Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 48
48
( 2026)
SPONSOR CONTENT
Everyone has a critical role at Eli Lilly Canada
W
hen new
employees
start at Eli Lilly
Canada, Nadia
Sartor is one
of the first people they interact
with. There’s likely no one better
to steward them through their
first few months at the medicine
company.
When I started, people
made my welcoming
so warm. I want to be a
part of that for others.
— Nadia Sartor
Manager, Employee
Development
Sartor, manager of employee
development, joined the Canadian
affiliate of Eli Lilly and Company
fresh out of university as an intern
in 2003. She cheerfully calls
herself a career generalist, having
held about six different and “very
diverse” roles over the past 20
years.
“When I started, people made
my welcoming so warm. I want to
be a part of that for others,” says
Sartor.
She guides new hires through
the organization’s Connect You
onboarding program, which starts
with an organizational culture
orientation, a connection to
someone they can ask questions,
and regular touch points in the
first few months. It culminates at
the six-month mark with a fullday experience that takes a cohort
of recent hires through how a drug
The neurology team at Eli Lilly Canada meet with disease experts in Calgary, Alberta.
is developed and the role each
part of the organization plays. It’s
an example of how Lilly Canada
engages meaningfully with
employees while keeping patients
at the centre of its business.
“Everything we do revolves
around patients. We’re making
sure everybody understands
that every single person is
instrumental, whether you’re part
of supply chain, finance, medical
education, marketing or sales,”
Sartor says. “Everybody has a very
critical role to play.”
Lilly Canada’s mission and
purpose is a major draw for
employees, says Francois Gilbert,
head of human resources.
The company, operating in
Canada since 1938, is active in
many therapeutic areas such as
Alzheimer's disease, diabetes,
cancer, immunology and obesity.
“These are fields that impact
so many people all around us.
It’s easy to get that personal
connection,” he says. That was
also the case for Gilbert, who
joined Lilly Canada in 2006 after
finishing his master’s degree in
neuroscience. “I’ve always been
fascinated by the brain and the
ability to discover medications
that can change a life and save
someone.”
Employees also connect with the
company’s core values of integrity,
excellence and respect for
people. “They’re a compass and a
foundation for our success. We’re
not defining high performance
only as business results; we look
at the integrity of the process, and
are we doing the right things,” he
says.
Part of the company’s effort
to live its values has been
embedding diversity, equity and
inclusion into all aspects of the
organization, Gilbert says. That
task is something that Sartor has a
major hand in as co-chair of Lilly
Canada’s DEI Council.
Comprised of 23 employees, the
council has been executing the
company’s three-year
strategy to improve workforce
diversity, make inclusion a central
part of the onboarding process,
culture, policies and procedures,
and ensure equity for employees
and patients. The council
works with external partners —
including the Canadian Centre
for Diversity and Inclusion,
