Meet Our Employees
Bayer colleagues are more than just their careers, they are influenced and shaped by their personal life stories. These stories are the drivers behind each of our employees Passion to Innovate and Power to Change.
Our business success is largely attributable to the knowledge, skills and passion of our employees. It is their ability to innovate and their willingness to embrace continuous professional and self-development that drive our position as a world-class innovation company. This is clearly reflected in our employer brand “Passion to innovate | Power to change,” which shows what the Bayer group expects from its employees and new hires but also what it can offer them. It translates Bayer’s mission statement “Science For A Better Life” into the world of work.
Employee Data
On December 31, 2021, we employed 99,637 people (2020:99.538) worldwide. In North America we had 23.116 (2020: 23.398) employees, which was 23.2% of the total Group workforce (2020: 23.5%).
But let's forget the numbers and facts for a while. Meet some of our employees and get a taste of what it is really like to work here.
How I Found my Family and Actual Family at Bayer
By Jillian Millikin, Production Associate, Bayer Crop Science
Growing up in the St. Louis area Bayer/Monsanto had a big presence in the area. I knew people who worked with the company who always talked about how they loved it. So, when a family friend encouraged me to pursue a career in agriculture, I had my heart set on working for Bayer. I was already very active in showing draft horses which made me believe animal science would be my best fit. But that changed when I became the Missouri Mule and Draft horse queen. This experience introduced me to the American farmer by joining in events such as the Missouri State fair.
After that, I quickly found a passion for farmers and helping tell their stories to non-agricultural communities. This led me to attend the University of Missouri to pursue an Agricultural degree. While at “Mizzou” I learned about all the internships at the fall career fair. When looking to the companies that would be at the fair, I was instantly excited when I saw Bayer Crop Science. I then set a goal my sophomore year of school to get an internship with Bayer no matter where I had to go or what they needed to me do. I wanted to experience all the great things I had heard about the company for myself.
When career fair day arrived, I felt excited, ready and nervous all at once. When I walked into the fair, I quickly scouted out the Bayer booth and then ran to the other side of the gym because I was so nervous. I didn’t know what I was going to even say. Then I recalled a professor’s advice to practice my pitch to other booths before going to the company I was most interested in. This worked well and gave me time to relax before I made my way over to the Bayer booth. I walked up to the first person I saw at the Bayer table and confidently introduced myself. Next thing I know, I am getting an interview followed by an offer for my first internship with the company in Williamsburg, IA. I was ecstatic! I had no idea where Williamsburg was nor had I ever been to Iowa before, but I had an internship with Bayer!
In Williamsburg I worked with the pre-foundation team, leading crews for tissue sampling, and hand pollinations. Pre-foundation is a branch of the product supply chain within Bayer that is responsible for supporting the development and advancement of new corn in-breds through the product pipeline. One Saturday I volunteered to help with planting. Apparently, it was clear I was the excited intern because of the hundreds of pictures I was taking to capture this experience. The seed tech sitting on my left named Adam casually asked if I would send him some of the pictures I was taking. I didn’t think anything of it and shared my many photos.
Then as time passed Adam and I started to chit-chat after work sharing about our backgrounds, finding we had a lot of similar interests. He later introduced me to some of his friends and we started hanging out at the lake on the weekend. This helped blossom our relationship into dating long distance after my time in Williamsburg ended and I finished college. Then the summer before my second internship with the company Adam proposed. Today we are newlyweds who both work for Bayer. I am a Production Associate in Grinnell, IA and Adam is an ASR in Williamsburg.
It’s crazy that by working hard, I was able to accomplish my goal of working at Bayer and gained an amazing husband along the way. Often you hear Bayer is like a family, but to me that statement is even more true. The team I work with is like a family and I found my actual family with Adam through Bayer.
How My Dad’s Stroke Can Help You Prevent One
Lisa Perez, Marketing Director, Bayer Aspirin, Bayer Consumer Health
My father is a proud man, and he certainly doesn’t want to reveal any weakness. The story of my dad’s stroke started with a call from my aunt late one evening. She told me she spoke to my dad and he seemed off. Since my aunt rarely calls, I knew this had to be serious.
I immediately called my dad to see how he was doing. He didn’t sound great to me either. But he explained it away with reasonable excuses, so off to bed I went. When I checked in on him the next day, I still didn’t like how he sounded. Since I live about two hours away, I asked my cousin to check in on him. And of course, with more excuses and great acting skills, he fooled us once again.
Since my mom passed away the year prior, there was no one to keep my dad honest. After a few more phone calls, we knew something was definitely wrong when he couldn’t remember his granddaughter’s name. At this point, I knew timing was critical, so I called another relative to get him to the emergency room ASAP and I drove directly to the hospital.
When I got to the hospital, I learned that my dad had a TIA (Transient ischemic attack) a few weeks prior. This is a temporary period of symptoms similar to those of a stroke. He was experiencing the impact of short-term memory loss and numbness on his left side. He was immediately admitted to the hospital for further tests and suffered a stroke in the middle of the night. After many more tests and consultations with several doctors, I was shocked to hear that his physician’s treatment plan included an aspirin regimen to help manage his risk factors. As the marketing director for Bayer® Aspirin*, I know what this powerful molecule can do to save and extend lives, but I never thought the tiny little pill would be front and center for my dad.
Perhaps the most valuable part of this story for those of you who are reading this blog is my father’s ignorance to his risk and the months of warning signals. We must all pay attention to our family medical history and associated warning signals. My dad has a family history of strokes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and undiagnosed diabetes. In recent months, he had been experiencing dizziness and moments where he would ‘black out’ for several minutes. And his poor lifestyle choices only put gasoline on this ready to explode fire.
Thankfully his stroke didn’t cause major damage, and we’ve learned to be more patient with his short-term memory loss and the need for lots of repeating. He knows his limits, is making smarter lifestyle choices, and is more vocal when something isn’t feeling right. On top of that, he clearly knows his sweet granddaughter’s name, Charlotte.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Research shows that as much as 80 percent of coronary heart disease and 70 percent of strokes can be avoided with healthy lifestyle behaviors.
The solutions for preventing cardiovascular disease seem simple and include:
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Understanding your family history;
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Managing high blood pressure and high cholesterol;
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Staying physically active;
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Maintaining a healthy diet; and
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Quitting smoking
But they aren’t always easy.
To drive preventative heart health awareness, I’m proud to share that Bayer recently joined the Alliance for Million Hearts campaign, a newly formed public-private coalition aimed at preventing a million heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular events by 2022.
Understanding your risk factors, as well as warning signs of heart disease, is so important. With this knowledge, you can take action before a stroke or heart attack escalates further.
Learn more about the CDC Alliance for Million Hearts.
Link to website here.
* Aspirin is not appropriate for everyone, so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.