Retaining the talent you recruit
pharmafile | October 29, 2003 | Feature | Business Services |Â Â recruitment, strategyÂ
The vast majority of people who want to work in the pharma industry have high ideals and wish to be involved in the development of life-saving drugs, according to Brian Woods, Producer of True Vision's controversial documentary Dying for Drugs, which aired on Channel 4 in April. But was this film, and other negative publicity, a further nail in pharma recruitment's coffin – an industry already suffering job loses through mergers and acquisitions?
Why staff matter
"Ours is a knowledge-based industry so intellectual capital is very important both to the company and individuals" explains Chris Bennett, UK Director of Human Resources for Roche Products. This view is backed up by Peter King, of Blue Heron Pharmaceutical Recruitment, who concurs that finding and holding on to staff is 'vitally important', but adds "in a previous generation, you had a 'job for life', a certain loyalty that no longer exists with companies merging, moving or devolving". Peter also believes that today's employee "has to be constantly receptive to new opportunities to build up a portfolio of experiences that can only be gained from working for several different companies". Accordingly he argues: "It's nigh on impossible for companies to hold on to these people".
Spokesperson for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), Richard Ley adds that, alongside finding and retaining staff, "to develop that [intellectual] capital is also important". The ABPI itself does much to stimulate interest in science subjects in a future generation of pharma employees by providing materials for schools and other academic institutions, running the abpi-careers.org.uk website and attending relevant events.
Media scrutiny
On the issue of recent bad press, Peter says "The pharmaceutical business isn't the flagship industry it once was. The City has cooled over its short- and medium-term future but as a marketeer or scientist it still represents a solid, reasonably secure, well paid and structured career opportunity in the UK." And Chris argues that the industry "continues to attract good calibre graduates…because it can offer them a competitive and progressive future working for companies that make a difference to people's lives" – and remains hopeful that the "unwarranted and unfavourable media attention" isn't acting as a deterrent to potential employees.
The view is the same from Richard, who reports that the industry "continues to attract high-quality recruits" and that "the Dying for Drugs programme gave very distorted views and did not allow for any industry response. I hope students were able to realise that they only got half the story there".
Tim Mason, Admissions Officer at The School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, thinks they did. He explains: "Students understand the commercial and competitive nature of the pharmaceutical industry". Pre-registration pharmacy graduate Elizabeth Doran, who is Public Relations Officer for the British Pharmaceutical Students Association thinks programmes such as Dying for Drugs do not put off students. She says: "A lot of the bad PR that comes out of these situations is edited very cleverly and the people aren't given time to explain themselves".
But Brian Woods says that he can tell those within the industry care about the dubious ethics of big pharma his film alleged by "the mail we have received".
Is there less work?
"Mergers mean job losses – it's as simple as that" says Peter King. But he believes the real problem with acquisitions is that the "process is so protracted, the company loses the very people it would like to retain. In difficult economic times, companies do not stop recruiting; they only take on the best. It's quality vs. quantity. Sometimes they choose not to recruit at all if they can't find the exact fit," he adds.
Iain McGillchrist, a consultant at international recruitment consultancy Beresford Blake Thomas, disagrees: "[M&A activity] hasn't affected the job market significantly – there is still a high demand for quality staff." Reassuringly, Richard Ley states that "the number of people employed by the industry has stayed the same if not risen."
Richard also explains that government changes and increased funding has supported the industry by showing how cost-effective medicines can be, when compared to hospitalisation, for example. He cites statins as a good example of this increased spending by the government. He also believes that "the growth in biotechnology, genetics and genomics as disciplines" will increase job opportunities. Roche's Chris Bennett adds "changes in the healthcare environment have affected some areas – creating more opportunities for health economists, for example, [but in] most areas the jobs haven't changed". Peter King of Blue Heron however points out that "with less companies conducting R&D in the UK, there are fewer opportunities in bench research".
How can pharma attract talent?
"A very small proportion of our pharmacy students go in to industrial pharmacy and if they do, it is via a research degree" says Portsmouth University's Tim Mason. But he would like to see more students enter pharma and thinks visits to industry installations is one way in which the industry could increase interest among students.
Elizabeth Doran, a Nottingham graduate, also admits there has been some discussion in professional industrial pharmacist circles about the lack of 'pre-regs' in industry and has found it hard to get a straight answer about just how many pharmacy students make it through what she describes as a 'hard fought battle' with rumours of just 15 places in industry for the 1,500 pharmacy graduates doing the rounds. Her understanding, which she admits is anecdotal and mostly based on the success of a friend, seems to suggest that "a good academic record and high grades in chemistry" is key. She is not convinced that the industry is looking for pharmacists however, questioning whether you need to be a pharmacist to work in pharma.
Blue Heron's Peter King believes that "companies with structured training schemes will attract and retain the best candidates and should therefore be able to maintain their competitive edge" but points out the downside is that a "highly trained and developed individual becomes very marketable".
How can pharma retain talent?
Richard Ley believes training is one of the main reasons employees stay with a company and that the pharma industry is very good at it – offering opportunities at all levels and opportunities to further ones career by modern apprenticeships, NVQs and day release.
Peter King says "golden handcuffs – a package that includes a top salary and benefits (car allowance, pensions, private healthcare, bonuses and hopefully share options when the market recovers) can help to retain staff". He also points to innovative additions such as interest-free season ticket loans and duvet days, but ultimately believes that "good old job-satisfaction is still probably the key driver to keeping your best staff".
Iain McGillchrist also believes finances play a part: "The large pharmaceutical corporations retain staff by offering them notoriously generous packages … However, once a candidate is in a large organisation, such as GlaxoSmithKline for example, and they have proved their professional value, they tend to stay with that company".
Roche also seems to re-enforce this recommended balance between training and salary. Chris Bennett says: "We actively develop people and we provide attractive compensation, benefits and rewards. We are also constantly seeking to remain attractive by adapting to trends and needs such as flexible working and home working. We invest in training and development, both personal and professional," citing the companys in-house management development programme. The company is also keen on internal promotion, secondments and international transfers.
The role of consultancies
In common with many large pharma companies, at Roche staff are found and selected with the help of internal and external human resource specialists. Iain McGillchrist believes the "main role of a recruitment consultancy is sourcing and short listing quality candidates." These days this includes sourcing talent from around the world.
The benefits of recruitment consultancies, according to Peter King, lie in the added value they offer and they should not simply be viewed as a 'CV funnel'. He believes a consultancy should "know the market, the people who are looking for new jobs or waiting for the right opportunity, and the going rate in terms of salaries and benefits". Without outside help companies run the risk of being overly inward looking, he believes, and can fail to recognise its culture. Instead an "outside consultant can make a valuable contribution, by selling the benefits of a company in an objective and comparative way to candidates".
Peter also believes that "web-based advertising and the internet has revolutionised recruitment in terms of ease of search … and speed of response" – although he believes that while it acts as a good first-pass filter, the Internet will never wholly automate the recruitment process and that you can't replace the personal touch.
Chris Bennett agrees, stating "we increasingly use the internet for online applications and to provide information to potential employees … but I suspect there will always be a need for search services to attract top quality talent".
Technology brings new opportunities
Similarly Chris Bennett says Roche has also "embraced new aspects of technology to help our training and development", with e-learning "complementing, rather than replacing existing methods". AstraZeneca is also reported to have invested considerable sums in e-learning to support its clinical staff, demonstrating that this type of training seems an increasingly popular way to retain staff through professional development.
Neil Bindemann, Managing Director of INNERVATE Ltd, defines e-learning as "the act of gaining knowledge by means of electronic media", which can include everything from the internet, intranet/extranet to satellite broadcasts and interactive TV. He believes this 'just-in-time' approach to training is highly effective and that it has "the potential to empower individuals to develop their own skills when they want, enhancing employee motivation". It can also enable efficient use of time and resources – and offering cost savings to the industry. Neil points out that e-learning is particularly suitable to the sales and marketing disciplines, where staff are often on the road, saying "the opportunity to access education material, wherever that person may be, has distinct benefits".
Neil recently worked with the Welsh National Assembly, writing the strategic plan on how to use telemedicine and telecare technologies to deliver appropriate e-learning material. During that time, he spent much time outlining what e-learning can offer the pharma industry including a means of delivering learning to accommodate a variety of different learning styles' and a 'key enabler or assessment (and monitoring) of an individual's competence'. But he stresses that to be a success, e-learning must engage with its audience to maintain interest and encourage the retention of information.
Neil accepts that there are many reasons that a person accepts or leaves a job, but does believe that e-learning can help companies in their bid to attract and keep staff – 'it is relevant in that many employees will look for opportunities to expand their knowledge base to advance the career path. Therefore, the opportunity to have access to a variety of learning formats would be an attraction'.
Not in isolation
It is clear then that pharma cannot hope to attract and retain staff in isolation from the trends that surround it, be they a spate of bad press, a period of mergers and acquisitions, changes to the healthcare system or technological advancement. The market for top quality staff is a competitive one, with packages needing to offer more than the traditionally high salaries and to incorporate opportunities for personal and professional development. In a time of relative economic insecurity pharma also needs to look to the cost savings retaining and educating high-calibre staff can offer. Roche's Chris Bennett sums this up when he says "I think our industry will increasingly need to predict and recognise both the needs of companies and individuals because successful recruitment and retention strategies will need to accommodate both".
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