Big
pharmaceutical companies will have to expand their reward schemes to hang onto
their most talented scientists or risk losing them, warns a report by
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The
Future of Pharma HR report suggests that companies will have to introduce
more flexible career paths and reward schemes for their most valued staff.
It
warns that if the most able staff believe they are no longer on the fast track,
they will move elsewhere.
PwC
predicts that pharmaceutical employers will continue to have problems
recruiting and hanging onto talented staff in Europe and will start to look
further afield for staff.
The
study claims that the biggest pools of talent will be based in emerging
countries, with good educational systems.
Kevin
Delany, co-author of the report and a PwC consultant, warns that HR needs to
get more involved in the decision-making process.
He
said, “HR need to be taken more seriously as a profession. We believe that the
HR function is often seen as a poor relation of other functions in the
pharmaceutical industry.”
The
report suggests that some companies will have to introduce much more flexible
working practices to accommodate part-time workers, older workers, people with
childcare duties and those simply seeking to improve their work-life balance.
Delany
believes that in the future, companies will have to introduce
performance-related pay structures rather than offer standard benefit packages
to keep employment costs down.
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