Pharmacy

Recruiting and retaining the right talent has always been a task for the Human Resource (HR) departments of most industrial sectors. For pharma HR, the task at hand may require revisiting some of their existing policies and strategies, thus ensuring nothing but the Best.

No sooner does one step into higher secondary school, he/she is bogged by 'What you want to become in life?' questions! At that tender age, for any young student, attractive professions still remain in the lines of medicine, engineering and architecture. Pharma as a profession has not achieved the deserving glamour, and most often it is the secondary choice. However, with the increasing number of pharma colleges, the future of these graduates seems brighter than before. Is the field stable enough to sustain the increasing attraction? Is the pay lucrative enough to tediously work in a lab for long hours? Are the HR departments able to pick the right candidate for the right job under the given circumstances? We try to decipher the value of this field as a career, and why it should be pursued further.

The pharma treasury

McKinsey's report, 'India Pharma 2015: Unlocking the potential of the Indian Pharmaceuticals Market' predicts that the Indian pharma industry will treble in the next decade, and catapult the country into the top 10 markets of the world by 2015, overtaking Mexico, Turkey and South Korea. Thus, in order to keep up with the extensive industry growth, HR departments of pharma companies are required to arrange for extensive recruitment procedures.

Dr Ajit Dangi, President & Chief Executive Officer, Danssen Consulting, avers, "The pharma industry in India has made phenomenal progress in the past few years. In spite of intense competition and price controls, pharma companies have successfully retained their sales growth and profitability over the years making it an attractive sector for career opportunities." He adds that with over $23 billion in domestic sales and exports combined in 2010, both growing at double digit, pharma in India has made a mark in the global scenario.

However, being a knowledge-based industry, one of the key challenges that the industry is going to face is acquisition and retention of talent. He clarifies, "Human resource management therefore has to develop innovative strategies to face this challenge." Talking about whether pharma is the profession to look for, Dr Ajaykumar Sharma, Industry Analyst – Pharm and Biotech, India, Frost & Sullivan, comments, "Pharma is not always rewarding as far as monetary gains are concerned. But it is obviously one of the most stable industries to work in" For anyone taking pharma as career, the question to analyze is; 'Is pharma lucrative enough?' Citing the growth of the pharma industry and the need to catch up with this growth, K G Umesh, Head, Human Resources, The Himalaya Drug Company, reiterates, "India's pharma industry is now the third largest in the world in terms of volume, expecting to reach an estimated $55 billion by 2020. With the highest number of US Food and Drug Administration (US PDA) – approved plants outside the US, the Indian pharma industry is poised for a steady growth. We have wide ranging capabilities in the field of research, drug; manufacturing and technology resulting in effective, affordable drugs of highest quality. So currently, pharma is definitely a lucrative market to be in."

HR gearing up enough?

No matter what type of industry, it is essential to hire the best and brightest candidate for every position. HR department of an organization focusses on recruitment, management and providing direction to the people who work in the organization. It deals with issues related to people such   as   compensation,   hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration and training. Thus, in order to facilitate the growth of a company,  HR departments need to gear up.

As Dr Dangi opines, "HR policies, as a first step should therefore be revisited, to make working in pharma an attractive career choice vis-a-vis other sectors. In spite of having over thousand pharmacy colleges in the country and equal number of management colleges, recruitment for pharma companies continues to be a challenging task. It is estimated that less than one third of the graduates coming out of such institutes are 'employment ready' and have to be retrained." Thus, training and development form the fundamental aspect of HR policies for optimizing the return on employee.

Seconding this thought, Dr Sharma shares, "If one considers the trends in the pharma industry, then one is sure to notice that there has not been any drastic changes in the industry. The industry involves well-knitted processes. For pharma industry there are neither advertisements in papers nor too many walk-in interviews. It is only for the medical representatives that there are walk-in interviews." While other industries are already on Internet portals, HR of pharma companies need to invest in such affairs.

Dr ajay kumar sharama

Industry analyst-pharma and biotech, India, frost& sullivan

The dough's worth

Pay packages are not the be-all and the end-all of any business. But it is indeed the remuneration that provides one the due credit for the work performed. A slight increase or a decrease in the pay package makes one wonder whether it is the right profession that he/she is into. Umesh clarifies, "We try to ensure that competitive packages are offered; the best in the industry. Our employees are our assets and safeguarding their interests is of primary importance to us." Pay package of any pharma company is extremely vulnerable. Dr Sharma clarifies,

"Usually the CEO of

a pharma company gets ?60 lakh per annum. However, the fringe benefits make the profession all the more exciting and lucrative. As gross income, the salary of the CEO of a multinational company may shoot upto ?6 crore per annum.

But, it is not the salary of the CEO of a company that would actually determine how lucrative the industry is. A fresher in pharma can expect to earn Rs. 3-6 lakh per year, depending on the qualification and the talent."

Dr Dangi shares a different opinion. He states, "It is a mistaken belief that a prospective employee is always looking towards a big jump in compensation while considering Jobs. While good compensation is important, factors such as well planned career path, a learning environment and company's reputation, etc, play an important role in attracting good professionals. Today's young professionals are not very keen on terminal benefits like superannuation, provident fund, gratuity, etc." Thus, he says that innovative compensation management that is performance based and competitive not only with pharma industry but also other sectors is important. He adds,

 "It is not uncommon to see sales and marketing professionals in pharma companies switching to other sectors like banking, aviation, automobile, hospitality, real estate, etc, for a significant salary hike.

Most pharma companies have structured approach to compensation management. However, employees with high potential should be put on a fast track by giving challenging assignments and opportunity for job rotation in different departments. Employee stock option is another component to retain good talent."

The key to right recruitment

The focus of HR department of any company is to hire the right talent that is a perfect blend of drive, determination and ambition. Emphasizing on the HR activities as far as recruitment is concerned, Umesh clarifies, "We try to shortlist candidates with adequate industry   knowledge   and   more importantly who are willing to learn. We believe that these are the two most important factors that one should have while applying for any position. HR needs to ensure that the right person is recruited for the right role, every time, which results in a long term association with the company." Continuing with the recruiting plans and procedures, Umesh adds, "It is vital for any HR department to create a company culture that draws in the brightest minds in the industry. Creating flexible employee friendly policies and an open, honest and approachable atmosphere is also important for any HR department." Further, it is essential to select the right individual for the right job purely based on merit. HR should ensure that employees at all levels are fully engage and that policies are in place to drive this initiative. Umesh further adds, "Employees should receive international and cross-functional exposure, which will give them opportunity to grow. Development programmes are also extremely required. Last, but not the least, employees should be offered best- in-industry salary."

Dr Sharma believes that the HR policies of pharma companies needs to traverse a long way. He cites a few examples to illustrate the above fact. He says, "Companies like Hindustan Lever have designed their own template that assesses whether the candidate is eligible or is the right person for the company. Such evaluation eases the process of recruiting also." He adds that there are some companies who are conducting psychological tests that help in the recruitment process. He opines, "I have never seen any such tests conducted by any pharma companies. Pharma companies should learn about conducting such psychometric tests."

Strengthening the foundation

There are constant talks about the inclusion of practical, hands on training in pharma colleges. This will help in giving the students a flavour of the work culture that they would be stepping into. Commenting on the necessity of the practical training, Dr Sharma avers. "Several institutions like ICICI Bank have taken an initiative in introducing special courses in MBA colleges. This gives an idea to the students what they can expect in their new job. Similar efforts should be undertaken by pharma companies. This will smoothen the process."

Pharma colleges should concentrate on making students employable, apart from imparting quality education. Umesh says, "Introducing specialization in the B Pharm course, such as drug discovery, clinical research, quality assurance and regulatory affairs, will contribute towards making students ready to face the continuously expanding and challenging industry like this."

Further, there should be internship programmes conducted by pharma companies.   Dr   Sharma   opines, "Internships are perfect analytical tools for deciding whether it is the right choice for the candidate or not. Thus, big companies such as Pfizer, Zydus Cadila, etc should tie up with educational institutes."

Prevent brain drain

Selecting the right candidate and more importantly retaining the talent is an over imposing challenge for a pharma company. Dr Sharma says,

"Mass attrition is a common occurrence especially at the mid-senior levels of MNCs. A visible shift is seen from multinational to the generics." However,

he considers this aspect as a positive challenge as people are ready to work for generics now.  Further, with most pharma companies making strong global footprints, HR departments have to cast its net wide. Dr Dangi opines, "It is estimated that over 15 per cent of scientific and technical personnel working in pharma industry in countries like the US are of Indian origin and are aspiring to come back as the economy in the West is slowing down." He advocates that to attract such talent with a skill set of the future, a separate strategy is required that is different from the normal method of recruitment. This will involve relocation assistance such as accommodation, relocation expenses, help with children's education, cultural counseling, etc. He adds, "Significant numbers of today's Science and management graduates are women.

 Thus, HR policies therefore have to make conscious efforts to promote gender equality in the organization. Unfortunately barring a few exceptions, one finds few ladies in the board room of pharma companies.

We have to learn from sectors like banking, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), etc that have produced some outstanding lady CEOs."

Pharma companies are trying their best to cope up with the existing demands. Umesh says, "One of the biggest concerns of any industry is the escalating costs, given the rising inflation rates in the global market. Therefore, it is a challenge to offer competitive salary packages in this environment. At Himalaya, we do a detailed market survey on the pay packages offered by FMCG and pharma companies and then revise the rates to best suit our employees' requirements."

Indeed the time has come for several visits and revisits to the already existing HR policies. Are the recruitment processes at par with the industry needs or there is a need to rehash the predicament? The HR departments help the companies select the best, and then provide these employees with the best. There is nothing that can bring more gain to any company than a satisfied employee, and the HR department can ensure this satisfaction.