How biotech and pharma companies could reduce their employee turnover and increase engagement

Whilst in most sectors, the biggest driving force behind the creation of a remote and dispersed workforce is Covid-19 the pharmaceutical industry had been affected even before the pandemic. Research by PwC highlights that 7% of the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries’ employees are non-British EU citizens, who frequently move around Europe. As such, staff turnover could be affected by Brexit. Furthermore, without a robust infrastructure for communication and performance management or the added benefits of culture, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are at high risk of losing their top talent and knowledge.

Organisations within the health and pharmaceutical sectors are experiencing a transition phase towards organisational efficiency and digital transformation. Many have seen positive results from implementing an HR solution that bridges multiple challenges across talent management, performance management/motivation and communication and information sharing.

Strategic Challenges

Talent Management – Retention and Turnover

The recent intense work of developing scientific breakthroughs has brought its own challenges when it comes to maintaining employee experience and engagement levels under great pressure. The whole sector is encountering fierce competition for top talent and needs to scale at a pace, so attracting and retaining high-quality knowledge workers is a critical objective for the HR function.

StaffCircle’s internal research reveals, that aside from pay, the lack of information and knowledge sharing platforms and the inability to collaborate are the main reasons for talent loss in this sector.

Unstructured Performance Management

Our recent survey has shown that many employees feel there is no clear link between performance appraisals and compensation evaluation. Whilst some companies may have a performance management system in place 47% of employers surveyed still use paper forms and rely on face-to-face appraisals in an office.

Thus, the infrastructure and processes often do not stack up in the new normal post-Covid. This can create internal rumours that not everyone is either recognised or compensated equally. The loss of transparency in the process is now compounded by the increase in people working remotely. Additionally, a lack of infrastructure for performance management can negatively impact succession planning which means mission-critical projects and initiatives are at risk.

Communications Challenges

The main post-pandemic communication obstacles of pharmaceutical HR functions are centred around developing relationships and strong collaboration with new and existing colleagues in a much more broadly dispersed environment. Now, when a sense of team and common purpose are essential in progressing multiple time-sensitive projects at pace, communicating effectively cross-functionally and across different teams and locations is a priority. Sharing ideas and creating continual problem-solving groups whilst empowering employees have become top management initiatives.

Solutions and Results

StaffCircle clients see at least 10% reduction in their talent turnover

Ideas and breakthrough sharing: By utilising StaffCircle’s communication module our NHS and healthcare clients were able to improve the way information was shared throughout the surgeries, which in turn had a positive impact on organisational culture and employee engagement. Whilst our biotech client can now easily share internal knowledge across their various scientist groups. Regardless of geographical location, management and employees are now able to share breakthroughs and ideas and give instant feedback on company initiatives.

Robust infrastructure: The impact of improvement in culture & communications combined with a robust infrastructure for performance management has led to better employee experience with the forecasted reduction of 12% in staff turnover. Employee replacement costs being around 2.5 times the salary of an individual in the industry, the savings are considerable.

Organisational culture: The better-developed organisational culture also facilitates the recruitment of right-fit talent, reducing the risk of future employee churn.

Pharma and Biotech