A combination of the ‘great resignation’ and skills shortages is making it hard for life science companies to hire the best people for the job. Globally, over 40% of the workforce was likely to consider leaving their employer in the 12 months leading up to April 2022. In Belux, companies are certainly seeing a rise in confidence among employees and candidates as life shifts to a post-pandemic world. More people are leaving their jobs to explore new opportunities and prospective employees are making tougher demands.
We explore some trends and tips, including the importance of wellbeing and how to understand what candidates really want, to help employers maximise their chances of attracting top talent – and retaining them.
From a candidate perspective, people were less keen to move around and explore new opportunities during the pandemic, due to financial and job insecurity. Now we are out the other side, we have seen a real boost in confidence among candidates, and more candidates than ever are keen to explore new opportunities.
This newfound confidence means candidates are demanding better offers and packages from prospective employers. Location, flexibility and remuneration are all negotiable areas that candidates are not afraid to push back on.
Additionally, candidates are expecting to be impressed by their potential employers, whereas typically, pre-pandemic, it was the other way around. We have seen a spike in salaries and daily rates, which is a direct outcome from candidates in the current marketplace driving up their net worth because they know they have the upper hand.
Candidate trust
One unhelpful trend worrying employers is prospective employees withdrawing their applications after accepting an offer. With candidates now in the driver’s seat, they can pick and choose their offers. They want to ensure they are receiving what they perceive as the best offer, and they aren’t afraid to burn bridges at other businesses to achieve that.
So what is driving this behaviour? The uncertainty created by the pandemic through redundancies, furlough and restructures is definitely a contributing factor. This has broken the trust of some candidates, and now they are out for ‘themselves’, rather than before being invested in specific companies and acting in a committed way to such businesses.
Person-centred packages
To attract and retain life science talent, companies must examine their offer closely and whether it is competitive.
Apart from an appealing base package, companies need to do their research when recruiting for a role to ascertain what the candidates want most. By offering personalised and custom-made employment packages, rather than the old school ‘blanket packages’, this will ensure companies come across as modern and forward-thinking in the marketplace, and are ultimately able to secure and retain the best talent.
What do candidates want?
Flexibility is extremely important for candidates. Companies that have immediately switched back to traditional office-based working patterns of Monday to Friday / 9 to 5 will struggle to compete with companies offering flexible working patterns.
People have started to value their home life a lot more; things like flexible working hours to fit around their families, moving out of cities to get more for their money property-wise – these have been clear changes that have happened across the board and have really dictated how and what type of opportunity candidates now choose.
Remote working can provide perks for life science employers too, giving them access to diverse candidate pools because location is no longer a restriction.
Aside from greater flexibility and rising salaries as the labour market bounces back from the pandemic, another driver for potential candidates is wellness at work.
Candidates do not want to work just anywhere. They want to work for a company they think values them and puts their wellbeing first. This is definitely a new area that has climbed the ranks in candidate decision-making and is something I’d recommend all employers consider when building their teams.
Once a life science organisation has the right offer in place, the interview process and decision-making should be “slick and quick” to secure the best people. Taking too much time to send out offers will mean many candidates get scooped up by other companies.
Long term thinking
Looking to the future, the number of people going into life sciences looks set to increase, due in part to the spike in public interest and the rising prominence of the sector. To capitalise on this, companies need to ensure they are in the best place possible to snap up these newcomers.
Life science recruitment is stabilising, the market is still buoyant but no longer frenzied. Now is the time for companies to position themselves as commercially attractive to prospective employees.
Our final tip for life sciences is to stay current, candidate-attractive and ultimately successful by making sure they bend and flex with the worldwide expectation of work-life changes the pandemic has triggered.
For help finding the right people for your life science team, contact us today!