John Ebeid is Vice President, Outsourcing and Operations, Randstad Life Sciences

John Ebeid

	May 20th is International Clinical Trials Day, a time to recognize and celebrate the medical researchers who work day in and day out to make new discoveries for the good of public health. Unfortunately, retaining these employees remain a challenge for the entire life sciences industry as a whole, and especially for today's Contract Research Organizations (CROs), where turnover rates have been at or above 20 percent for a majority of the past decade.

	The best way to improve retention is by showing your appreciation and investing in the needs of your most-skilled workers - and here are three of the biggest reasons why you should make it a priority today.

Technology innovations are contributing to the increasing demand for talent 

	Skilled life sciences talent is already hard to find, but new trends in the industry have created an additional skills gap to overcome, most recently around the need for understanding new tech innovations. As organizations improve their digital capabilities and increase their reliance on technology to fuel innovation, they now must compete with even more industries in order to acquire the top tech talent they need to grow.

	With rapid growth, aggressive acquisitions and ongoing disruption continue to impact the industry, the number of skilled candidates that life sciences companies can attract will be a key differentiator in determining whether or not they come out on top and achieve stability. But with so many organizations all vying for the same pool of elite candidates, it's more important than ever to make sure that you can hold on to your top performers or risk losing them to the competition.

Upskilling existing talent creates an innovative atmosphere

	While an increased focus on technology is creating the need for more tech talent in life sciences, existing research staff shouldn't be forgotten. In fact, upskilling existing team members and helping them embrace new digital tools can improve organizations on two fronts. For starters, upskilling brings the entire workforce up to speed on the latest developments, which can drive efficiency across daily tasks. Second, it's a great way to improve your employee retention levels, as workers feel a sense of accomplishment and progress after gaining new and valuable skills.

	What's more, workplace technologies are paving the way for better connectivity, improved communication and enhanced collaboration across teams at life sciences organizations. As the pressure to innovate continues to mount, organizations that can bring their workforces up to date the fastest and accelerate project completion will be in a better position to succeed.

Compensation and benefits are key to attracting and retaining talent 

	Aside from upskilling, the best way to ensure that you're both attracting and retaining the talent you need is by providing competitive pay and benefits. Falling short in this area can result in high turnover and even bring a halt to operations altogether, so it's important to stay on top of the latest pay rate fluctuations and trends in workers' expectations to make sure your offerings are competitive.

	In fact, forty-two percent of employee respondents to a recent Randstad US survey said they were considering leaving their jobs due to inadequate benefits, and 55 percent said they'd already left a job in the past because of subpar offerings.

	So what, then, do today's employees want? Our research revealed a few options to consider based on the worker responses we received, like:

		onsite amenities to maximize time in office

		benefits packages focused on enhancing quality of life

		investments in training, upskilling and professional development

		benefits packages tailored to different stages of life

		better communication about the benefits themselves being offered

	With the life sciences hiring market as tight as it is today, you can't afford to offer just the bare minimum when it comes to benefits and compensation. Keep an eye on your competitors and make sure to align your offerings with the rest of the market to stay in the game for highly sought-after candidates.

A recognized employee is more likely to stay long-term 

	On this International Clinical Trials Day, take a moment to recognize your organization's most valuable asset: its people. However, retaining those people has never been so difficult - and so necessary - as it is today. By prioritizing these retention strategies and a few other incentives top-of-mind, you'll create an environment where your talent can truly thrive and lay the foundation for a culture primed to attract and retain the skilled candidates you need to drive innovation.

 is the Senior Vice President of Randstad Life Sciences

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John Ebeid, Senior VP of Randstad Life Sciences writes that though International Clinical Trials Day is a time to celebrate the medical researchers who work to make new discoveries for the good of public health - retaining these employees remains a challenge for the entire  industry, especially for today's CROs.

This Clinical Trials Day, Honor Employees by Combatting Turnover

	To ensure the success of any clinical trial, there are many operational components that must be fully aligned. And when contract research organizations (CROs) lack the resources to make that happen, sponsors take notice. As of 2016, the overall turnover rate at CROs hit 23% internationally. Combined with an increase in clinical trials, this turnover can impact cost, time, reputation, and expertise-and that can mean the success or failure of the study. With this in mind, it is important to ensure that your CROs hire and retain skilled workers to keep trials on time and on budget.

	Selecting the best CRO partner requires asking the right questions before committing to a vendor. Preparing thought-provoking questions can enable you to fully understand the scope of the CRO’s capabilities and where gaps exist. It’s not only about the scope of services a CRO provides, but the quality and retention of the resources assigned to the project. To confirm that the CRO is committed to providing qualified resources who will stick with the project from beginning to the end, you will want to consider asking the following questions: 

		How do you attract, screen and qualify talent? 

		Can I screen and approve resources assigned to my projects?

		What are the minimum requirements (e.g., education and years of experience) for the resources assigned to my project?

		Over the last five years, what percent of resources assigned to a project remained with the project from start to finish?

		What career development opportunities are offered to your resources? 

		Can you provide three client references?

		Do you offshore work or contract with any sub-vendors? 

		Are you willing to tie financial incentives and penalties to retention targets?

	Consider adding language within the contract tying financial incentives to CRO resource retention. This can provide peace of mind in knowing that trials are in a secure place from beginning, middle and end.   

	For sponsors, high employee turnover at CROs can prolong studies and, in turn, increase project costs and
	cause study delays. In addition, turnover also places a burden on internal employees who are left to carry the responsibilities when their colleagues leave. In times of high CRO turnover, don’t be surprised to see your team experience operational burnout. This ripple effect can induce stress for employees that no longer have the bandwidth to meet clinical timelines or bring pharmaceutical products to market. The overall quality and continuity of the project is not only at stake-the knowledge loss that stems from losing seasoned talent can also be detrimental. 

	Reasons for high CRO turnover may be excessive burnout from unrealistic workload, and/or below market compensation. Whether CRO employees leave because salary compensation isn’t meeting talent expectations or operational efficiencies and workload are not in line, you’re bound to experience major repercussions. 

	If your studies are not meeting expectations, rethink how you approach clinical trials with a functional service provider (FSP). As opposed to using a traditional CRO approach, an FSP model is attractive, as it brings resources with more experience, offers significantly higher retention rates, and the sponsor can play an active role in selecting the resources for their team-a frequent criticism of the CRO model. The FSP model offers greater consistency, flexibility, and scalability to reduce management burden, allowing sponsors to focus on 

	Significant changes are on the horizon that are forever altering the future of the life sciences industry, not the least of which is the central role that R&D partners play in the success of development programs. Most life sciences companies are plagued by numerous outsourcing challenges that threaten the success of the organization and ultimately affect their ability to bring much-needed medicines to the patient population. Take a moment to reevaluate which solution aligns with your strategy and how it can safeguard your clinical trials and business relationships and-ultimately-deliver medical treatments to the patients in need.

 is Vice President, Outsourcing and Operations, Randstad Life Sciences

Safeguarding trials from CRO turnover. How to ensure commitment of qualified resources through thick and thin.

John Ebeid

Articles

This Clinical Trials Day, Honor Employees by Combatting Turnover

Don’t Let CRO Turnover Stunt Your Business