What strategies should those involved in the pharmaceuticals industry look to employ to retain and motivate key staff?
SM. Again, there’s no one Rosetta Stone. It is about understanding your work force, understanding your business strategy, and trying to make sure you can link the two. I think HR has an obligation, because of some of the skills shortages pharma is going to be seeing, to help earlier in the pipeline – for example, making long term investments and working at schools to get students interested and intrigued. You may not see an immediate linear pay back, but over time you can’t afford not to be doing that. Where we are also seeing employers making change is in being much more flexible about the work relationship – to respect and understand what an individual may need in their work/life mix and be flexible. You don’t have to have the standard work arrangement and that’s the only arrangement you allow for your employees. Employers that are going to have the better likelihood of retention are those that can be flexible and manage that flexibility. We have so many civil rights laws that HR pro
