019 brings its share of challenges for ESC. Prescription drug costs continue to escalate at an unsustainable pace, and we need to continue to deliver innovative products that will ensure the future of Canada’s drug benefit system. No small task. We will be implementing more innovative products an services in the coming years – and we are excited about it.

We will be asking a lot of our team in 2019 and the future, but we wouldn’t ask if we didn’t already know they’re up to the task. In fact, it’s thanks to the dedication and pioneering spirit of our team that we are able to continue to innovate and dream bigger dreams for the future.

This Employee Appreciation Day, we want to express our deepest appreciation and thanks for each one of the talented, dedicated individuals that make Express Scripts Canada the remarkable and dynamic organization that it is. We cannot do it without you.