A year-over-year comparison of Medtronic’s latest annual report shows an increase in gender and racial diversity, a larger manufacturing and research footprint and some big moves in its manufacturing locations ranking.
A Medtronic employee checks inventory in Galway, Ireland, where the device maker has significant manufacturing operations. [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]
The world’s largest medical device company said in its newly released annual report that women now make up 51% of its global workforce, up from 50% at the end of fiscal 2022.
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Ethnic diversity among Medtronic’s U.S. workers climbed to 40% from 38% a year ago, including 28% of U.S. managers. Medtronic also said its employee resource groups (ERGs) and diversity networks grew from 12 to 13, with more than 300 chapters across 70 countries.
Those employee-led ERGs and diversity networks have more than 35,000 members. Medtronic put membership at more than 34,000 a year ago.
Medtronic expanded the Inclusion, Diversity & Equity (ID&E) section of its annual report this year with the addition of this note: “We integrate ID&E principles throughout our company to ensure every operating unit, team, and leader recognizes and celebrates the value of diverse experiences and backgrounds.”
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Medtronic’s employee count
Medtronic did not disclose a precise figure of its total employment, reporting “95,000+ full-time employees” in fiscal 2023 as it did in fiscal 2022.
At the end of fiscal 2021, the company said more than 99 percent of its 90,000+ employees work full-time.
Medtronic reported “more than 90,000 full-time employees” at the end of fiscal 2020. That was the most recent year for which Medtronic disclosed exact employee counts: 93,792 full-timers and 104,950 full-time equivalents.
Medtronic’s full-time employment more than doubled from fiscal 2010 (38,339) to fiscal 2020, increasing every year except for fiscal 2018. The biggest jump was from 43,305 in fiscal 2014 to 85,573 in fiscal 2015 when Medtronic closed its $49.9 billion acquisition of Covidien.
Medtronic stopped reporting exact employment counts starting in fiscal 2021. That year, the company offered early retirement incentives ahead of a a multiyear reorganization to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from its expenses.
Medtronic brought the voluntary early retirement program (VERP) back this February ahead of layoffs. Medtronic has not said how many employees it laid off or how many people took the early retirement offer.
Medtronic’s manufacturing and research footprint
Medtronic said its total manufacturing and research footprint increased 2% to approximately 9.8 million ft². Medtronic owned approximately 34% of that space, down from 37% the year before.
Connecticut remains Medtronic’s top location for manufacturing by square footage among all states, territories and countries at 1.1 million ft². Puerto Rico followed at around 811,000 ft², then Mexico at 762,000 ft².
Those top three locations for manufacturing did not change year-over-year, but No. 4 — China — decreased from 735,000 ft² to 708,000 ft².
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Minnesota, the state where Medtronic has its operational headquarters, remained No. 5 at 623,000 ft².
Ireland — where Medtronic is officially headquartered — moved up one spot to No. 6, though its manufacturing space was unchanged at 446,000 ft².
Ireland replaced Italy, which dropped to the very bottom of the list with 230,000 ft² of manufacturing space, a 53% decrease from the year before. Medtronic’s kidney care business — which had manufacturing operations in Italy — spun off as Mozarc Medical in April.
At No. 7, the Dominican Republic grew to 395,000 ft², up 30% year over year.
Arizona (294,000 ft²) and Switzerland (283,000 ft²) followed, both unchanged from the previous year.
California moved from the bottom of last year’s list to No. 9 with 260,000 ft² of space, a 24% increase. Then came Colorado (259,000 ft²) and Florida (255,000 ft²), both also unchanged.
Medtronic’s manufacturing space in France decreased 7% to 249,000 ft².
Finally, Medtronic added a new location to its largest manufacturing locations list just above Italy: Massachusetts, with 245,000 ft².
Medtronic said its sales and administrative office count remained unchanged in the U.S. with five locations in five states, but decreased internationally by 10 to 119 locations.
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