It is a perennial challenge and a top priority for any pharma company to hire qualified people to move the business forward. But for many companies, it is getting harder to find skilled people.
One-third of life sciences and pharma survey respondents think talent scarcity is a pain factor. 55% of leaders aim to hire extensively this year, increasing competition for skilled talent.
Many in-demand skills for the pharma industry, like AI, cloud computing, cyber security, and data science, are also required in the IT and communications sectors.
The challenge of finding the right people for the jobs could hinder the company’s aim to fulfill its goals and objectives.
Given the challenges in sourcing external talent, it’s time the pharma sector looks internally. These tips could develop an effective workforce despite the limited talent supply.
Develop current talent
Onboarding new talent takes less time when. Training the existing workforce makes sense as they know the business. It helps link in-demand skills with the workforce. There is an 80% skills mismatch in health sciences organizations.
Talent development is important. 67% of life science and pharma CEOs say reskilling, and upskilling staff is an effective method to overcome talent scarcity. 63% indicate they invest in internal mobility platforms to boost recruiting, and 53% aim to do so.
More firms focus on internal talent mobility or developing current employees for hard-to-fill tasks. Organizations can avoid struggling to find pharma talent by upskilling and reskilling the present workforce.
Developing internal talent with progressive career paths retains staff and demonstrates their value. They can flourish in their professions, enhance their abilities, and make informed future decisions.
Invest in experienced talent
Pharma businesses have an advantage because they provide employees with the potential to serve society. Employers can do more than share a company’s goal to create an environment where employees desire to stay.
Upskilling and reskilling are only part of creating an internal talent pool for new jobs. Providing a great talent experience keeps individuals interested and driven.
77% of life sciences and pharma CEOs are more focused than ever on talent experience. Flexible work arrangements, increased salary and benefits, and employee well-being can contribute to a positive talent experience that keeps people engaged and retained.
Integrate DEI with talent mobility
A robust diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plan develop a growth-focused workforce. A program should be embedded throughout the organization that evolves continuously. Additionally, all employees must be aware of career paths and development opportunities.
Per a survey, 49% of 18-to-24-year-olds won’t work for a company without an active DEI program. Across all ages, the average is 41%, demonstrating the significance of DEI in attracting, winning, and retaining talent.
Despite this, only 63% of life sciences and pharma companies believe DEI practices are relevant to candidates, the lowest of all sectors.
Comprehensive programs go beyond diversity recruitment to provide pay equity, advancement possibilities, training and development, and other essential that retains and grows top talent.
Seek different talent types
Even the most advanced internal mobility initiatives and engagement strategies won’t replace all skill gaps, including those left behind. This doesn’t mean pharma companies must fill the voids with full-time talent only.
Employers can overcome talent shortages using contingent workers. Temporary workers, freelancers, independent contractors, and retired employees can address skills shortfalls fast.
Using talent analytics and market information can help determine gaps, and which sorts of talent can fill them depending on availability, geography, or skill level.
Workforce Changes Due to Shifts in Pharma Development
A study showed that finding and attracting qualified recruits is a hurdle for 68% of businesses to overcome. Most talent management teams think that talent scarcity can easily be solved, which is far from the truth.
Talent management must first delve several layers deep to identify specific difficulties to identify and solve particular challenges they need to address to impart their operations positively.
They must identify key areas requiring reskilling by examining the data, then maximizing RoI by investing in the priority areas. Due to automation, certain professions are disappearing while new ones emerge. An estimated 50% of current work tasks would be automated.
Pharma executives predict a 27% yearly growth in the number of affected roles over the next decade. Over 80% of pharma manufacturing companies have experienced a talent mismatch due to disruptions.
Upskilling to Fulfill Disrupted Roles in Pharma
To remain competitive, pharma businesses must ensure their personnel can use digital technology and boost automation. Reskilling the existing workforce can retain most of them and equip them for the digital age.
Draup analyzed disruption in the pharma sector. The report covers top skills in demand, talent size, cost, job role growth, talent experience split, gender diversity, etc. It demonstrates reskilling strategies for disrupted job roles so talent management can provide a career path.
A sample role of ‘Clinical Data Analyst’ is picked to dissect how talent management can help individuals acquire skills to assume this role and upskill to senior roles over time.
Successful pharma companies will keep their business edge while honoring their business obligations when employees have new-age skills.
Talent management teams can utilize AI-powered talent intelligence platforms like Draup to address the skills gap challenges by identifying seamless pathways into new-age roles with data-backed insights.
Draup helps organizations smoothly transition to in-demand roles by mapping the skillsets with the existing list of courses in its database using 100+ machine learning models and empowering enterprises to build reskilling initiatives for a new-age pharma workforce.
