The highly competitive field of pharma science is chalked full of highly qualified professionals that represent the best pharma scientists around. For human resources professionals, how do you keep the best talent inside your thriving company?
The highly competitive field of pharma science is chalked full of highly qualified professionals that represent the best pharma scientists around. For human resources professionals, how do you keep the best talent inside your thriving company?
First Things First
If you want to retain the best people, you have to hire the best people. This involves implementing a multi-step recruitment program that includes crafting clearly defined job descriptions and conducting thorough interviews that properly vet pharma scientist candidates. You want to create a pharma scientist team that is diverse in both backgrounds and experience. Having a monolithic team of big pharma scientists can limit the natural curiosity the best pharma scientists possess. Pharma scientists are innately curious and you want to foster curiosity by recruiting a diverse team of pharma scientists.
Money is Not Everything
Yes, we need money to buy stuff, but when it comes with a pharma scientist career, money is typically a given. After years of schooling and interning, most pharma scientists earn a healthy salary. Retaining the best pharma scientists requires you to compensate them like they are the best in their field. So, if money is not everything, then exactly do the best pharma scientists want out of a career? They want to work in an awesome culture that fosters the exchange of ideas.
In other words, the best pharma scientists want to be a part of the decision making process.
Define a Clear Path for Advancement
Most professionals have an idea of how and where they want to go with their careers. Pharma scientists are no different. Retaining the best pharma scientists is partly about defining a clear path for career advancement. Maybe one of your talented pharma scientists eventually wants to apply her leadership skills in a supervisory position. Another one of your talented team members wants to tackle more complex product development projects. Whatever the case, human resources professionals in the pharma industry must customize career progression paths for each of the best pharma scientists.
Provide Educational Options
Pharma scientists are constantly trying to learn more about their highly competitive field. Continuing education is a must for companies that want to improve their retention rates for pharma scientists. However, there is not a one size fits all education path for pharma scientists. In fact, there are multiple paths that include night continuing education classes. You might ask “What if I spend money on the education of one of my pharma scientists and she decides to leave the company.”
If you implement other retention strategies, you should not have that problem.
Okay, Money is Something
We are not talking about the generous salaries paid to the best pharma scientists. If you want the best, you have to pay to recruit the best. What we mean about money concerns the numerous benefits the best pharma scientists expect in a compensation package. Across virtually every industry, health benefits are one of the most important benefit for employees. We are not referring to just any type of health insurance program. You must offer your best pharma scientists a comprehensive health insurance program that covers every family member for any medical emergency.
Retirement funding is the second most important employee benefit. The key to offering an attractive retirement funding program is to match employee contributions at a percentage that is higher than the contribution matching percentages offered by your competitors. Human resources professionals in the pharma industry also have to consider offering wellness and maternity leave programs as well.
Manage by Trusting the Best Pharma Scientists
Employees that trust the company they work for are more likely to stay with the same company for years to come or even until retirement. Trust is earned in several ways, with open communication ranking as the most effective way to build a professional bond that is unbreakable. Think about how a business woos potential customers and turns them into lifelong patrons of their businesses. Your best pharma scientists are more than employees.
They are ambassadors for your brand.
Finally, try to establish a work and life balance that appeals to the best pharma scientists on your team. Working in a lab all day can drain a pharma scientist both personally and professionally. Make sure every one of the best pharma scientists on your team spends enough time outside of work to pursue other interests.
