Want to be ‘irresistible’ to talent? Rethink your benefits strategy
If your life sciences organisation wishes to be irresistible to the top talent and to fill vacancies with ease, you need to develop a comprehensive benefits strategy that will extend far beyond the more traditional offerings.
Professionals in this competitive sector will be attracted to benefits strategies that are specifically tailored to suit their needs and preferences, so understanding what motivates your ideal candidates is the key to developing a rewards package that will appeal to them.
1. Competitive compensation
Regularly benchmark the salaries offered by your biotech business against those of your competitors to ensure that they are competitive and aligned with industry standards. During the benchmarking process, consider a range of factors such as the demand for any particular role, the level of experience that is necessary to fill the role and the skills that successful candidates need to have assimilated in order to be competent to operate at the required level.
Creating a performance-related bonus structure that is achievable for your employees and drives the behaviours that the business needs can attract the top talent who will see the potential for greater earnings based on their output. You could even choose to link bonuses to the achievement of scientific advancements, achievement of patents or successfully securing intellectual property rights on a product that they have developed, or been involved in developing.
2. Offer opportunities for innovation
Early stage European biotech companies have to be innovative in order to compete with their more established peers. This means that staff working for startup or scaleup organisations have a unique opportunity to get involved in research and development, regardless as to their grade or pay scale.
Promote the research facilities to which you have access and detail how the facilities, equipment and technology owned by your business will help staff to further their careers. Explain how your business uses venture capital investment to promote innovation and the benefits that this can have for an individual to develop their career path.
Highlight the opportunities that are available within your organisation for new and embedded staff to contribute to cutting-edge research and scientific advancement, in addition to the personal benefits they will glean from these opportunities, such as developing their skills and portfolio to improve their long-term career prospects.
3. Offer ongoing training and development
By investing in the professional development of your staff, you will benefit from a committed and loyal workforce who will apply their new-found skills within your business. Running workshops, offering funded training opportunities and encouraging personnel to attend professional development programs and seminars relevant to their role and career ambitions promotes loyalty, enhances their knowledge and can help your business increase its corporate standing.
You could choose to go further by facilitating connections with industry experts or arranging secondments with academic institutions and other professional associations in order to increase the depth of an individual’s knowledge and to develop their long-term career prospects.
4. Health insurance
Those working within the life sciences industry are more aware than most of the vulnerabilities of the human body to illness and injury. Funding a comprehensive health insurance package aimed at improving overall employee well-being is important. Choosing one that covers specialised treatments and access to private medical treatment will be hugely attractive to the talent that you are seeking to secure.
You could choose to offer specific resources for mental health support, counselling for those involved in particularly stressful projects, professional help to achieve a satisfactory work-life balance, financial management and stress management.
5. Work-life balance
Being at the cutting edge of medical research can take its toll, and recognising that your staff are human and, therefore, vulnerable to burnout is essential. Promote flexible work arrangements that can satisfy the needs of your staff, allowing them the downtime that they need to recuperate at a time that suits them.
Choosing to offer remote working, compressed hours or flexible working patterns is an individual business decision that must be balanced against the need to achieve the outputs of the business. It is widely recognised that staff on flexible working arrangements are more engaged and productive [1], so determining the arrangement that best satisfies the needs of the business and its workforce is a highly valuable offering.
6. Industry-specific benefits
Life sciences professionals will appreciate access to benefits specifically tailored to their areas of interest and expertise. This could include funded membership to professional associations, paid subscriptions to relevant publications, journals or websites, funding to attend career-enhancing conferences and recognition and reward of intellectual property and patent developments to which they have contributed.
7. Company culture
Build and promote a positive company culture by communicating your mission and vision in order to attract and retain individuals whose values and motivations align with your own. Ensure that your staff are empowered to contribute to the development of the business and to provide feedback, ideas and concerns in a safe environment. Organisations that truly value their people are more likely to keep them.
It is important to remember that a benefits package must not be stagnant. As new industry trends emerge, and the needs of the workforce evolve, so too must the package of benefits on offer. Failing to review and update your benefits strategy can lead to high levels of attrition as your talent is poached by your rivals who have designed a more desirable compensation package.
Our Life Science Recruitment services are tailored to your business:
For tailored support in creating and embedding a suitable benefits strategy to help your business to become irresistible to the talent that it needs, please book a consultation with ScaleX Consulting today. We would be delighted to discuss our range of life science recruitment services that can help your business to improve its talent attraction strategy and staff retention rates.
Need help establishing your EVP? Get in touch with ScaleX Consulting for expert life science recruitment and retainment advice, and write a winning Employee Value Proposition that’ll serve your company for years to come.
Resources:
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2022/03/23/why-flexible-work-boosts-employee-productivity/
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