Did you know that the typical turnover rate at an American company is roughly 25%? That means that, on average, employers are renewing their entire workforce every four years! 

For Life Sciences specifically, opportunities are expected to rise by 8% by 2030, according to Astrinxinc. So, in order to stay ahead, you need to shift the way you think, plan, and operate in your recruitment process – and we’re here to help!

A strategic recruitment plan means more than just filling today’s job roles. It offers you the chance to effectively populate your business to reach your goals and secure long-term success. 

Whether you’re in a big pharma organisation, a small biotech start-up, a midsize medical device company, or a major medical communications agency, you need to know exactly what your target demographic of jobseekers are after in their next role so you can engage the very best Life Sciences talent. 

As Life Sciences recruitment experts, we know what talent wants, what other companies are offering, and all the other things you need to consider when creating your hiring strategy for 2023. So, before you wind down for the year, let’s look into some key insights from the industry…

1.     Salary Insights

This one pretty much goes without saying… 

For companies to reach growth targets and compete for talent, it’s vital you understand the salary expectations of current and future employees. For Life Sciences, in particular, salaries are rising at a rapid rate!

In fact, according to Biospace, taking into consideration all positions from entry-level to executive-level, the average salary for Life Sciences professionals in 2022 stands at $138,577 – the highest it’s ever been, up from $128,689 in the year prior. For comparison, throughout 2019, 2020, and 2021, salary growth rates averaged only 6%.

If we think about the current fierce competition in the Life Sciences labour market, that growth is not surprising. But, for companies to secure the very best talent, they need to keep in mind that those who’ve recently changed employers have reported a salary increase of more than 25%.

From Meet’s perspective, we’ve seen Clinical Trial Managers' salaries rise by up to 68%, Mechanical Engineers’ salaries grow by 44%, and Account Directors’ salaries soar by 117%!

2.     Flexi-working

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, flexible working environments have become ever more popular. So popular, in fact, that in today’s world, employees no longer consider flexi-working an added benefit; instead, an expectation. 

That’s because, for many people, it’s become the norm, with almost three-quarters of respondents to Biospace’s 2022 Life Sciences Salary Report confirming they work remotely at least half of the time. What’s more, an Ipsos study for the World Economic Forum (WEF) found almost 30% of participants say they’d consider looking for another job if they were required to return to the office full-time.

The reaction from workers might seem extreme to some employers, but according to PharmiWeb, employees who have schedule flexibility feel 3.2 times better about their work-life balance and 6.6 times better about work-related stress. A topic that only continues to garner more attention with an emphasis on employee wellbeing – something we as employers are responsible for and need to prioritise to retain top-tier talent. 

It’s also worth noting that while flexi-working demonstrates confidence in employees, helping them feel valued, trusted, and appreciated (which is directly linked to employee satisfaction and retention), it also benefits employers. That’s because, according to Deloitte’s 2022 Global Life Sciences Outlook, employee engagement, which is directly correlated with productivity, is at its highest among employees who spend 60-80% of their time working remotely!

Not only that, but Deloitte’s study also reports that almost half the Life Sciences workforce say they would give up some work benefits if it meant a more flexible working environment. This only emboldens the need to offer a choice of working style to stand out from competitors. 

After all, if you’re not offering some elasticity where you can, you’ll likely miss out on the best talent Life Sciences has to offer!

Here at Meet, we’ve seen that flexible working among our clients has grown from 64% pre-pandemic to an enormous 91% post-pandemic!

3.    Talent-Driven Market

As we mentioned in The War For Talent, the Covid-19 pandemic sparked ‘The Great Resignation,’ and its effects are being felt at every level, with workers rethinking their careers, work conditions, and long-term goals. According to Deloitte, more than 40% of the global Life Sciences workforce is in the midst of looking for new jobs, including 54% of Gen Z.

With the surge in demand for skilled workers outpacing the supply, talented candidates are no strangers to receiving multiple job offers as their current employer bargains for them to stay. That means candidates can demand more, and companies need a winning strategy that includes creating value for workers, not only as stakeholders but as whole human beings too. 

So, how exactly does this work? Well, the most successful companies are no longer concentrating on hiring the smartest people but rather on having access to the smartest people – and that’s where we’re on hand to help!

For employers, a talent-driven market might not even be recognised until it comes to recruiting for an open job role, while for us at Meet, we know what’s happening as it happens. So, if companies want to succeed in the future of work, they need to bring their own degree of flexibility to how talent is sourced, trained, and managed. 

As recruitment experts with extensive Life Sciences networks, we could be your missing link. We listen to what’s wanted and needed by candidates as well as what’s possible for employers. By becoming an extension of your internal recruitment team, and ultimately matchmaker, we’re able to feed this information back and forth to source the best outcome for clients and candidates and create long-lasting relationships.

Over the last year at Meet, the number of candidates with multiple interviews at one time has grown from 2,770 in 2021 to 3,194 in 2022!

4.    Time To Hire

Time to hire is often perceived as recruitment jargon, but it’s pretty self-explanatory: it’s the clock that begins as soon as you advertise a new job role and stops once the offer has been accepted. And you don’t need us to tell you that top talent gets snapped up quick! 

In fact, almost 60% of job hunters lose interest in a position if they think the application process is taking too long. So, have you contemplated your current strategy and how to improve it?

Even those with the finest hiring processes can find weak spots where they can streamline their methods. To begin, analyse how long it takes to move a candidate from one stage to the next and compare it to industry benchmarks. This should be done for each department, so if one team is bringing down your company’s average, you can address whose dragging their feet and provide extra training. 

With that said, decreasing your time to hire shouldn’t be your sole objective. If your hiring process is too short, you might not be giving yourself enough time to evaluate talent and risk making a poor hire. Likewise, if the process is too fast, it doesn’t give candidates enough time to really get to know the business. The right process allows enough time for both parties to make the right choice.

So, what is the correct process? The ideal recruitment strategy is one that is efficient and cost-effective, resulting in a high-quality hire. Working with a company like Meet means that candidates are properly sourced and have been vetted and screened, so you know their skillset is a match. We see ourselves as an expansion of you: all about adding value to your business. 

At Meet, our average time from CV sent to the hiring of a candidate was 29 days in 2021. This year, with our tips and tricks, that window has shortened to just 25 days!

5.    Competitor Offering

Do you know what it is that Life Sciences professionals want? Do you know what your competitors are offering that you’re not? We do!

No matter your role, I’m sure you’d agree that everyone wants to work at a place that values them and provides ample opportunity to support their career progression. To most, this includes much more than amping up promotions, pay rises, and relocation opportunities. 

Supporting your team in their careers means creating plentiful opportunities and encouraging internal mobility, from entry-level right up to senior staff. To do so, you need to think about upskilling, mentoring, and tailoring your L&D offering to suit individual needs over one size fits all. 

Doing so offers your team some clarity on all the different directions their career can progress. Plus, giving employees autonomy over their career development and allowing them to identify their own training needs helps them feel engaged, appreciated, and valued. 

In fact, Glassdoor’s Mission and Culture Survey reports that 77% of workers within the US, the UK, France and Germany consider a company’s culture before even submitting a job application, with a large percentage reporting they care more about a company’s culture than they do salary!

But aside from job satisfaction, we of course couldn’t chat competitors without talking benefits! 

When it comes to benefit packages, all companies have different budgets. Regardless, your workplace perks should be tailored to what will actually benefit your employees. 

And how do you know what they’ll want? Simply ask! 

By asking your current employees how you can better support them, you can use their insight to restructure outdated benefits, which will not only help retain current workers but attract new ones too. 

At Meet, through our daily conversations with talent, we’ve found that professionals across Life Sciences are looking for better work-life balance, a company with vision and purpose, career progression, flexible working, inclusivity, and excellent company culture. 

As you know, everyone within Life Sciences is making a great difference in global health. Given that meaningful and purposeful work is so important to professionals in the space, we recommend as part of your employer branding you highlight your impact within Life Sciences, as well as how you differentiate from other businesses regarding the factors listed above. 

Want to find out how we can help? Speak to one of our consultants to map, plan, and hit your 2023 headcount goals. Simply contact us and include #hiring2023 in your message, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!