<p>A laboratory workflow outlines procedural rules for tasks across every phase of testing, from pre-analytical through to reporting.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/leadership-in-the-laboratory---5-key-strategies-for-lab-management-success" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leaders in the laboratory</a></strong>&nbsp;face the intricate task of managing turnaround times, while also ensuring work at every phase meets required quality standards and regulatory requirements.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Laboratory workflows help leaders by outlining processes that reduce complexity and promote quality. They are often modelled after standard operating procedures (SOPs) and support regulatory compliance.</p>
<p>In this article<strong>,</strong>&nbsp;we explore:&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>How laboratory workflows can overcome clinical challenges</li>
<li>Steps to improve a workflow</li>
<li>How to overcome a lack of time to enforce lab workflow improvements</li>
</ul>
<h2>Challenges in clinical laboratory management</h2>
<p>Clinical laboratories are playing an increasingly critical role in the quality of patient care, and now provide over&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/ie/en/pages/life-sciences-and-healthcare/articles/winning-strategies-molecular-diagnostics.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">80% of the healthcare data used by physicians&nbsp;</a></strong>in their practice.</p>
<p>While the demand for diagnostics surged across the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, laboratories have faced technician shortages on top of surmounting financial pressures for some time. Meanwhile, breakthrough research in areas like oncology, immunology and genetics continue to open up new business opportunities, provided laboratories can meet the regulatory requirements and quality standards.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In today&rsquo;s environment, successfully balancing competing operational and financial priorities requires both resource flexibility to&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/business-continuity-solutions-and-challenges-in-clinical-research" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">adapt to changing business goals</a></strong>, as well as a strong workflow arrangement to ensure unnecessary complexities are avoided, and that regulations are met.</p>
<h2>How do scientific services support workflow management?</h2>
<p>Unlike CRO&rsquo;s an onsite scientific services business offers laboratories the opportunity to supplement their workforce with professionals that integrate and work alongside teams. Doing so enables the insourced professionals to identify and flag opportunities to reduce complexity across routine processes, and enhance workflow management.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scientific Management services</a> offer laboratories&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/the-benefits-of-outsourcing-laboratory-services-to-a-scientific-solutions-provider" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a range of benefits</a></strong>, including scalability. As a flexible arrangement, professionals can be brought onboard temporarily to meet a new workflow plan for a strategic project, without affecting headcount. Alternatively, scientific services can provide long-term teams that continuously support and bolster the wider team.</p>
<p>What are the benefits of workflow optimisation? We&rsquo;ve listed them below:&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>Improved space allocation</li>
<li>Increased adaptability</li>
<li>Reduced turnaround time</li>
<li>Improved laboratory throughput</li>
<li>Maximised potential of laboratory staff and resources</li>
<li>Reinforced adherence to quality standards and regulatory compliance</li>
</ul>
<h2>3 steps to manage resource constraints with laboratory workflow management</h2>
<h3>1. Prioritise the right workflow</h3>
<p>It&rsquo;s important to ensure that you strategically choose which workflow to optimise.</p>
<p>Start by listing the processes that have the most value for lab output, and the most impact on staff. This might be a common set of procedures that has a big impact on customers, or a specific work area that researchers have found challenging.</p>
<p>Once you&rsquo;ve created a list of the most critical workflows to optimise, communicate it with your wider team and get their input on which workflow would improve and optimise productivity the most.</p>
<h3>2. Identify current workflow challenges and obstacles&nbsp;</h3>
<p>Reducing complexity is at the centre of workflow optimisation.</p>
<p>This stage is about understanding where your key obstacles are before you bring in any resources to overcome the issue.</p>
<p>One way to identify these key obstacles is by monitoring changes in turnaround time to understand where delays are happening the most across the testing process.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>3. Assess capacity to implement optimisation</h3>
<p>Laboratory capacity to realise a new workflow will often rely on renegotiated resources, or redeployment of personnel to more critical areas.</p>
<p>Resource planning can help contextualise your workflow, and help managers understand how they can realistically realise their plan.</p>
<p>Strategically re-allocating personnel, and supplementing resources where necessary, can help improve productivity and reduce operating costs, helping you strike that critical balance between financial and operational pressures.</p>
<h2>Looking for a scientific services partner?</h2>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The team from Synergy Scientific Management Solutions</a></strong>&nbsp;work with laboratories across the world, equipping laboratories with expert talent that catalyse laboratory success, from within.&nbsp;</p>
<p>At Synergy, we help laboratories embrace adaptability with flexible teams who we source, manage and develop ourselves.</p>
<p>Interested in hearing more?</p>
<p>You can talk to our friendly team about your resourcing requirements at:<a href="mailto:synergyqueries@srgtalent.com"><strong>&nbsp;synergyqueries@srgtalent.com&nbsp;</strong></a></p>
<div>&nbsp;</div>

Overcome resource constraints by optimising your laboratory workflows. Read on to find out how...

How To Manage Resource Constraints In Laboratory Workflow Management

<p>Insights from the latest Global Talent Trends and Insights survey, conducted in collaboration between SRG and New Scientist, have highlighted the importance of STEM employers managing, meeting and adapting to Employee Expectations and Trends and how doing so can help find, hire and retain the very best STEM talent.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Why is it Important to Meet Employee Expectations?&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Employee expectations, and what they mean to employees &ndash; and their employers &ndash; have a vital role in creating a workforce and workplace in which people feel they can be productive, perform to the very best of their abilities, and &ndash; most importantly &ndash; feel satisfaction and happiness in everything they do.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Managing and meeting expectations as closely as possible to what employees expect, factoring in the different and diverse values, approaches and expectations of everyone in a team, department or company, can ensure the career goals, skills and qualities of individuals align with the goals and expectations of the business and everyone within it.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Being aligned helps to create and maintain a harmonious working environment; build relationships, enhance communications, and increase confidence; implement an element of accountability and realistic expectation setting; and, as a result, drive high performance and results &ndash; for both employee and employer.</p>
<h2>STEM Employee Expectations and Trends</h2>
<p>Historically, and especially in recent years, employees across the various STEM industries have been largely happy in their line of work, based on their expectations, if and how they&rsquo;re met, and their experiences.</p>
<p>According to SRG&rsquo;s Global Talent Trends and Insights survey, two-thirds of people in the Life Sciences sector are satisfied with their role &ndash; which is in stark contrast to other industries. As explained by Andrew Turner, Managing Director at SRG UK, &ldquo;A job in the life sciences industry is seen as an attractive opportunity because it is an interesting, innovative sector.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>Hybrid Working Trends in STEM</h2>
<p>However, the survey&rsquo;s results also suggest that change could be on the horizon in STEM industries, based on employee&rsquo;s goals, requirements and expectations. For example, the results highlight a clear expectation regarding working patterns, with more than two-thirds of people asked preferring hybrid working.</p>
<p>But, with only about 40% of STEM roles in the UK and Europe featuring a mix of on-site and remote working, there is potential for a clash between expectations and reality which could drive a desire for change &ndash; a point supported by data from Global Talent Trends and Insights survey that shows more than half of respondents expect to have changed job role at some point in 2024.</p>
<p>And it&rsquo;s not just hybrid working that&rsquo;s high on STEM employee&rsquo;s expectations list. According to Tyler Rostad of SRG North America, there has been a significant change to employee expectations since the COVID pandemic, stating &ldquo;The pandemic changed people&rsquo;s priorities and employers will have to take that on board.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>Top Benefits Driving STEM Employee Retention in 2024</h2>
<p>The survey results suggest that several key benefits are integral to employee expectations; expectations that, if met by employers, could make all the difference to whether the very best talent is attracted, hired and retained within STEM. These include:</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Generous Parental Leave</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mental Health Support</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Health and Wellbeing Benefits</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Competitive Salaries and Bonuses</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Learning and Development of Key Skills</p>
<h3>Global Talent Trends &amp; Insights 2024: Employee Expectations and Trends Statistics &nbsp;</h3>
<p>For a detailed analysis and summary of our full Employee Expectations and Trends statistics, as well as valuable insights into salary expectations, the gender pay gap and equality, diversity and inclusion in STEM, download your copy of SRG&rsquo;s Global Talent Trends &amp; Insights 2024 below.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/global-talent-trends-and-insights-2024">DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY OF THE 2024 GLOBAL TALENT TRENDS &amp; INSIGHTS REPORT</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p>About the data: SRG and New Scientist surveyed over 4,000 STEM professionals working in the Engineering, Medtech, Biotech, Pharmaceutical, FMCG, Chemical, Clinical sectors as well as Academia. 55% of respondents were from the UK, 33% of respondents were from North America, and 12% of respondents were from Europe.</p>

We study the importance of managing, meeting and adapting to employee expectations and trends, supported by insights from SRG and New Scientist’s 2024 Global Talent Trends & Insights report, when finding, hiring and retaining in STEM industries.

Hiring and Retaining in STEM: What are Employee Expectations? 

<p>Outsourcing pharma development is on the rise &ndash;&nbsp;<a href="https://biopharma.co.uk/intelligent-freeze-drying/the-era-of-pharma-and-biotech-outsourcing-is-here-to-stay/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">75% of the new drugs pipeline is currently outsourced</a>, consuming two-thirds of annual development spending.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The global pandemic accelerated commitments to invest in outsourcing, as new product launches and demand surges rose. Amidst the turbulence,<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/life-sciences/our-insights/pharma-operations-creating-the-workforce-of-the-future" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;many companies developed a trigger event approach</a> to development and manufacturing, where M&amp;As, capacity constraints, new product launches, or even regulatory changes drove a reactive, rather than proactive and holistic strategy.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Today, weakened by the knock-on effects of this reactionary approach, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/how-to-overcome-the-top-4-pharma-supply-chain-challenges" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pharmaceutical supply chain</a>&nbsp;needs a renewed strategy to bolster resilience.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Many pharmaceutical organisations have been left with a dispersed global network of subscale manufacturing sites, and contract research organisation relationships in dire need of optimisation.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a climate of resilience and optimisation, is outsourcing still the right approach?&nbsp;</p>
<p>Read on to find out:</p>
<ul>
<li>Why pharma companies use third-party services</li>
<li>5 questions to ask before outsourcing pharma</li>
<li>What other options are available?</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why do pharma companies use third-party services?</h2>
<p>Mounting price pressures, changing regulatory requirements, and the need for agility and innovation are all factors driving more pharmaceutical organisations to turn to third-party services.</p>
<p>Choosing the right external service provider is one of the defining actions behind the success of your development and manufacturing strategy, as expert support and guidance - <a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">such as that provided by Synergy's Scientific Service Management Solutions</a> - affords an opportunitiy to forge strategic relationships and unlock access to specialist laboratory services. This in turn allows more time to focus on core competencies, whilst also reducing burn rates and costs.</p>
<p>While outsourcing is one of the most well-known models for third-party support, it does have its limitations, some of which include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Delays in recruitment</li>
<li>Risk and compliance complexity</li>
<li>Increases to capital budgets</li>
</ul>
<p>In the next section, I&rsquo;ll explore some of the key questions to consider before you initiate or expand your outsourcing network.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>5 questions to ask before outsourcing pharma</h2>
<h3>1.&nbsp;Is outsourcing strategically appropriate for your company?&nbsp;</h3>
<p>Take the time to consider how outsourcing will slot into your wider manufacturing strategy. Consider&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/pharma-rd-external-resourcing-strategy-outsourcing-vs-on-site-scientific-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what risks, and benefits outsourcing will bring</a>&nbsp;to suppliers, your customers and market, other external service providers, and how they counterbalance with ROI.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Is maximising external capabilities essential, or would a mix of both external and third-party internal support help to enable more core processes and key performance indicator (KPI) achievement?</p>
<h3>2.&nbsp;Are your prospective partners reliably flexible and agile?</h3>
<p>An agile, and flexible manufacturing process is one that allows prompt response to change while adhering to regulatory guidelines.&nbsp;</p>
<p>If your organisation is undergoing a period of change where new tests, instructions or standard operating procedures are being introduced, traditional outsourcing providers may add another layer of complexity, as all new information will need to undergo validation across both your own internal teams, and the additional outsourced location. Traditional models can contribute to time delays, and add to the risk of liability and communication issues.<br><br>Valuable external service providers have a proven track record of agile and flexible manufacturing support where KPIs are still met &ndash; even across times of rapid change.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions">Synergy's Scientific Management Service Teams&nbsp;</a>accomplish this by providing trained teams of scientists on-site, while providing the leadership and management support to ensure their development, without adding to your internal workload. This bespoke model means you can flex the scale of production, and introduce new procedures in a more gradual, and powerful way onto existing methods of working &ndash; removing communication barriers and enabling a more direct validation process.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>3. Do you have the capacity to manage the outsourcing transition and maintenance?</h3>
<p>Companies can unlock the most value from outsourced teams with dedicated capabilities and governance.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s important that someone from within your organisation (or a team of people), is on hand to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Co-ordinate and manage due diligence site visits</li>
<li>Provide management support for organisational change management</li>
<li>Perform periodic risk and compliance audits</li>
<li>Benchmark operations and identify potential areas for optimisation</li>
<li>Ensure incentives are aligned and that KPIs are met</li>
<li>Report progress to executive teams</li>
<li>Establish a clear decision-making process to help align micro-decisions and ongoing governance with wider business strategy.</li>
</ul>
<h3>4. Can you preserve end-to-end supply chain transparency?</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/life-sciences/our-insights/four-ways-pharma-companies-can-make-their-supply-chains-more-resilient" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">25% of pharma executives</a>&nbsp;say that a lack of visibility into supplier risks is a significant reason behind organisational disruption.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While supply chain risks can be unavoidable, pharmaceutical companies can minimise the potential of disruption by optimising their network of external partners.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Leaders can do this by mapping their suppliers across each tier for a clear, end-to-end view of the entire supply chain, before noting vulnerabilities.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Next, leaders should seek out extra resilience metrics around:</p>
<ul>
<li>Data security</li>
<li>Finance</li>
<li>Operations</li>
<li>Organisational maturity</li>
<li>Regulation</li>
<li>Reputation</li>
<li>Structure</li>
</ul>
<p>Notably, details around exposures beyond supply, including information about regions and climate change, product delivery, and storage are imperative in pharmaceutical manufacture. Small disruptions to transportation can jeopardise the utility of medication; these disruptions are more likely in areas that are prone to climate change and its effects.</p>
<h3>5. How will you maintain executive focus?</h3>
<p>An effective manufacturing strategy combines all external and internal aspects of the manufacturing network most efficiently and appropriately, while accommodating the needs and requirements of strategic partners.</p>
<p>Executive focus is key across not only planning and approval of outsourcing strategy but implementation. Executive involvement drives the holistic strategic vision behind the outsourcing initiative and adds a crucial layer of value to decision-making to accelerate progress.</p>
<p>Establishing a clear structure to ensure that executive buy-in and attention are maintained across the course of the project can help speed up project progress and bolster the success of your external sourcing strategy.</p>
<h2>What other options are available?</h2>
<p>Resilient pharmaceutical development and manufacturing strategies are customised and optimised to maximise ROI and KPI achievement. This often means combining outsourcing with support from other third-party providers to strengthen efficiencies across the business.</p>
<p>While outsourcing can deliver niche technical expertise and technology to accelerate drug development,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/the-benefits-of-outsourcing-laboratory-services-to-a-scientific-solutions-provider" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hybrid insourcing models combine the benefits&nbsp;</a>of cost efficiency and resourcing strength to return time to critical internal functions.&nbsp;</p>
<p>At&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Synergy</a>, our scientific services model equips our clients with a team of trained scientists who work on-site, while being managed and developed by us to help clients optimise and improve their processes.&nbsp;</p>
<p>We&rsquo;ve helped some of the largest pharmaceutical organisations in the world strengthen their agility and internal capabilities, by providing comprehensive support models including technical lab operation support, baseline lab operation support, and analytical services all while supporting quality control functions.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Find out how Synergy could help you</h2>
<p class="MsoNormal">Synergy provides flexible Scientific Service Management solutions, deploying and integrating expert teams to deliver core Lab Activities across the pharmaceutical, biotech, FMCG, chemical, clinical research, biopharma, and sensory industries.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions">Click here to find out more about how Synergy Scientific Services can empower your business, people, and your strategic science goals.</a></p>

Considering outsourcing pharma development or manufacture? Neil Jones explores 5 essential questions to ask before you outsource.

Outsourcing Pharma - 5 Questions for Leaders to Consider

<p>Activating the full potential of every employee is critical, especially when the talent market is becoming increasingly more competitive. Reducing turnover and driving staff retention is an increasing priority for leaders, as the cost of manufacture and the <strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">heightening skills gap across STEM continues to rise</a></strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Job crafting, where employees make small changes within the boundaries of their role, can empower both employees and leaders alike with a strategic roadmap to boost job satisfaction and retention in STEM workplaces.</p>
<p>In this article, we explore:</p>
<ul>
<li>Key drivers of STEM employee retention</li>
<li>What job crafting is and why it matters in the lab</li>
<li>How to job craft and drive retention</li>
</ul>
<h2>Driving STEM employee retention</h2>
<p>Due to a number of global challenges and events in recent years, workplace environments have evolved to better enable workforce agility. In the world of laboratories,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/articles/global-outsourcing-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more organisations than ever are investing in outsourcing&nbsp;</a></strong>employees and teams to build a flexible workforce network.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, employees are experiencing&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/the-benefits-of-hybrid-working-in-the-laboratory" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the benefits of hybrid work</a></strong> and may have shifting priorities, thanks to a change in the way many employers operate and a drive towards creating a better work/life balance.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In&nbsp;<strong>a Global Science Employment Report</strong>, we found that while a good work-life balance was the factor cited as most important by the highest number of employees across STEM, it was also ranked as the least important factor by the most respondents in the UK and Europe. Meanwhile, over half of respondents across all regions are driven by a stimulating and challenging work environment, where they are well compensated.</p>
<p>In <strong><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31313958/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research involving laboratories across the globe</a></strong>, a stimulating work environment was similarly cited as a major motivational factor for staff, and a key reason behind high employee retention rates.&nbsp;</p>
<p>To successfully cultivate an appropriate work environment, leaders must consider how to make the work itself meaningful for employees &ndash; this is where job crafting is key.</p>
<h2>What is job crafting and why does it matter in the lab?</h2>
<p>Whether you realise it or not, job crafting is something we all do in our day-to-day work. The decisions we make according to our motivational drivers, from seeking more social opportunities in the office, to mentally reframing a task to self-motivate, how we perform our jobs is invariably customised to our preferences.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As job crafting affects how tasks are completed and interpersonal dynamics in the laboratory, it has the potential to influence both individual and organisational performance alike.&nbsp;</p>
<p>STEM leaders must mediate job crafting to ensure its effects are positive, rather than detrimental to performance. Doing so successfully, can accelerate job satisfaction, and drive improved retention.</p>
<p>In recent research exploring the impact of job crafting in a post-pandemic landscape, researchers found that employees who had the opportunity to job craft during the pandemic reported&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-job-crafting-can-make-work-more-satisfying/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a job satisfaction increase of 92%, which contributed to a 29% decrease in their stress levels.</a></strong>&nbsp;In laboratory environments where turn-around times are often hallmarked as a benchmark for success, managing stress levels, and improving resilience is fundamental to sustained retention and productivity.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How to job craft and drive retention</h2>
<p>Job crafting, as a concept, falls into three key proponents.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>1.&nbsp;Task crafting</h3>
<p>Task crafting refers to adding, or dropping the responsibilities set out in your job description. It can also involve modifying the nature of responsibilities, or re-prioritising tasks to maximise your time.</p>
<p>Research demonstrates that a key part of successful task crafting lies in optimising resource allocation and enabling staff with improved access to the resources they need to succeed &ndash; whether that be regular one-to-ones, mentorship opportunities, or simply an alternative piece of equipment. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1359432X.2019.1576632)</p>
<h3>2.&nbsp;Relationship crafting</h3>
<p>Relationship crafting refers to reshaping the ways employees interact. It can involve changing who we interact with or expanding opportunities to communicate and engage with a wider group of people on a more regular basis.</p>
<p>Additionally, relationship crafting can be reinforced by enabling staff to change responsibilities and roles across different tasks, while allocating peer leaders to help guide and upskill teams. This can strengthen development and employee growth, all while providing peer leadership opportunities to activate continuous development.</p>
<h3>3.&nbsp;Cognitive crafting</h3>
<p>Cognitive crafting involves shifting your mindset around the tasks you complete. Attributing a wider purpose to the smaller task completed is a key part of this, and <a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/how-to-lead-a-research-team-in-4-steps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can be integrated as part of your research&rsquo;s vision strategy.</a></p>
<p>Using elements of the above can enable leaders to better customise and improve how talent interact, engage, and complete work.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How Synergy helps with job crafting</h2>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Synergy Scientific Solutions</a></strong>, we equip laboratories across the globe with managed laboratory teams, who are integrated into a client's workforce with an embedded job crafting strategy.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For every client project, we hire and recruit expert staff with the right abilities and skills to achieve target deliverables, while empowering every team member with the flexibility to craft the process of achieving client targets.</p>
<p>We provide the flexibility required for our managed scientific staff to specialise laboratory management solutions and in the elements of deliverables and tasks that are most related to their core needs, and motivational drivers. In doing so, we<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/clients/our-services/synergy-scientific-solutions/synergy-case-studies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&nbsp;help our clients improve retention and boost productivity.</a></strong></p>
<p>To find out more about how we can support your organisation with specialist scientific support, contact us at:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:"><strong>synergyqueries@srgtalent.com</strong></a></p>

Discover how to maximise staff retention by job crafting in this article from our Synergy Scientific Solutions team.

How to Boost Staff Retention in the Lab Through Job Crafting

<p>As specialist STEM recruitment services providers and market-leaders in helping clients across STEM industries find, hire and retain the very best talent, SRG are driven to create, develop and deliver a variety of tailored solutions to drive successful recruitment strategies.</p>
<p>Search by SRG is one such solution. Driven by intelligent data and the expertise of our dedicated teams, this Executive and Technical Search service is designed to connect STEM organisations and the highest level of middle and senior technical talent through a project-based approach focused on their specific needs.</p>
<p>Read on to find out more about Search by SRG, and how we help your business achieve success in an ever-changing, highly competitive recruitment market.</p>
<h2>What is Search by SRG?</h2>
<p>Behind everything we do at SRG is the passion to provide STEM organisations with best-in-class recruitment solutions to meet their every requirement, as a trusted, specialist partner across all aspects of the recruitment process.</p>
<p>Search by SRG, our Executive and Technical Search solutions, have been designed to do just that, specifically focusing on powering business growth through the power of a tailored, specialised recruitment service that not only finds and identifies top-level talent for Senior Executive and Technical roles for our clients, but helps hire and retain them too.</p>
<p>Using their knowledge, experience and understanding of the STEM recruitment landscape, commercially and technically, our Search by SRG team &ndash; supported by data intelligence and insights &ndash; focus on securing middle and senior technical appointments for their clients, across various STEM industries including pharmaceuticals, life sciences, medical, AI, engineering and MedTech.</p>
<h2><span class="cf0">What is Executive Recruitment? The Search by SRG Approach</span><br></h2>
<p>The beauty of the Search by SRG approach to Executive Search Recruitment is in its flexibility, transparency and agility, providing:</p>
<p><a>&bull;</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/business-solutions/executive-search" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Technical and Executive Search</a></p>
<p><a>&bull;</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/global-talent-trends-and-insights-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Market insights and reporting&nbsp;</a></p>
<p><a>&bull;</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/business-solutions/salary-benchmarking" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salary insights and benchmarking</a></p>
<p>&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; High-end interim and consultants</p>
<p>&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/us/business-solutions/project-based-statement-of-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project recruitment campaigns</a></p>
<p>&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)</p>
<p>At the heart of every project is an experience and expertise-based understanding of our client&rsquo;s culture, values and aspirations, helping us to develop and deliver the ideal, uniquely tailored strategy that utilises our data-driven recruitment process to offer real-time insights and the right results.</p>
<h2><span class="cf0">What are the Benefits of Executive Search with SRG?</span><br></h2>
<p>SRG&rsquo;s clients can expect to benefit from the rewards of creating a collaborative, consultation-led relationship with our dedicated expert team, who strive to work closely with every stakeholder to drive a project forward through every step of the journey.</p>
<p>Once we have determined your specific recruitment requirements, you can expect the Search by SRG team to uncover skilled candidates, leading your recruitment strategy with passion, knowledge and providing expert guidance and support along the way.</p>
<p>No matter the project, no matter the requirements, Search by SRG provides a variety of benefits such as:</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A dedicated research team with every project</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Access to real-time market intelligence and data-driven solutions</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Insights from technical and personality assessment tools</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dedicated project management support and weekly review meetings</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Variable attraction campaigns tailored to your needs</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The knowledge, passion and drive of our experts</p>
<h2>Experience the Difference of Search by SRG</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/business-solutions/executive-search" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here</a> to find out more about about our expert Executive and Technical Search team, and how their knowledge and experience can help your business thrive.&nbsp;</p>

Find out more about Search by SRG, SRG’s Executive and Technical services, and how working with an expert STEM recruitment partner drive success through a tailored Executive Recruitment strategy.

Search by SRG: The Power of Data Driven Executive and Technical Search Solutions

<p>Laboratory operations should a space in which to enable innovation, preserve productivity, and withstand change.</p>
<p>As has become evident in recent years, especially during periods of unexpected disruption and change such as the global pandemic, clinical laboratories are particularly susceptible to disruption, and capable of resilience. From the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/how-to-overcome-the-top-4-pharma-supply-chain-challenges"><strong>supply chain shortages</strong></a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk"><strong>skills gaps</strong></a>, to drug compound inefficacy in clinical trials,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/laboratory-leaders-survey-and-results-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">laboratory leaders have, and continue to face, varying challenges</a></strong>&nbsp;that threaten timelines and success rates.</p>
<p>Considering the potential disruption and uncertainty, which could hinder progress and potential, the importance of a scalable and agile workforce is increasingly linked to business continuity.</p>
<p>With this in mind, in this article I will explore:</p>
<ul>
<li>The difference between onsite scientific service partners and outsourcing</li>
<li>The importance of agility and scalability in the lab</li>
<li>3 ways onsite scientific service partners drive agility and scalability</li>
</ul>
<h2>The difference between onsite scientific service partners and outsourcing</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Onsite scientific service providers</a> (SSP)&rsquo;s provide integrated onsite teams that work alongside existing core staff, enabling them to focus on their core science.</p>
<p>Outsourcing companies work at their own CRO/CDMO facilities to supplement the work of existing core staff offsite.</p>
<p>The key differences are related to agility and efficiency:</p>
<ul>
<li>Onsite scientific service management partners benefit from onsite real-time communication and problem-solving</li>
<li>Outsourcing companies communicate via site visits, video calls, and teleconferences</li>
<li>Onsite scientific management helps to avoid time-zone conflicts as they are in the same location&nbsp;</li>
<li>Given the global nature of the pharmacological industry, outsourcing providers often require time-zone considerations and cycle-time allowances</li>
<li>Having scientific service solution teams onsite allows them to have direct access to IT infrastructure and resources, enabling instantaneous cycle times</li>
</ul>
<h2>The importance of agility and scalability in the lab</h2>
<p>Drug attrition rates, or the percentage of drug candidates that drop out in clinical testing, are a key driver of risk in pharmaceutical development.</p>
<p>The further along the drug candidate is in clinical trials, the greater the expense and disruption. While&nbsp;<a href="https://books.google.com.et/books?id=iry1nJHAc_sC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;q&amp;f=false#v=onepage"><strong>60%</strong></a>&nbsp;of inefficient drug candidates can often be identified and dealt with at pre-clinical stages,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://books.google.com.et/books?id=iry1nJHAc_sC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;q&amp;f=false#v=onepage">52% of drug candidates that make it to Phase II clinical trials fail</a></strong>. By this point, the Phase II failed drug candidate has already consumed&nbsp;<a href="https://books.google.com.et/books?id=iry1nJHAc_sC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;q&amp;f=false#v=onepage"><strong>&pound;600-700 million on average in drug development and testing costs</strong></a>.</p>
<p>Agile and scalable resource allocation is one way to overcome this core issue in the industry, enabling organisations to minimise the amount of wasted resources on projects and bounce back from failed drug candidates.</p>
<h2>3 ways onsite scientific service partners drive agility and scalability</h2>
<h3>Increased lab staff retention</h3>
<p>Having a <a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scientific management solution team</a> onsite can take the pressure away from permanent staff, enabling them to focus on core science by picking up bench work, and other administrative duties in the laboratory. This model enables<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/how-to-boost-staff-retention-in-the-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;core staff to focus on the work that inspires them, improving engagement.&nbsp;</a>Meanwhile, onsite scientific services manage the engagement of deployed staff, enabling them to cross-train, develop, and work in the most aligned environment for them. This model enables onsite scientific services to retain deployed staff while helping organisations retain their permanent employees.</p>
<h3>Expansion despite headcount restraints</h3>
<p>Onsite scientific management services enable laboratories to expand their core teams under an OPEX budget, removing the headcount limitations that can often curb expansion and tie organisations to temporary recruitment models. This means that the laboratory benefits from a team of permanently employed external employees, where the issue of contractors leaving, needing to train new employees, all while compromising intellectual property and losing the time spent to train employees, is avoided.</p>
<h3>Reduced risk</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Onsite scientific services</a> assume full responsibility of HR management for the employed lab staff, including payroll, benefits, holiday, performance management, and on-boarding/off-boarding. This enables clients to avoid HR liabilities involved in direct employment, and swiftly scale according to project demands.<br><br></p>
<h2>Fuel scientific breakthroughs with Synergy</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Synergy Scientific Solutions</strong></a>&nbsp;has been partnering with scientific organisations across pharma, biotech and the wider life science industries for over 18 years.</p>
<p>Our team of industry experts work closely and collaboratively with our clients, building tailored solutions, and then training and managing our teams of integrated staff to complete protocol-driven tasks that enhance your business efficiency.</p>
<p>Whatever your scientific goals, we&rsquo;ll deploy the team that gets you there.</p>

Find out how to streamline lab operations with a scalable and agile workforce

How to Streamline Lab Operations with a Scalable, Agile Workforce

<h3>An Introduction to Commercial Recruitment Solutions</h3>
<p>At SRG, as specialist STEM recruitment services providers, we are experts in helping clients find, hire, and retain the very best talent for roles across a variety of industries.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now, in addition to our existing industry-leading services, we are extending our offerings to provide <a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/commercial-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commercial recruitment solutions</a> to provide clients access to a wide and diverse talent pool and a client-centric recruitment process that enables and promotes collaboration, consultation and building stronger business relationships.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Discover how SRG&rsquo;s Commercial Recruitment Services and our expert consultants can help your business navigate the challenging and ever-evolving talent market.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>What is Commercial Recruitment?</h3>
<p>In line with the SRG vision to be a trusted, specialist partner across all aspects of the recruitment process, and provide STEM organisations with best-in-class solutions to meet their every requirement, our Commercial Recruitment Services have been designed to power business growth through the power of expert talent hiring.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Using their knowledge, experience and understanding of the STEM recruitment landscape, commercially and technically, our talent consultants &ndash; and the wider SRG team &ndash; will help you tackle the challenges of digital health and health-tech recruitment, driven by a commitment to finding the right candidate for specialist STEM sectors and roles.&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>5 Commercial Services Offered by SRG</strong></h3>
<ol>
<li>Contingency</li>
<li>Statement of Work&nbsp;</li>
<li>Temporary, Contract and Interim</li>
<li>Retained Search</li>
<li>Tailored Solutions, specific to client needs.</li>
</ol>
<p>SRG&rsquo;s Commercial Recruitment Teams, who span the UK, USA, Ireland, and Greater EMEA region, support our commercial service offerings by delving into a wide-reaching, multi-skilled STEM talent network and providing the very best, bespoke recruitment solutions &ndash; even for the most niche requirements. Our commitment to excellence sets us apart from other commercial recruitment agencies.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>What are the Benefits of Commercial Services?</h3>
<p>SRG&rsquo;s clients can expect to benefit from the rewards of creating a collaborative, consultation-led relationship with our dedicated expert consultations, who strive to work closely with every stakeholder to ensure our hiring solutions &ndash; whether it&rsquo;s a niche executive search, or large-scale contract or permanent search &ndash; are tailored to deliver success.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Once we have determined your specific recruitment requirements, you can expect your Commercial Team to discover skilled candidates that match them, whilst providing expert guidance and support through every step of the journey &ndash; taking the strain of what we know can be an often frustrating, time-consuming search for talent.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>The Benefits of Working with SRG:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Clear communication across the process &ndash; both with you as a client, and with every candidate.</li>
<li>Access to the best talent in the Commercial STEM industry.</li>
<li>A powerful candidate attraction strategy, tailored to your organisation.</li>
<li>Support with screening and shortlisting.</li>
<li>Guidance with interviewing, offers and negotiation.</li>
<li>Transparency with you as a client through regular meetings and reports.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Does my Business Need Commercial Services?&nbsp;</h3>
<p>With expertise that spans the STEM spectrum, SRG can provide these services to a wide variety of companies across the industry, supporting their search for the ideal candidates to suit their available roles, their business and build a better future.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Our services can help you discover and hire talent for commercial and management roles in:</p>
<ul>
<li>Business Development</li>
<li>Sales and Account Management</li>
<li>Procurement &amp; Purchasing</li>
<li>Commercial Operations</li>
<li>Commercial Finance</li>
<li>Strategy and Data Analytics</li>
<li>Marketing</li>
<li>Product Management&nbsp;</li>
<li>Digital Transformation and Market Access&nbsp;</li>
<li>Senior Sales and C-Suite Roles</li>
</ul>
<h3>Ready to elevate your recruitment strategy?&nbsp;</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/contact-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contact us</a> to discover how our commercial recruitment services can drive your business forward. Reach out to our expert team to start finding the perfect candidates for your company&rsquo;s needs.&nbsp;</p>

Find out more about SRG’s Commercial Recruitment Services offerings, and how working with an expert STEM recruitment partner can benefit your talent search and your business. 

SRG Commercial Services: The benefits of working with a STEM recruitment partner

<p><strong>Cambridge and London, UK, 16th April 2024:</strong>&nbsp;SRG, leaders in life science recruitment, today entered into a partnership with&nbsp;The European Laboratory Research &amp; Innovation Group (ELRIG) UK, a not-for-profit, volunteer-led organisation for the drug discovery community, to support the advancement of science professionals in their careers.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The partnership offers the ELRIG community access to career opportunities and provides organisations of all sizes with SRG&rsquo;s specialist talent solutions to help grow the life science sector. In particular, early career professionals (ECPs) in industry and academia can attend forums and networking events where they can meet, and learn the skills needed to help them advance their careers in drug discovery.</p>
<p>ELRIG brings together academic and biopharma industry experts and thought leaders to exchange ideas and information through the provision of free-to-attend scientific meetings and conferences. Its primary objective is to provide leading-edge knowledge to the life sciences community on an open-access basis. As part of the ELRIG events programme, there are a range of activities designed specifically for ECPs.</p>
<p>SRG, powered by Impellam Group, are experts in finding the specialist skills needed to support biotech and pharmaceutical research. They help life science companies &mdash; from start-ups to big pharma &mdash; to find, attract and nurture emerging talent, and aim to ensure outstanding career prospects for candidates. Together ELRIG and SRG will provide support to life science professionals that will allow them to gain a deeper understanding of the industry, select the right career path, and develop the tools needed to progress, while helping the drug discovery industry to flourish.</p>
<p>Andrew Turner, Managing Director, SRG, said: &ldquo;As technological innovations accelerate, new fields emerge, and competition intensifies, the demand for professionals within STEM industries continues to outpace the available talent pool. Our partnership with ELRIG, an organisation that shares our passion for innovation, will focus on talent enablement, and supporting the advancement of science professionals at each stage of their career. ELRIG&rsquo;s commitment to enabling early talent aligns wonderfully with the work that we perform across the life sciences sector to create opportunities for future generations. Together, we are creating world-class communities that empower individuals and businesses to shape tomorrow&rsquo;s world.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Sanj Kumar, CEO, ELRIG UK, said: &ldquo;ELRIG and SRG have a shared ambition to advance the careers of early-stage professionals in drug discovery. ELRIG will provide the opportunities for ECPs to connect, whilst SRG can help them to expand their skillset and progress in their careers. Building such networks is an imperative as they navigate the myriad of collaboration and career options ahead of them. We are delighted to be working with the team at SRG, who bring 30 years of industry experience supporting scientific endeavours to this exciting collaboration.&rdquo;</p>
<p>ECPs are invited to attend the webinar &ldquo;AI at the Frontier: Empowering Early Career Professionals in Drug Discovery&rdquo; at 1pm BST on 24 April 2024: <a href="https://elrig.org/portfolio/webinar-april-2024-ai-at-the-frontier-empowering-ecps-in-drug-discovery/">https://elrig.org/portfolio/webinar-april-2024-ai-at-the-frontier-empowering-ecps-in-drug-discovery/</a></p>
<p>For further information about SRG&rsquo;s career opportunities, visit:<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/job-seekers"> https://www.srgtalent.com/job-seekers</a></p>
<p>For further information about ELRIG&rsquo;s ECP network, please visit: <a href="https://elrig.org/early-career-professionals/">https://elrig.org/early-career-professionals/</a></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>About SRG</strong></p>
<p>SRG are industry leaders in Life Sciences, Clinical and Engineering Recruitment and the largest Life Science recruitment agency in the UK. With over 30 years&rsquo; experience of serving the STEM industries, we understand what job seekers and employers are looking to achieve, and what they need to get there. Our industry experts draw on their own technical and scientific backgrounds as they partner with businesses across the life science, clinical and engineering sectors to create impactful staffing and recruiting solutions for any STEM job, in any business.</p>
<p>At SRG, we provide the technical expertise you need to ensure hiring success in any role &ndash; for all levels of experience, no matter how niche. We adapt, flex, and collaborate with our partners across STEM to create powerful recruitment solutions that help people, and businesses unlock their full potential. Whether temporary, contract or permanent, part-time, or full-time, no project or role is too big or small.</p>
<p>Our services include full spectrum staffing solutions, early talent recruitment, Synergy scientific solutions, managed service solutions, executive and technical search. We specialise in areas across Science, Clinical and Engineering, with our core industries including Biotechnology, Chemicals, Food, Drink &amp; FMCG, Medical Technology and Pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p><strong>About ELRIG UK </strong></p>
<p>Since incorporation in 2004, ELRIG has consolidated its reputation as a best in industry UK-based not-for-profit volunteer-led organisation, operated by and for the life sciences community, and dedicated to the delivery of leading-edge scientific meetings and conferences on an open-access basis for optimum accessibility across all levels of its 22,000-strong global community.</p>
<p>The Board delegates its tasks to a series of <a href="https://elrig.org/workgroups/">Work Groups</a>, who work with the ELRIG team to ensure it achieves its objectives.</p>
<p>ELRIG continuously strives to advance its ED&amp;I and sustainability strategic pillars, to both inspire and align with the ESG strategies of its delegates, exhibitors, sponsors and all other stakeholders.</p>
<p>For more information, visit the <a href="https://elrig.org/">ELRIG website</a> or follow on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/elrig/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ELRIG_UK">X (formerly Twitter)</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elrig_uk/">Instagram</a>.&nbsp;</p>

Partnership endorses mission to facilitate career progression and support life science industry growth

 SRG and ELRIG UK Announce Partnership to Advance Life Science Professionals in Drug Discovery 

<p>In an increasingly competitive talent market, effective hiring strategies are becoming heavily linked with business success.</p>
<p>In the UK alone,&nbsp;<a href="https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/the-uks-stem-skills-shortage" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">skills shortages drive a loss of &pound;1.5bn a year</a>, with similar figures echoing across the global STEM industry. Driving success and building business continuity starts with understanding&nbsp;<a href="../../../../../../blog/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-stem-sector">why the talent market has changed</a>, and how your brand can respond with the right hiring strategy to secure appropriately skilled, and culturally aligned, talent.</p>
<p>In this article, I&rsquo;ll explore the three key discerning principles behind an effective talent strategy in STEM today, drawing on my own experience in the field, as well as the expertise of Lucy Colgan, Talent Acquisition Specialist at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.qiagen.com/us/careers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">QIAGEN</a>, a leading global biotechnology company with a major development site in Manchester. QIAGEN&rsquo;s mission is to deliver Sample to Insight solutions enabling QIAGEN customers to unlock valuable molecular insights.</p>
<p>Expect to discover:</p>
<ul>
<li>How leading diagnostics company, QIAGEN, power inclusive hiring practices</li>
<li>Why mission and value-led campaigns resonate with candidates</li>
<li>The value of technology-facilitated hiring in the remote world of recruitment</li>
</ul>
<h2>Building a diversity and inclusion hiring strategy</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.thehrdirector.com/features/leadership/building-leadership-at-all-levels-a-priority-for-2022/">44% of Fortune 500 companies have found that diverse teams increase innovation and agility</a>, and 51% say diversity also improves employee engagement &ndash; all key criteria for a successful STEM workforce.</p>
<p>In research from Deloitte,&nbsp;<a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/about-deloitte/us-about-deloitte-inclusion-survey.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">80% of candidates say inclusion is an important factor</a>&nbsp;when choosing an employer, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/about-deloitte/us-about-deloitte-inclusion-survey.pdf">72% would potentially leave a less inclusive organisation for a more inclusive one</a>. Actively communicating with your prospective candidates about&nbsp;<a href="../../../../../../blog/5-signs-of-an-inclusive-employer">tangible inclusivity efforts</a>&nbsp;can motivate talent to prioritise your organisation.</p>
<p>Talking to Lucy Colgan, Talent Acquisition Specialist at QIAGEN, diversity has a central role across QIAGEN&rsquo;s recruitment and talent management. Lucy describes how QIAGEN &ldquo;discuss with our agency partners their policies on D&amp;I recruitment&rdquo; when outsourcing any hiring activities. Lucy explains, &ldquo;everyone involved in the hiring process has undergone training on unconscious biases, so we can be aware of these as much as possible&rdquo;.</p>
<h2>Embracing a mission-led approach</h2>
<p>Clarifying the mission behind your work can inspire and motivate potential candidates to feel connected to your organisational purpose.</p>
<p>What&rsquo;s more, actively involving employees in shaping that mission, and the wider company culture, can boost the likelihood of long-term retention. High-performing candidates are more likely to prioritise organisations where they can make a tangible impact and feel a sense of belonging.</p>
<p>According to research from McKinsey,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/its-not-about-the-office-its-about-belonging" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">51% of employees left their roles over the &lsquo;Great Attrition&rsquo; because they didn&rsquo;t feel a sense of belonging at work</a>.</p>
<p>Providing impactful opportunities for employees to contribute at work is a priority for QIAGEN. Lucy says, &ldquo;we want to further develop the company culture so everyone has a voice where they can do their job, change things and contribute their suggestions&rdquo;. She describes the highly impactful employee workshops that have been held globally to empower QIAGEN employees to share their views: &ldquo;senior management are really listening to the good and bad from the workshops, and there&rsquo;s a lot of really good input and changes happening&rdquo;.</p>
<p>&ldquo;QIAGEN believes that focusing on its current and future employees drives the company&rsquo;s economic performance and considerably influences the sustainability of its operations. &ldquo;We are convinced that the professional and personal development of our employees is an integral factor in creating value for our customers, patients, colleagues, partners and shareholders&rdquo;, says Lucy. &ldquo;Being the industry&rsquo;s employer of choice by attracting and developing top talent is one of our global goals.&rdquo; To achieve this, QIAGEN creates a work environment that empowers and involves employees at all levels.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>Strengthening recruitment with technology</h2>
<p>The key to bringing these approaches together is a streamlined candidate process, and technology that can make that happen.</p>
<p>A group of inspired candidates, who feel they could belong at your organisation, are more likely to prioritise your role if your candidate experience is streamlined enough to reinforce that sense of belonging. Without a timely response, or streamlined process, you&rsquo;re likely to lose the attention of high-performing candidates.</p>
<p>Lucy Colgan describes, &ldquo;QIAGEN&rsquo;s reputation sets us ahead, most people know us as a company they want to work with&rdquo;. She added that &ldquo;there are many more jobs out there than candidates, and we need to move quickly&rdquo;. The right recruitment partner is important as Lucy goes on to describe: &ldquo;SRG really helped us with video interviews so that we weren&rsquo;t missing out on good candidates and could move quickly&rdquo;.</p>
<p>Reconsidering skill sets is imperative as the wider industry adapts to the fourth industrial revolution. Adopting a data-led approach through personality testing, and utilising video interviews can help scientific organisations make the specialised hires needed to succeed.</p>
<h2>Find out how SRG could help you</h2>
<p>SRG are part of Impellam, the UK&rsquo;s largest staffing business, and the sixth-largest MSP worldwide. Our global presence, extensive talent network and over 20 years of experience in making scientific hires enable us to meet the unique requirements of every company we work with.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<a href="mailto:solutions@srgtalent.com?subject=Recruitment%20solutions%20enquiry">Email our client services team here</a>&nbsp;to find out how SRG could help you.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Pharmaceutical careers involve working at the threshold of medical innovation – whether your job is within drug development, leadership, or advertising, there’s a role where every skill set can make an impact on the wider world of health.

How to Create a Hiring Strategy For The STEM Market

<p><strong>Key findings:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Digitalisation is gaining momentum in the chemicals industry.</li>
<li>Skills gaps can disadvantage all professionals, from graduates through to senior professionals&nbsp;</li>
<li>Taking the initiative to upskill and gain extra digital knowledge can be career-critical.</li>
</ul>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<p>Digitalisation is making waves across chemicals where technologies from machine learning and AI through to predictive monitoring are set to unlock over &pound;400 trillion in value for the industry by 2025. Chemicals professionals have a pivotal role to play in realising this ambition and finding ways to work alongside and within digitally optimised systems.</p>
<p>Research from Accenture reveals that while most major chemical companies are investing in digital innovation,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/insights/industry-x-0/chemicals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">less than a quarter are succeeding</a></strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For those companies that have succeeded, the rewards have seen them scaling more than half of their proof of concepts and earning a higher-than-average return on digital investment. Meanwhile, more than 75% of other companies earned lower than the industry average, regardless of how much they scaled by.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The key difference between the successful, and unsuccessful digitalisation projects was access to and the skill level of employees (<strong><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/energy-and-resources/articles/future-of-digitalization-in-the-chemical-industry.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a finding that Deloitte also echo in their research</a></strong>).</p>
<p>With the right skills and knowledge chemicals professionals today can accelerate the future of the industry.</p>
<p>In this article, I&rsquo;ll reveal the top opportunities and challenges for chemists in today&rsquo;s digital landscape and provide guidance on where and how you can get started on advancing your career in chemistry.</p>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<h2>Challenges and opportunities for chemists in today&rsquo;s digital landscape&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>
<p>There are a number of positive digital trends influencing the careers of chemicals professionals today, as well as others that pose slight hurdles.</p>
<p>To start with, when applying for a role, digitalisation has helped to streamline processes and enable professionals to submit more applications faster.<br><br>A common misconception when it comes to digitalisation is that technology will take jobs away from people. While there may be fewer lower-skilled manual jobs, most jobs in the chemicals industry won&rsquo;t be replaced, and they&rsquo;ll change.&nbsp;</p>
<p>There has been a significant increase in the types of different roles; including those that are directly digital, those that support digital functions, and those where digitalisation directly supports an existing role.</p>
<p>This has created more variety in the types of roles that chemicals professionals can access, meaning that you can go beyond the standard analytical, organic, inorganic, and physical fields through to computational and digital positions &ndash; opening more doors for candidates who haven&rsquo;t followed a traditional route into the chemicals industry across the STEM portfolio, from mathematicians, through to computational chemists and statisticians.</p>
<p>These new job profiles include roles like:</p>
<ul>
<li>Industrial Data Scientists</li>
<li>Statisticians</li>
<li>Data Security</li>
<li>Computational Chemists</li>
<li>Quantum Scientists</li>
<li>Molecular modelling</li>
<li>Chemo informatician</li>
</ul>
<p>Another wider knock-on effect of digitalisation is the increase in hybrid opportunities. These hybrid positions still require practical chemistry skills alongside more computational capabilities, but there are often opportunities to upskill on the job to bridge any skill gaps.</p>
<p>The nature of training itself has also advanced, with technologies including e-learning, modelling programmes, and virtual reality acting as additional aids to the classroom, enhancing training opportunities and outcomes faster.&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, developing training opportunities can also pose a hurdle for businesses and, consequently, professionals &ndash; gaining access to the right training programmes isn&rsquo;t always easy in every role due to the financial investment required by companies to create training initiatives in the first place.</p>
<p>Indeed, the educational infrastructure outside of companies and at universities hasn&rsquo;t quite caught up with the pace of digitalisation in chemicals. While there are follow-on degrees like Masters, and PhD&rsquo;s that allow chemists to garner technical expertise in digital chemistry, there aren&rsquo;t enough of them, and these skills are not being introduced early enough in education.</p>
<p>For more experienced chemistry professionals who have been in the industry for many years, digitalisation can create higher level skills gaps and inhibit intra-industry movement, particularly without the right training routes, and access to those training routes in place.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s vital to take your own initiative as a professional and invest in digital upskilling wherever access is made possible throughout your education and professional life.</p>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<h2>What key digital skills are most in demand in the chemical industry</h2>
<p>In this section, I&rsquo;ll list some key technologies influencing the industry before delving into the specific skills needed to successfully apply them.</p>
<p>Key technologies:</p>
<ul>
<li>AI</li>
<li>Virtual reality</li>
<li>Augmented reality</li>
<li>Cyber-physical systems</li>
<li>Robotics</li>
<li>Automation</li>
<li>Big data</li>
<li>Smart algorithms</li>
<li>Cloud tech</li>
<li>3D printing/additive manufacturing&nbsp;</li>
<li>Data analytics</li>
</ul>
<p>Skills in demand include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Machine learning</li>
<li>Coding - programming languages like Python and R</li>
<li>Computer aided design</li>
<li>Computational biology</li>
<li>Computational chemistry</li>
<li>Virtual screening&nbsp;</li>
<li>Data science</li>
<li>Mathematics</li>
<li>Statistics</li>
<li>Quantum computing</li>
<li>Quantum science&nbsp;</li>
<li>Computer modelling/in silico<br>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Digital upskilling pathways for industrial chemists&nbsp;</h2>
<p>While the UK hasn&rsquo;t quite kept pace with countries like Germany, China, or the US in terms of digital education, as a professional you can take the initiative to upskill yourself.</p>
<p>Many colleges offer coding and digital skills courses as part of extra-curricular activities, and it&rsquo;s worth researching and exploring these options wherever possible on your educational journey.</p>
<p>At university, take the time to assess the degree modules on offer &ndash; if there are any that link to computational chemistry, coding, or any of the skills listed above, take them. After graduation, if you have the resources, look into post-graduate courses specialising in digital chemistry or any area you&rsquo;re most interested in.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As an active professional, look for opportunities to develop further digital capabilities. From free coding courses to free mentorship opportunities on LinkedIn to free online university courses offered by universities like Harvard, Manchester, Tokyo, MIT, and John Hopkins - taking your career to the next level doesn&rsquo;t have to be costly and can be instrumental to ensuring you futureproof your potential in the industry.&nbsp;</p>

Learn how to upskill for digital as an industrial chemist with advice from Head of Chemicals, Faye Allison.

How to Upskill for Digital as An Industrial Chemist

<p>Alison Jones, Operations Director at SRG provides her perspective on forging a lasting, and successful career in recruitment, and reflects on key insights and learnings.<br><br>Read on to learn more about Alison&rsquo;s journey, as she reveals expert advice on creating an evergreen recruitment strategy and assessing your next recruitment partner.</p>
<h2>How did you start out in recruitment?</h2>
<p>Like many others in recruitment, I fell into the industry. I was never academically inclined and left education at 16 to start work. After a few months on an apprenticeship, I gained the commercial skills and workplace qualifications I needed to feel confident in applying for permanent roles.</p>
<p>By this time, I was 17 and my focus was on working in a people-oriented position. I applied for a permanent role as an HR assistant, not realising it was through an agency. When I arrived for my face-to-face meeting, the role had already been filled; but they said they were impressed and asked whether I would like to work for them in sales...&nbsp; the rest is history.</p>
<p>Up until 2013 I worked across the general recruitment sector, until I took a role in an engineering search business out a motivation to specialise in a specific sector. While the company was misaligned for me from a values perspective, it paved my way in STEM recruitment through to SRG, where I was appointed as an Operational Leader almost 10 years ago.<br><br></p>
<h2>What are some of your biggest achievements from the last 35 years in recruitment?&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Goodness me, there&rsquo;s been a few&hellip; but seeing my teams flourish is probably the thing that gives me the most pleasure.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>I&rsquo;ve lost count of the times I&rsquo;ve taken a team from infancy to being a much larger and high performing unit. Some of my current mangers joined me with little to no experience in recruitment and are now considered industry experts and have large teams of their own.&nbsp; &nbsp; Seeing a career develop that way is a huge buzz for me.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>I&rsquo;m also pleased to have made a seamless transition from generalist recruitment to STEM winning Manager of the year in my first full year in STEM back in 2015.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>I also find being able to contribute to the wider scientific industry very fulfilling. Seeing our new partners grow with talent we place and make advancements to improve lives or engineer new products is so significant and feels like a real achievement.&nbsp;<br><br></p>
<h2>What are some of your most significant learnings from your time in recruitment?</h2>
<p>From a leadership perspective I work for my team, not the other way round.&nbsp; My role is to support them to be the best they can be.&nbsp; Their role is to support their teams the same way.&nbsp; Your people come first, do right by them, they look after your customers and everyone wins.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>All voices have value, and it&rsquo;s important to make time for quieter team members to contribute. Some of the best ideas I&rsquo;ve heard are from people who are perceived to be quieter in meetings. Make space for those people to contribute.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s integral to listen to your newcomers. New starters come into a business without any conventions and can offer brilliant observations and ideas to transform processes and make things more efficient.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Most significantly, put the candidate at the heart of everything that you do - this crucial to the whole recruitment process.&nbsp;<br><br></p>
<h2>Do you have any evergreen recruitment advice for the current recruitment climate?</h2>
<p>In my experience, recruiters who build lasting meaningful relationships with candidates and customers never have to cold call. The candidate journey is everything &ndash; without a loyal candidate base we have no product and nothing to offer our partners.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Establishing those relationships with candidates, and clients alike can offer a solid foundation for a sustainable recruitment strategy and accelerate results.</p>
<p>On a similar note, showing empathy is another essential technique. Listening to both partners, and candidates, responding to people in a timely way and doing what you say you&rsquo;re going to do is critical to establishing trust in business. Remember there&rsquo;s a person or people with their own hopes and dreams at the heart of everything we do.<br><br></p>
<h2>What questions would recommend asking a recruitment partner, before investing?</h2>
<p>Some key questions I would ask any recruitment partner based on my expertise in the field would be:</p>
<ol>
<li>How do you engage with candidates and what is the candidate journey?</li>
<li>Can you provide case studies and evidence of relevant sector experience along with customer testimonials?</li>
<li>How well do they understand your business?</li>
<li>What are their fill statistics in the roles you&rsquo;re looking to hire?</li>
<li>What value added services do they offer?</li>
<li>What market insights can they provide?</li>
<li>&nbsp;When was the last time they sought and applied feedback from their own teams?</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Find out more about working with SRG</h2>
<p>At SRG, our data-driven approach to recruitment means we offer measurable and impactful recruitment outcomes for businesses across STEM.<br><br>As a specialist recruitment organisation operating across the wider STEM industries, we have the expertise and flexibility to provide strategic and bespoke solutions to effectively streamline and optimise how our clients hire by powering solutions like:&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>MSP and contingent recruitment</li>
<li>RPO and permanent recruitment</li>
<li>Executive and technical hiring services</li>
<li>Bespoke solutions</li>
<li>Consultancy recruitment services</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>About the author:</strong>&nbsp;Alison joined SRG in 2014 as an operational leader, having worked in Impellam since 2008.&nbsp; Building on an already outstanding career, in 2020 she became Director for UK Chemicals, UK Managed Delivery, Northern Life Science and Scotland.<br>A total of 35 years industry experience has honed her skill and drive to offer customers the very best service. This is coupled with 25 years spent developing high performing teams to become award winning leaders in their field, something which remains at the heart of Alison&rsquo;s position.&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/alison-jones-4496b116" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Click here to connect with Alison on LinkedIn.</a></strong></p>

Alison Jones, Operations Director at SRG provides her perspective on forging a lasting, and successful career in recruitment, and reflects on key insights and learnings.

Alison Jones: Reflections and Learnings from a 35 Year Recruitment Career

In this guide, we’ll show you how to build an employer branding strategy that’s aligned with wider business needs and geared towards achieving your recruitment goals.

How to develop a successful employer branding strategy to attract and retain top talent

<p><strong><a href="https://www.ey.com/en_uk/ceo/ceo-outlook-global-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30% of global CEOs&nbsp;</a></strong>this year say that talent scarcity and skills gaps are major hurdles to business growth &ndash; in the UK alone, the STEM skills shortage is estimated to cost employers&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/the-uks-stem-skills-shortage" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an annual &pound;1.5billion.&nbsp;</a></strong></p>
<p>While the skills gap continues to significantly disrupt business growth in the UK and beyond, talent pipelines remain under-resourced in STEM nationally.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/the-uks-stem-skills-shortage" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Two-fifths of UK STEM employers</a></strong>&nbsp;can&rsquo;t recruit appropriate staff due to a scarcity of STEM graduates - without early talent initiatives that harness the potential of diverse talent, this statistic is unlikely to change.</p>
<p>In this article, we reflect on how the work Chris Blackburn as Head of CSR for STEM at SRG, and Holly Hall as GSK Programme Manager at SRG has accelerated diversity in scientific industries.</p>
<p>Read on to find out more about the impact diverse talent pipelines can have in STEM.</p>
<h2><br>How SRG helps businesses build diverse talent pipelines</h2>
<p>SRG empowers businesses working across STEM to drive diversity by addressing a key factor behind under-representation &ndash; early talent.&nbsp;<br><br>At SRG, building diverse talent pipelines to fuel the future of STEM has involved proactively collaborating with a number of organisations with aligned dedications and ambitions.&nbsp;<br><br>In this section, we will outline some of the ways we&rsquo;ve connected organisations and under-represented groups to power the future of STEM.<br><br></p>
<h3>Leading industrial placements</h3>
<p>SRG&rsquo;s Early Talent team specialise in supporting businesses to identify and attract top early talent from a range of backgrounds to progress onto successful careers in STEM.<br><br>Working with&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GSK, a global biopharma company</a></strong>, we have helped pave the way for diverse candidates to receive mentorship from experienced professionals and develop practical skills and knowledge to enhance their employability and accelerate their career.&nbsp;<br><br>Breaking down barriers to entering STEM professions has been a driving force behind SRG&rsquo;s collaboration with GSK, and this concept has been key to driving inclusion through recruitment.&nbsp;<br><br>Our embedded team at GSK focus on creating a shortlist of the best possible candidates in terms of potential and drive, rather than academic accreditation or university reputation. SRG supports performance-focused candidate profiles by anonymising factors including name, nationality, university, gender, and disability to mitigate unconscious bias and optimise diversity across the selection process.<br><br>This equips with GSK access to a high-quality talent pipeline of motivated and committed talent from under-represented backgrounds to fuel the future of their organisation.&nbsp;<br><br>Each year the embedded SRG Early Talent team support GSK with their long-standing Industrial Placement programme.<br><br>This programme equips students who are looking for an impactful &lsquo;year in industry&rsquo; or &lsquo;sandwich year&rsquo; placement as part of their Undergraduate Degree or Integrated Masters with valuable opportunities across Chemistry, Biology (laboratory and non-Laboratory), Engineering, Manufacturing and Supply Chain, Facilities, Business(including Communications, Finance, HR, Marketing, Procurement), Medical Affairs, Data, and IT/Technology.<br><br>GSK and ViiV Healthcare (a specialist HIV company majority-owned by GSK) are passionate about providing these opportunities for students and can offer up to 300 placements a year at a range of GSK locations across the UK including London, County Durham, East Scotland, Southern England, and South East England.&nbsp;<br><br>The SRG Early Talent Team play an important role across the course of the Industrial Placement programme, where we help activate early and sustainable access to talent for the projects, as well as support candidate management across the course of the hiring process.<br><br></p>
<h3>Leading graduate schemes</h3>
<p>SRG support GSK in optimising access to under-represented groups seeking a career in STEM post-graduation.&nbsp;<br><br>Our Early Talent consultants help GSK&rsquo;s attraction teams assess diversity in roles and instill inclusive recruitment initiatives throughout talent attraction projects in universities.&nbsp;<br><br>SRG have also supported GSK in their recruitment initiatives with the non-profit organisation The 10,000 Interns Foundation, who aim to remove barriers to entering the workforce for underrepresented individuals.&nbsp;<br><br>Our support of GSK&rsquo;s recruitment project with The 10,000 Interns Foundation saw GSK exceeding their initial targets of interns, activating more opportunities for talented young people to power their careers in STEM. We achieved this by streamlining interviews and calls and setting a high standard of expectations for the project from the start. The team also engaged with the 10,000 Black Intern Programme, which supports talented black students and graduates to release their potential, and the 10,000 Able Intern Programme, which supports talented disabled and neurodiverse students and graduates. You can read more regarding the foundation here: The 10,000 Interns Foundation | Transforming the horizons of young people across the UK (10000internsfoundation.com)<br><br></p>
<h3>Leading STEM industry reports</h3>
<p>SRG produce&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/global-stem-salary-survey-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">annual STEM industry reports in collaboration with New Scientist</a></strong>, where we survey scientists and scientific candidates across the STEM industries. Our reports specifically delve into discrimination and harassment for under-represented groups in STEM, as well as data on the pay-gap to support more informed decisions for STEM leaders.<br><br>Our work helps bring a sense of transparency to both candidates and clients alike in revealing the key trends underlying inequity in STEM, alongside the factors driving better results through our valuable qualitative and quantitative data.<strong><a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/global-stem-salary-survey-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a></strong><strong><a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/global-stem-salary-survey-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download this year's salary report here.</a></strong><br><br></p>
<h2>Unlock the potential of early talent in STEM with SRG</h2>
<p>At SRG, we work collaboratively with our partners to connect and invest in talent on a deeper level and to mentor and advise where they can go and grow in their specialism and beyond.&nbsp;</p>

In this article, we reflect on the key ways leading scientific organisations like GSK have accelerated diversity in scientific industries with SRG, to power a better, more inclusive world of STEM.

How SRG is Fuelling Diverse Talent Pipelines in STEM

<p><strong>The competition for STEM talent is heightening this year.</strong><br><br>Towards the end of 2022, the number of people out of work (unemployment rate) plummeted to the<strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/13/uk-unemployment-pay-squeeze-inflation-cost-of-living-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;lowest level seen since the 1970s</a></strong>. While there are slightly more candidates on the market today, the&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/april2023#:~:text=The%20timeliest%20estimate%20of%20payrolled,on%20the%20quarter%20to%203.8%25." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unemployment rate remains low.</a></strong><br><br>This trend is indicative of two things &ndash; talent pools are limited, and professionals are harder to attract, as they&rsquo;re not moving between jobs in the same way as many did through the&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/the-history-of-recruitment-whats-changed-and-whats-next" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&lsquo;Great Resignation&rsquo;.</a></strong><br><br>In this article, I&rsquo;ll delve behind the four key trends impacting STEM recruitment today while providing actionable guidance to help you gain access to the talent you need to power your organisation&rsquo;s success.<br><br>Four key recruitment trends impacting STEM businesses today&nbsp;</p>
<h3>1. The advent of AI in STEM</h3>
<p>The importance of being technologically equipped in STEM continues to rise as AI models gain momentum both inside and outside of the scientific industries.<br><br>From operations to&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/how-ai-drug-discovery-technology-is-transforming-the-biopharma-industry" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">drug discovery</a></strong>, AI&rsquo;s role in STEM is set to grow as more businesses use its vital ability to navigate uncertainty with rapid and agile data-driven solutions.<br><br>The increased use of AI in STEM isn&rsquo;t something that most professionals are equipped for.&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/05/ai-skills-gaps-future-jobs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">According to the World Economic Forum</a></strong>, 60% of workers will require additional training before 2027 to keep up with the pace of digitalisation and AI. Early exposure to forward-thinking technology can make an organisation stand out from the crowd to candidates and help feed into a powerful talent strategy.<br><br><br></p>
<h3>2. The candidate-led market</h3>
<p><br>In times of low unemployment, multiple companies often target the same specialist professionals, resulting in job candidates benefitting from a choice of prospective employers.&nbsp;<br><br>This generates a candidate-led market, where the efficacy of the employee value proposition rises in value and can help ensure that the right talent is attracted, hired, and retained.<br><br><br></p>
<h3>3. The impact of the economy</h3>
<p><br>The UK&rsquo;s Office for National Statistics&rsquo; reports show that vacancies have been falling for&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/april2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nine consecutive financial periods across</a><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/april2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;the UK.</a></strong><br><br>UK organisations cite economic pressures as a key factor in holding back on recruitment.<br><br><strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2023/pwc-26th-ceo-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PwC&rsquo;s CEO Survey</a></strong>&nbsp;adds a further lens to this trend &ndash; 73% of global CEOs believe global economic growth will decline over 2023, and 40% of all CEOs say that inflation is the top global threat for businesses today.<br><br>However, while large-scale expansion in some industries is slowing down, specialist professionals across STEM remain essential to business continuity.&nbsp;<br><br>Results from the<strong><a href="https://hrnews.co.uk/uk-employers-determined-to-keep-hiring-in-battle-to-retain-talent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;Net Employment Outlook</a></strong> were positive at +19% for Q1 in 2023, signalling that UK employers will continue hiring over the course of the year albeit at a deficit of 5 percentage points compared to Q4 2022.<br><br><br>Given this, creating powerful talent attraction strategies will remain pivotal to many businesses - recruitment may have slowed, but the criticality of the right hire has risen.<br><br><br>The impact of economic uncertainty is also affecting candidates, who are less likely to prioritize moving roles in times of economic uncertainty &ndash; particularly if a new position advertises an un-competitive salary rate.<br><br><br></p>
<h3>4. Changes to working models</h3>
<p><br>While&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1819794/two-thirds-jobseekers-looking-fully-remote-roles-ahead-summer-study-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">58% of job seekers</a></strong>&nbsp;prioritise fully remote roles, and almost a third of general employers are creating more fully remote positions, getting to hybrid remains a challenge in STEM.<br><br>Many STEM roles are laboratory or research-focused. Consequently, being on-site can be an essential part of the job, and not all workplaces can facilitate hybrid work.&nbsp;<br><br>This, however, comes at a price - <strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/the-benefits-of-hybrid-working-in-the-laboratory" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">64% of lab leaders&nbsp;</a></strong>are currently struggling to attract skilled candidates to their organisation, and&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/the-benefits-of-hybrid-working-in-the-laboratory" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">35% of UK STEM workers plan to leave their role over the coming year.&nbsp;</a></strong><strong><br></strong><br>Meanwhile, our research shows that most global STEM workers find workplace satisfaction from a strong sense of work-life balance, and&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/why-stem-candidates-are-looking-for-a-new-job" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">14% of STEM professionals today&nbsp;</a></strong>are seeking an alternative role to find a more hybrid/remote workplace environment.&nbsp;<br><br><br></p>
<h2>How to evolve your talent strategy in 2023</h2>
<h3>1. Use a data-driven approach to recruitment</h3>
<p>In today&rsquo;s talent market, quality matters over quantity.&nbsp;<br><br>Getting access to a high-calibre candidate, however, will rely on your ability to look beyond technical ability through to compatibility to ensure that the person you&rsquo;re hiring is on track to drive real results in your business.</p>
<h3><br>2. Create a clear and persuasive employee value proposition</h3>
<p>The way your&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/how-to-develop-a-successful-employer-branding-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">employee value proposition</a></strong>&nbsp;feeds into your overall talent strategy should reflect the candidate uncertainty that we&rsquo;re seeing today.<br><br>While being clear and engaging is still important, being persuasive and providing reassurance around job security is also vital to gain access to the passive candidate market.</p>
<h3><br>3. Showcase your investments in tech</h3>
<p>Integrate your technological advancements into your&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/how-to-develop-a-successful-employer-branding-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">employee value proposition</a></strong>, and lay out clear pathways for new starters whose roles may cross over with innovative technologies like AI to engage with the tech and advance their skills base.&nbsp;<br><br>While this is less relevant for executive positions directly, executives and senior hires who see that organisations are not only purchasing technology but investing in their people to advance their organisation, are more likely to be persuaded to come on board.<br><br><br></p>
<h2>Get started with Search by SRG</h2>
<p><strong><a href="../../../../../../clients/our-services/search-by-srg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Search by SRG</a></strong> provide data-driven recruitment solutions for executive, technical, and specialist hires across the wider STEM industries.<br><br><br>We harness data-driven insights to ensure that the right hire is not only made, but retained.</p>

Get expert advice on how to evolve your talent strategy for the 4 key trends impacting STEM recruitment today, from Jacob Midwinter, Operations Director at SRG.

STEM Recruitment Trends to Watch in 2023

<p>2022 marked a promising year for the future of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/clinical-trial-activity-2023/"><strong>the number of new clinical trials rose</strong></a> after a four-year drop in global rankings after a new government initiative was implemented.</p>
<p>However, keeping pace with this shift in momentum won&rsquo;t be without its challenges over the coming year.</p>
<p>Debate surrounding the cost of participation in the UK&rsquo;s VPAS scheme connecting the industry and the NHS&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csl-uk.com/emig-surveys-member-investment-intentions-related-to-2023-vpas-rebate-level/"><strong>is heightening</strong>.</a>&nbsp;Meanwhile, Brexit agreements have led to the UK&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/how-to-prepare-your-workforce-for-the-future-of-pharma"><strong>exit from the Horizon Europe research programme,</strong></a>&nbsp;increasing existing talent shortages and limiting access to scientific expertise required to lead new innovative ventures.</p>
<p>In this article, Behruz Sheikh explores three key talent trends shaping the foundation, and future of the pharmaceutical industry.</p>
<p>Read on to find out more about:</p>
<ul>
<li>The impact of talent shortages</li>
<li>The renewed focus on talent retention</li>
<li>How funding shortages are shifting access to talent</li>
</ul>
<h2>The impact of talent shortages in pharma</h2>
<p>As pharmaceutical organisations make the shift towards digital, new roles are emerging and</p>
<p>existing ones are rapidly transforming. In the next decade,&nbsp;<a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/how-to-prepare-your-workforce-for-the-future-of-pharma"><strong>more than 90,000 pharmaceutical jobs are estimated to disappear</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;</strong>and be replaced by up to 120,000 new roles.</p>
<p>In this climate of transformation and evolution, the skills gap is becoming increasingly apparent. <a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/how-to-prepare-your-workforce-for-the-future-of-pharma"><strong>80% of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities are experiencing a skills mismatch</strong></a>, and&nbsp;<a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/how-to-prepare-your-workforce-for-the-future-of-pharma"><strong>50% of executives</strong></a>&nbsp;say that recruiting experienced staff is challenging. In the clinical trial sphere,&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/talent-in-clinical-trial-management">36% of drug developers say that staff shortages are limiting progress.</a></strong></p>
<p>As organisations struggle to find experienced talent externally, attention is beginning to shift towards upskilling alongside recruitment to strengthen resources.</p>
<p>While having a set criteria when hiring a new employee is important, expert talent in today&rsquo;s candidate market can often come at a higher price than companies expect. Upskilling less experienced employees can often offer companies an alternative route to stemming talent pipelines and fuelling project continuity.</p>
<p>In my line of work, I&rsquo;ve seen an influx of capable scientific talent re-enter the workforce from COVID laboratories; which have largely receded in number. These professionals have established experience working in a laboratory and although they do not come equipped with the same level of expertise as a seasoned professional, they can offer a sense of commitment and capability to adapt and develop the specialised expertise required for required laboratory functions.</p>
<p>Considering candidates from more alternative backgrounds as described above can bring the added benefit of diversity of thought and improved performance -&nbsp;<a href="../../../../../../blog/why-is-diverse-leadership-in-stem-important"><strong>51% of Fortune 500 companies say diversity actively improves employee engagement</strong></a>&nbsp;&ndash; a key attribute to performance in the lab.</p>
<p>At SRG we <a href="../../../../../../blog/how-to-reduce-staff-attrition"><strong>connect our clients in pharma with our diverse talent networks</strong></a>, and employ techniques across the hiring process to reduce bias and improve inclusivity including anonymising CVs and facilitating remote interviews.</p>
<h2>The renewed focus on talent retention</h2>
<p>Working in the pharmaceutical industry relies on developing a specific technical skill set.</p>
<p>This often deters professionals from moving to alternative jobs and heavily impacts businesses when they do &ndash; as project continuity is impacted in absence of the right expertise.</p>
<p>However, the &lsquo;Great Resignation&rsquo; of 2020-2022 reflected a change in sentiment in the professional pharmaceutical community, as <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-great-attrition-is-making-hiring-harder-are-you-searching-the-right-talent-pools"><strong>54% of pharmaceutical professionals</strong></a>&nbsp;who left their roles during the event did not return to the same industry.</p>
<p><a href="https://marketing.biospace.com/deep-dive-employee-retention-in-the-biopharmaceutical-industry-1"><strong>A recent survey led by BioSpace</strong></a> shows that 67% of pharmaceutical professionals are looking to change roles in the next 12 months. Of this group, 54% cite they are moving in pursuit of a more challenging career, and 35% say they are moving to attain a greater amount of compensation.</p>
<p>Offering more competitive salaries, or alternatively, proactively creating new opportunities for existing employees to upskill, thrive, and develop in their careers, is increasingly integral for businesses to stay competitive and retain employees.</p>
<h2>How funding shortages are shifting access to talent</h2>
<p>Increases to the voluntary scheme for branded medicine pricing and access rebate level (VPAS), where companies selling branded medicines costing over &pound;5m to the NHS must pay a rebate fee, persuade companies to shift trading practices with the UK.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.csl-uk.com/emig-surveys-member-investment-intentions-related-to-2023-vpas-rebate-level/"><strong>86% of members of the Ethical Medicines Interest Group</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;</strong>say that the VPAS rebate level was unsustainable for their business, and 75% of members suggested that the 2023 VPAS rebate would drive a reduction of investment in UK clinical research by 10-20%.</p>
<p>Meanwhile government funding over COVID-19 has continued to subside as focus is redoubled in alternative areas in the life science space.</p>
<p>In 2021, <a href="../../../../../../blog/talent-in-clinical-trial-management"><strong>M&amp;A activity heightened in this evolving landscape to record breaking heights</strong></a>&nbsp;before declining in 2022. This year, the industry is seeing the effects of these mergers as an increased number of organisations improve their capabilities and service offerings in light of their new acquisitions.</p>
<p>However, while some organisations can afford to purchase smaller businesses to optimise pipelines, other businesses in pharma are making redundancies in light of the current economic and funding climate.</p>
<p>This has created an additional talent pool of specialist pharmaceutical talent, which, with the right hiring strategy in place, can be valuable additions to growing teams seeking to keep pace with larger competitors.</p>
<h2>How to build an accurate hiring strategy for today&rsquo;s recruitment market</h2>
<p>The right hiring strategy is more critical than ever in today&rsquo;s pharmaceutical industry as the competition for talent heightens. With the importance of retention and time to hire in mind, hiring accuracy depends on having access to the right talent network and having the ability to effectively assess the quality of candidates before they make it to interview.</p>
<p>At SRG, we&rsquo;ve harnessed video technology to streamline this technique. In a recent project, our consultants led video interviews based on the specific qualities the line manager required. We then provided a shortlist of these videos alongside candidate profiles directly to our client before facilitating an onsite interview.</p>
<p>This technique meant that we increased the quality of candidates coming to the site, as our clients were able to make a clear and informed decision based on not just a CV but a video introduction, which helped bring the person behind the application to the forefront before the interview stage even occurred.</p>
<p><strong><a href="mailto:solutions@srgtalent.com">Click here to find out more about how SRG could help you</a></strong>&nbsp;with your next pharmaceutical recruitment project.&nbsp;</p>

Get an insight into the top 3 talent trends shaping the foundation, and future of the pharmaceutical industry with Behruz Sheikh, Pharmaceutical Sector Head, SRG.

Talent Trends Shaping the Future of the Pharmaceutical Industry

<p><strong><a href="https://www.ppd.com/blog/challenges-opportunities-in-clinical-trials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36% of drug developers</a></strong>&nbsp;say that staff shortages are limiting the progress of clinical trials today.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While <strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">skills gaps</a></strong>&nbsp;across the wider pharmaceutical and biotech workforce are well documented, talent pipeline challenges in clinical trial management pose a significant and growing hurdle to business continuity.&nbsp;Clinical trial managers such as project and programme managers play a core role in the design and conduct of clinical trials, where they support the successful delivery of the trial and its surrounding processes.</p>
<p>Despite their essential nature to clinical trials, the road to becoming a clinical trial manager is becoming increasingly challenging in today&rsquo;s financial climate, as supply chain and pandemic disruptions alongside lab relocation initiatives continue to hinder the continuity of research and stall career progression for aspiring clinical trial managers across the UK.</p>
<p>The <strong><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-future-of-uk-clinical-research-delivery-2022-to-2025-implementation-plan/the-future-of-clinical-research-delivery-2022-to-2025-implementation-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UK Department for Health and Social Care&rsquo;s &ldquo;Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery&rdquo;</a></strong>plan aims to deliver 80% of all open studies on the National Institute for Health Research CRN portfolio on time and on target by June 2023. To achieve this, a reliable and supported research workforce is cited as essential to futureproof the UK as the location of choice for world-leading clinical research.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Read on to find out how your organisation can solve the clinical trial management talent crisis by creating a sustained, reliable and supported talent management plan.</p>
<p>In this article we&rsquo;ll explore:</p>
<ul>
<li>Why there is a shortage of clinical trial management staff</li>
<li>How CRO mergers and acquisitions are affecting the talent landscape</li>
<li>Opportunities to futureproof talent pipelines</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why is there a shortage of clinical trial management staff?</h2>
<p>The typical career pathway for clinical trial managers has been majorly disrupted.</p>
<p>Generally speaking,&nbsp; clinical trial manager starts their career as a clinical research associate, before progressing onto work as a project manager, and eventually working as a programme manager. This career pathway relies on project continuity to enable professionals to garner the experience and skills required to ascend the career chain.</p>
<p>It was this sense of continuity that unravelled over the course of the pandemic, as pipelines shifted away from non-vaccine related projects and many trials went on hold. This resulted in a mass sense of career disruption for clinical research staff &ndash; for those that did remain in the lab, the pace of projects accelerated at an unprecedented rate and many professionals<a href="https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-022-06315-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;<strong>experienced burnout</strong></a>, driving an increase in turnover. For those whose projects were on hold, staff found alternative work &ndash; resulting in an altogether under-supplied workforce.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In 2021, there were 2026 active projects across the national portfolio &ndash; representing an increase <strong><a href="https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-022-06315-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">of 52% compared to 2019.</a></strong><a href="https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-022-06315-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a></p>
<p>Today, the knock-on effects from these research pipeline changes have cumulated in a large number of clinical trials in resource and time-intensive set-up stages.</p>
<p>As organisations begin to pick up trials that were on pause, trial portfolios have become inflated, resulting in heightened pressure on research teams and a growing need for clinical trial managers which exceed the number of professionals available.</p>
<h2>How CRO mergers and acquisitions are affecting the talent landscape</h2>
<p>As so many clinical trial manager positions are currently vacant today, the knock-on effect on the workforce has resulted in remaining managers facing the orchestration of additional clinical trials, increasing workload and the chance of burnout.</p>
<p>One way businesses are supplementing resources and improving access to talent is through mergers and acquisitions.</p>
<p>Over 2021 M&amp;A activity <strong><a href="https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/pharma-m-and-a-activity-in-2022-cools-down-but-pwc-uk-remains-cautiously-optimistic-for-year-ahead.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reached record breaking heights</a></strong>before the number of deals declined in 2022.</p>
<p>This year,<a href="https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/pharma-m-and-a-activity-in-2022-cools-down-but-pwc-uk-remains-cautiously-optimistic-for-year-ahead.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;<strong>PwC predict ongoing mergers and acquisitions to persist</strong>,</a>&nbsp;albeit at a reduced rate, by larger organisations looking to reshape portfolios, as well as to acquire biotech capabilities to fill pipelines.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a talent climate where staff are increasingly challenging to find, and hire, mergers and acquisitions provide a key alternative for larger businesses to power innovation, diversify their portfolios, and gain access to expert talent and expertise rather than have to train and upskill new hires.</p>
<p>However, the abrupt alteration in the number of mergers and acquisitions reflects the fast pace of change and ongoing uncertainties and instabilities in the wider clinical industry. For acquired CROS who previously specialised in a specific area, the transition to being part of a large corporation without specific niches can undermine motivation and incentivise employee turnover, widening existing management gaps.</p>
<p>On a more positive note, acquisitions can also provide an opportunity to supplement resources and share knowledge, helping to progress talent pipelines. To create a more sustainable workforce, the latter is key &ndash; embedding training opportunities and equipping specialists with the chance to lead clinical excellence in niche areas is essential.</p>
<h2>Opportunities to futureproof talent pipelines</h2>
<p>The current cycle of clinical management, where trial managers leave positions due to workload, is perpetuating instability and staff turnover, leading to an ongoing loss of expertise and additional resource implications for businesses in training new staff.</p>
<p>Breaking out of this will rely on a holistic approach and full consideration of the key factors driving burnout in the role.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.tmn.ac.uk/resources/76-career-development-for-trial-management-professionals-uktmn-survey-results" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">90% of clinical trial managers are female</a></strong>, and many act as the primary carer for their children, making a permanent source of income particularly vital when choosing a role. However,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-022-06315-8#ref-CR9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">67% of clinical trial management roles operate under fixed-term contracts&nbsp;</a></strong>with the majority of these offering job security for less than 12 months.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Clinical trial managers rank having time and funding to access training opportunities <strong><a href="https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-022-06315-8#ref-CR9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">as the most important aspect of professional development</a></strong>, but finding an organisation willing to invest in professional development for short-term contract staff is challenging to attain.</p>
<p>Building a permanent workforce in the clinical trial management space offers organisations an opportunity to support the professional development of managers and offers more meaningful employee experiences to retain and empower staff.</p>
<p>Alongside strengthening the existing workforce, futureproofing talent pipelines will include attracting and equipping the clinical trial managers of the future with the resources and knowledge they need to succeed. Publicising the breadth of roles across clinical trial management outside of academic environments and promoting trial management careers to a wider breadth of individuals is imperative to ensure more professionals consider the profession.</p>
<p>At SRG, our specialist networks provide us with the ability to roll out early engagement projects with universities to help bridge talent gaps in clinical trials. Our expert consultants help facilitate onboarding training and enable organisations to unlock access to a wider scope of talent.</p>
<p>Our talent consultants are scientists themselves and understand the nature of the clinical trial industry and the importance of the right hire in clinical trial management. We proactively collaborate with our clients to ensure the right hire is made both for permanent and contract positions in the clinical trial management space.</p>

Ben Brown, Clinical Regional Sales Manager at SRG delves behind the talent crisis in clinical trial management, and provides actionable recommendations for leaders in the clinical sector.

How To Solve the Clinical Trial Management Talent Crisis

<p>Business in STEM is changing fast.&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2023/pwc-26th-ceo-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">46% of CEOs this year are re-evaluating their market presence&nbsp;</a></strong>and considering new markets, and&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2023/pwc-26th-ceo-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">41%&nbsp;</a></strong>are diversifying their current products and service offerings.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>Investing in interim talent at business turn-points can equip leaders with the skills, knowledge, and agility required to power business continuity, deliver essential projects and accelerate the success of long-term objectives.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sthree.com/en-gb/insights-and-research/how-the-stem-world-works/2022/rise-of-the-contractor" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">62% of executives&nbsp;</a></strong>think that freelance and contract workers will significantly replace the permanent workforce over the next five years. In STEM specifically,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.sthree.com/en-gb/insights-and-research/how-the-stem-world-works/2022/rise-of-the-contractor" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">33% of organisations</a></strong>&nbsp;only search for contract workers when growing their teams.&nbsp;<br><br>However, talent scarcity in both the permanent and interim markets is continuing to generate a competitive, fast-paced recruitment market where costs can quickly spiral.<br><br>In this article, Shen Mawani, Client Solutions Manager at SRG explores some key ways that organisations can leverage and optimise their interim recruitment strategy to suit today&rsquo;s economic climate.<br><br>Read on to find out more about:<br><br></p>
<ul>
<li>What interim recruitment is</li>
<li>How interim recruitment helps businesses thrive</li>
<li>Common interim recruitment challenges and solutions</li>
</ul>
<h2>What is interim recruitment?</h2>
<p>Interim recruitment is a temporary recruitment model whereby skilled professionals support and contribute to projects or fill temporary skills gaps while a permanent hire is made.<br><br>Interim contracts can look different depending on the scope of projects and the length of time interim support is needed for .&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>Interim workers are highly skilled and experienced at adapting quickly to new business environments, making them a valuable asset when business models are changing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>While some interim workers can contribute specialist skills sets through managed service programmes, others work in interim management, where they help bridge employment gaps in leadership and strategically align team efforts across the organisation to preserve continuity through times of disruption.<br><br><br></p>
<h2>How interim recruitment helps businesses thrive</h2>
<p>Interim workers play a valuable role in STEM organisations, where project timelines can be business critical and specialist skills are hard to come by.<br><br>While job-to-job moves are generally high in the permanent market, in the life science industry scientists are often tied to projects from conception through to completion, meaning that a substantial portion of the talent market is inaccessible for long periods of time.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>Interim workers play a valuable role in this business environment by equipping organisations with the resources and skills they require to drive business success, regardless of talent shortages.</p>
<h3>Some key benefits of interim recruitment include:</h3>
<p><strong>1. Limiting burnout and driving engagement</strong><br><br>Interim workers can drive engagement and motivation in teams where skills or personnel shortages demand a higher workload. By bringing in an interim worker, organisations can alleviate pressure from teams, enabling them to preserve their day-to-day role without the risk of burnout and remain supported through a period of change.<br><strong><br>2. Helping workforces thrive not survive</strong><br><br>When resources are short, projects can quickly go into survival mode, where more efficiencies are made at the cost of the original proposal. Interim workers can help protect organisational integrity by streamlining and strengthening the existing workforce, guiding the project through to its original brief while preserving governance and compliance.<br><br><strong>3. Quickly gaining project momentum</strong><br><br>Making permanent hires in specialist areas often requires new recruits to take time to assimilate in their new position and team, attending meetings and other peripheral activities. Interim workers are agile and experienced in seamlessly integrating within new business environments once training is complete, helping to preserve project momentum.<br><br><br>Common interim recruitment challenges and solutions</p>
<p>Over the course of both COVID-19, and post-IR35,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/about-us/press-releases/contractors-move-to-employment-to-escape-IR35-reform/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">over half of the interim workforce moved over to permanent roles</a></strong>. This transition has driven a scarcity in specialist interim workers, meaning that the market is far more competitive and expensive than ever before.&nbsp;<br><br>Engaging with an agency with an established network can help circumvent challenges. An experienced talent consultant will manage expectations of contractors and have access to current market rates. This helps to ensure that the candidate themselves is not pricing themselves out of the market and costs for businesses do not spiral.&nbsp;<br><br>At SRG, we support our clients with considered, inclusive, and cost-effective<strong><a href="../../../../../../clients/our-services/ad-hoc-staffing-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;interim recruitment solutions</a></strong>. Working with a global client in biopharma, SRG developed a tailored managed service programme to improve diversity, implement cost saving initiatives with process and payment efficiencies and improve supply chain management and engagement. Over the course of 12 weeks, we helped our client cut annual costs by &pound;430k, delivered a 100% fill rate for contractors, and complete timesheet, payroll, and invoicing accuracy.<br><br>Working with multiple recruiters for interim talent creates a candidate experience that is rife with duplication. As the interim market is candidate-short, using an array of recruitment services will result in your business being pitched to the same people in multiple ways. This is a problem which can not only confuse candidates and damage business reputation but delay timelines overall, as hiring managers will receive duplicated CVs, interview requests, and strategic recommendations.<br><br>I advise businesses to keep things simple and short. The interim market is fast-paced, so a three or four stage interview process will severely reduce your candidate pool, as other businesses will likely hire the best candidates first. Utilising a shorter 1 or 2-stage process is essential to optimise access to interim talent. Working with a single, reliable recruitment organisation will enable you to offer your candidates a higher-quality experience while speeding up the overall time to hire. Our Search by SRG team supported our client in Biotech with <strong><a href="../../../../../../clients/case-studies/search-by-srg-senior-interim-recruitment" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interim executive support within 3 weeks</a></strong>, before finding a permanent hire. SRG&rsquo;s swift, streamlined approach to this project illustrates the power of working with a trusted recruitment partner.&nbsp;</p>

Find out why, and how your business can drive success in times of change with interim recruitment in our latest article from Shen Mawani, Client Solutions Manager at SRG.

The Importance of Interim Recruitment in a Skills Short Market

<p>Pharma outsourcing is critical to powering performance in today&rsquo;s market.</p>
<p><strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/outsourcing-pharma-questions-to-consider" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">75% of the new drugs pipeline is currently outsourced</a></strong>, consuming two-thirds of annual development spending.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While the majority of this percentage can be attributed to CDMOS or&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../clients/our-services/synergy-scientific-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">insourced scientific services</a>,</strong>&nbsp;outsourced recruitment in pharma has a foundational role in bridging critical skills gaps and powering the potential for innovation.&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, despite innovation being key to progress, funding new ventures has become increasingly challenging in the face of ongoing supply chain issues, cost pressures, and stock market performance difficulties over recent years.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/pharma-life-sciences/next-in-pharma-trends.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Analyses from PwC</a></strong>&nbsp;show that divides in stock performance for the top 50 pharmaceutical companies have widened. While leading organisations in the top quintile have increased shareholder return by 29%,<a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/pharma-life-sciences/next-in-pharma-trends.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;<strong>returns for the bottom quintile declined by 11%.</strong></a>&nbsp;Meanwhile, an<a href="https://www.fiercepharma.com/special-report/top-15-blockbuster-patent-expirations-coming-decade" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;<strong>upcoming wave of patent expirations</strong></a>&nbsp;and declining gross margins for novel treatments are powering a focus on developing new treatments, heightening the competition for funding.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In this article, we&rsquo;ll explore how to leverage outsourcing recruitment in pharma to help strengthen your business strategy and equip you with the insights you need to stay competitive.</p>
<p>Read on to learn more about:</p>
<ul>
<li>Why pharma companies outsource recruitment</li>
<li>Key drivers of change in pharma outsourcing</li>
<li>How to prepare your recruitment strategy for what&rsquo;s next</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Why pharma companies outsource recruitment</h2>
<p>Outsourcing involves utilising the capabilities of an external organisation for your own business objectives, whether that be working with a contract research team or a cohort of expert recruiters to feed your own talent pipelines - external collaboration is at outsourcing&rsquo;s core.</p>
<p>Today&rsquo;s pool of digital pharma talent is&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/emerging-from-disruption-the-future-of-pharma-operations-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">14% lower than demand</a></strong>, making technical talent increasingly challenging to find and hire. These ongoing talent shortages in the pharmaceutical industry continue to motivate pharmaceutical leaders to invest inwards in training and recruiting the expertise needed to future-proof work.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Outsourcing pharmaceutical recruitment helps lift the burden of recruitment from internal teams, particularly when internal resources are unable to support the capacity of roles required. Even when faced with more challenging-to-hire technical roles, outsourced recruitment teams can utilise their pre-established candidate network to rapidly and effectively find and onboard the talent required.</p>
<p><strong>Case study:</strong>&nbsp;When&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.qiagen.com/us/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">QIAGEN</a>&nbsp;</strong>approached SRG with the vision of expanding their team during the pandemic, SRG had the expertise and resources required to support and strengthen their recruitment initiative. SRG partnered with QIAGEN to video-interview both candidates that SRG sent across, as well as QIAGEN&rsquo;s own direct candidates &ndash; helping to return time to QIAGEN&rsquo;s own staff and maintain project continuity and efficiency.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Case study:&nbsp;</strong>Partnering with&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.quaypharma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Quay Pharma</a></strong>, SRG provided an onsite recruitment business partner (RBP) to develop a strategic recruitment plan to support long-term expansion. SRG&rsquo;s RBP worked directly on-site to proactively manage the recruitment project from brief to offer, resulting in every vacancy being filled (apart from one internal promotion). Coming away from the project itself, Quay Pharma has found itself better streamlined and equipped to manage future recruitment due to new processes being implemented and onboarded through the project.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While the right support external provider can contribute to strategic relationships that return time back to core competencies and provide access to specialised expertise, third-party collaboration <strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/3-ways-to-mitigate-recruitment-risk-in-stem" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">can entail risks.&nbsp;</a></strong></p>
<p>Risks to outsourcing recruitment in pharma can include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Selecting the wrong outsourcing approach</li>
<li>Loss of control</li>
<li>Expectation and goal mismatch</li>
</ul>
<p>Mitigating the risks and leveraging opportunities relies on strong lines of communication around expectations and costs &ndash; key factors that come along with an experienced provider.</p>
<p>Companies that successfully expand their business in overseas markets have a reliable outsourcing partner. While it might feel tedious investing the time to find the right partner for your outsourcing needs, failing to do so is one of the common outsourcing mishaps that many companies face. Without following a proper background check on the vendors, you may be at increased risk of achieving lower-quality outcomes.</p>
<h3><strong>Solution</strong></h3>
<p>There are a few checkpoints that you can consider while selecting the right vendor such as the experience of the firm, the number of projects and clients the firm has handled, the average project size, ranking and reviews of the company, access to the latest technology, and so on. However, the list varies from one company to another. Frame your questions and be prepared before you choose your outsourcing partner.</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>Key drivers of change in pharma outsourcing</h2>
<p>Despite the hurdles faced by the pharma industry, new modalities, including cell, gene, immune, and mRNA therapies, have increased from <strong><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/emerging-from-disruption-the-future-of-pharma-operations-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">11% to 21% of the drug development pipeline</a></strong>- a record rate of growth.&nbsp;</p>
<p>This trend is indicative of the fact that many organisations are continuing to drive forward new strategies, methods, and unique product cycles while navigating high rates of inflation.</p>
<p>Joanne Beck, Chief Operating Officer at Boston Pharmaceuticals<a href="https://www.outsourcedpharma.com/doc/are-you-ready-for-a-recession-0001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;<strong>spoke to OutsourcedPharma</strong>&nbsp;</a>on the inflation issue. &ldquo;Inflation has certainly impacted our near-term (12-18 month) plans and decisions. As a small company, seeing our biologics manufacturing costs increase by 40-50% has resulted in us prioritizing our activities and focusing on the must-haves in order to conserve cash.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Continuing to power a high level of innovation in a way that supplements performance means creating a cost-effective but high-quality strategy.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Outsourcing recruitment in pharma today plays a critical role in maintaining the level of quality needed to futureproof capacity for innovation and technological capability.</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>How to prepare your workforce for what&rsquo;s next</h2>
<p>As the fourth industrial revolution takes hold in pharma, building a high-quality internal team is critical to business competitivity.</p>
<p>However, broader labour market changes, heightened costs, supply chain shortages, and operational disruptions can make it challenging to focus on creating a high-quality workplace. Yet, neglecting this key factor will be of major detriment to organisations tomorrow.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/pharma-life-sciences/next-in-pharma-trends.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Successful pharmaceutical industry leaders</a>&nbsp;</strong>of the future will have invested in data analytics and a technologically equipped workforce &ndash; resulting in a workplace where batch release processes are automated, manufacturing processes and yields are optimised, and risks are minimised while quality is heightened.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additionally, preserving efficacy will also come down to retaining high-quality partners and relationships across outsourced functions. <strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/pharma-life-sciences/next-in-pharma-trends.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cybercrime remains the most widespread and most disruptive event</a></strong>&nbsp;experienced by businesses over the past two years. Working with outsourced partners who are prepared against ransomware attacks will remain a fundamental objective for future partnerships.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Interested in growing your workforce?</h2>
<p>SRG have over 30 years of experience providing expert outsourced recruitment support across the pharmaceutical sector.</p>
<p>Our expert consultants are on hand to support your recruitment strategy and help secure the talent you need to future-proof your talent pipelines and strengthen your organisation.</p>

Find out how to leverage pharma outsourcing in recruitment to strengthen your business strategy with Behruz Sheikh, Pharmaceutical Sector Head at SRG

Recruitment and Pharma Outsourcing: What’s Changed, and What’s Next

<h3 dir="ltr">With technological innovation and macroeconomic trends speeding up the evolution of our work environment &mdash; a process accelerated by COVID-19 and the rise of remote working &mdash; it is vital that STEM leaders have strategies in place to close the widening skills gap.</h3>
<p dir="ltr"><strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The skills gap</a></strong> is one of the biggest problems currently facing the STEM sector and the wider economy.</p>
<p dir="ltr">If recent World Economic Forum predictions are anything to go by,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/reskilling-revolution-jobs-future-skills/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the global economy will need to reskill 1 billion people by 2030</a>.&nbsp;By 2022 alone, 42% of the core skills required to perform existing jobs are expected to change.&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">Indeed, in SRG&rsquo;s in-depth&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/stem-survey"><strong>2020 STEM Survey</strong></a>, hiring managers admitted to struggling to find the appropriate skill sets in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/find-a-job/science-jobs/biological-science-jobs">biological science</a>, chemistry and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/find-a-job/engineering-jobs">engineering</a>, and programming. Data analytics was another skill set deemed to be in short supply.&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">So how, then, can businesses respond to this burgeoning crisis? Upskilling the workforce will be critical.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In this article, we&rsquo;ll take a look at wider industry recommendations to provide our own list of strategies&nbsp;&mdash; strategies&nbsp;to help your business keep its workforce ahead of the curve and its talent pipeline evergreen.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Making skills an industry priority</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">Outlining the long-term vision for the life sciences sector, Professor Sir John Bell&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-sciences-industrial-strategy-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Life Sciences Industrial Strategy (LSIS) report</a>&nbsp;states that the industry&rsquo;s success is &ldquo;closely tied to the ability to train and recruit the best possible workforce, equipped with a breadth of critical skills.&rdquo;</p>
<p dir="ltr">With this in mind, the LSIS identifies seven people and skills priorities that the sector at large should focus on in the coming years:</p>
<ol>
<li>Attract, retain, and develop &ldquo;globally mobile talent&rdquo;&nbsp;</li>
<li>Encourage students in schools, colleges, and universities to take up STEM subjects</li>
<li>Understand, anticipate, and respond to skills gaps across different occupations</li>
<li>Enable more mobility between the clinical, commercial, and academic sectors</li>
<li>Incentivise and support entrepreneur training for the migration of academic scientists into industry</li>
<li>Develop apprenticeships with STEM SMEs</li>
<li>Accelerate the convergence of life science, computer science, mathematics, statistics, engineering and chemistry (especially in the fields of diagnostics, personalised medicine, and data science).</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, achieving true skills parity in STEM takes time and requires a concerted international effort between governments, academic institutions, and STEM organisations. However, life science firms of all sizes can adopt these seven priorities as a means to make a tangible difference in their own workforces. Here's what you can do to ensure your people are ready to meet the future head-on.<br><br></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>7 actionable strategies to help upskill&nbsp;<em>your</em>&nbsp;workforce</strong></h2>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>1) Encourage self-reliance and self-learning among employees...</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">As our STEM Survey shows,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/stem-survey"><strong>more than half of respondents upskilled themselves within the past year</strong></a>&nbsp;&mdash; demonstrating a widespread awareness among workers that new skills are needed to traverse wider industry change. Actively encouraging this inclination and positioning it towards core business functions is a cost-effective way to stay ahead of the curve.&nbsp;</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>2) But don't forget to maintain crucial support mechanisms</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">While employees should be empowered to be more autonomous with their learning and development, this does not give employers the green light to dismantle support structures. For self-learning to become truly embedded across an organisation, L&amp;D governance needs to be integrated with overall business strategy. This will ensure employees are directing their learning towards company goals and will provide them with the necessary support when needed.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>3) Forge strategic partnerships with academic institutions</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">Having an alliance in place with a school, university or STEM research centre can help fast-track bright young talent into the right positions at your business. On an industry level, this consolidates and strengthens two of the core routes into a career in life science: academic education and vocational education. This, in turn, provides the workforce with more career agility &mdash; boosting vital skills like adaptability and flexibility in the process.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>4) Set up internal training bodies or online academies</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">Building an in-house training program carries two key benefits: it equips employees with sufficient organisational knowledge and ensures they have the most up-to-date industry know-how. While some firms may not have a sufficient training budget, reskilling existing employees is a much more worthwhile investment than the costly task of hiring new employers to address skills shortages. Moreover, a targeted training scheme optimises the onboarding of new staff and frees up valuable time.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>5) Launch an apprenticeship initiative&nbsp;</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">Though some SMEs with smaller budgets may be reluctant to take on apprentices, government financial assistance (the UK government&rsquo;s Apprenticeship Levy is a prominent example) is incentivizing such schemes. While apprenticeships may not address immediate skills shortages, they represent an economical way to prepare your workforce for the future.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>6) Expand the candidate search</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">Your company&rsquo;s recruitment marketing strategies should take a proactive, multichannel approach. This includes keeping vacancies up-to-date on the website, spreading the word on social media, and adding more touchpoints to the candidate journey. Attention should also be paid to employer branding: applications will remain low if a company is perceived as undesirable to work at.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>7) Leverage the expertise of older employees</strong></h3>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d28e678f-7fff-74ea-6f6e-ede323e40805">Given that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/retired-life/the-facts-of-working-after-retirement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than a million people over the age of 65</a> work on a part-time or consultancy basis in the UK, life science companies would be foolish not to call upon such a skill set. Aside from providing the valuable experience that may otherwise be lacking, such staff can be deployed as mentors for promising young employees. In turn, younger staff can share the tech and digital skills that can often be underdeveloped among older employees.<br><br></span></p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>The bottom line?</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr"><em>When employees are actively empowered to enhance their skill sets, both they and your business grow. Staff retention, engagement, and productivity all go up, while recruitment costs go down. In this turbulent economic landscape, addressing the STEM skills gap is a no-brainer.</em></p>

Learn how to upskill digital with actionable solutions to keep your workforce ahead of the curve and your talent pipeline evergreen.

How to Upskill Digital at Pace in STEM

<article class="blog-article">
<div class="blog-article-body">
<p>Over the &lsquo;Great Resignation&rsquo; of 2021,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/the-history-of-recruitment-whats-changed-and-whats-next)%20(https://www.cipd.co.uk/news-views/cipd-voice/Issue-33/great-resignation-fact-fiction#gref" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">85% of UK senior leaders reported significant business disruption</a></strong>, as job-to-job moves reached&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.cipd.co.uk/news-views/cipd-voice/Issue-33/great-resignation-fact-fiction#gref" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a record high of 3.2% across the UK.&nbsp;</a></strong>While many employees held off on moving roles during the pandemic, creating what the CIPD calls a &lsquo;<strong><a href="https://www.cipd.co.uk/news-views/cipd-voice/Issue-33/great-resignation-fact-fiction#gref" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">delayed churn</a></strong>&rsquo; in 2021, surveys show that the &lsquo;Great Resignation&rsquo; was in part driven by employee feelings of dissatisfaction at work.<br><br>According to a&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/pwc-workforce-survey-20221.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2021 report by PwC</a></strong>, 18% of employees said they were likely to change roles over 2022, with 32% saying they were moderately likely to. The key drivers for their motivations for change were pay, wanting fulfilment, and wanting to be themselves in the workplace.</p>
<p>As employee motivations continue to shift, the rising importance of impactful workplace benefits is fast becoming critical to successful talent attraction and retention. And that means giving employees more control and customisation over their benefits. In today&rsquo;s competitive climate, do flexible benefits cut it? Or is the time right to advance the model further to activate real personalisation?</p>
<p>Read on to find out:</p>
<ul>
<li>How benefits influence candidate attraction and employee retention&nbsp;</li>
<li>The difference between personalised and flexible benefits</li>
<li>How to action a personalised benefits plan</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How benefits influence candidate attraction and employee retention</h2>
<p><br>Employees value work environments where they&rsquo;re appreciated, listened to, and rewarded in the way they want to be rewarded.&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.wtwco.com/en-CH/Insights/trending-topics/global-benefits-attitudes-survey-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research&nbsp;</a></strong>shows that benefits packages that meet the needs of employees and that authentically improve their experiences drive a<a href="https://www.wtwco.com/en-CH/Insights/trending-topics/global-benefits-attitudes-survey-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;<strong>78% retention rate</strong></a>, compared to just 41% when benefits do not meet employee needs.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As workplaces become increasingly flexible in recognition of the disruptions faced over the course of the pandemic, it&rsquo;s clear that a blanket approach for everyone does not work.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Our own research into STEM employee priorities in the workplace is a prime example of the mix of priorities employees have in the workplace.<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;Our 2022 Global Science Employment Report&nbsp;</a></strong>revealed that while a good-work life balance was cited as the most important factor for a workplace by the highest number of people, it was also ranked as the least important factor by the most respondents in the UK and Europe.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Meanwhile,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">over half of all respondents&nbsp;</a></strong>across the UK, Europe and the US would find STEM employers appealing if they offered an attractive salary, meaningful benefits, and stimulating and challenging work.</p>
<p>Taking this into consideration, it&rsquo;s surprising that&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.wtw-healthandbenefits.co.uk/hr-resources/advice-and-top-tips/bts-2021-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">merely 27% of employers have benefits that address the needs of their workforce</a></strong>, and&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.wtw-healthandbenefits.co.uk/hr-resources/advice-and-top-tips/bts-2021-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">only 26% offer flexibility in benefit choice.</a></strong>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Representative, meaningful benefits have a key role to play in not only personalising the employee experience, but also in creating a workplace environment that people want to be part of - thereby establishing a competitive edge over other businesses seeking expert talent in your industry.<br><br></p>
<h2>The difference between personalised and flexible benefits</h2>
<p>So, what are flexible benefits?</p>
<p>According to the<strong><a href="https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim01140" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;HMRC</a></strong>, flexible benefits, or flexi benefits, generally refer to instances where employees can choose their benefits from a given menu. Flexible employee benefits schemes often include benefits such as company cars, childcare provision, private health insurance, additional pension contributions, and even additional annual holiday.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Personalised benefits, on the other hand, build on the foundations of flexible benefits and refer to allowing employees to annually select the benefits that most align with their goals, needs and motivations on an ongoing basis. Personalised benefits also involve working together with employees to introduce more nuanced benefits that meet the specific needs of employees within the workforce; for example, offering a four-day week with longer hours, or part-time working to improve work-life balance.<br>How to action a personalised benefits plan<br><br>A personalised benefits plan means assessing employee&rsquo;s individual needs and priorities. For example, managers could ask employees on an annual basis about their needs in the workplace and what benefits would make a difference. Once the needs of the employee has been expressed, managers can then work with the employee to prioritise and action the benefits mentioned.<br>The critical factor in successfully implementing a personalised benefits plan is the regularity of assessment.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s important to make sure employees have the opportunity to reassess their situation;&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/why-money-doesnt-motivate-employees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what has been important last year, may not be a priority this year.</a></strong>&nbsp;From pension plans, to planning for children and requiring maternity cover, or improving salaries for a mortgage to buy a new house, it&rsquo;s important to provide employees with the space to acquire the benefits they need to improve their employee experience.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In my experience, not feeling heard or appreciated is one of the key reasons talented employees leave a company. Creating opportunities to instil a sense of belonging and providing meaningful opportunities to tailor the employee experience are powerful ways to combat employee turnover, all while strengthening your candidate attraction strategy.<br><br></p>
<h2>What is Search by SRG?</h2>
<p><br><strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/clients/our-services/search-by-srg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Search by SRG</a></strong>&nbsp;is a market-leading executive and technical recruitment service, bringing precision and trust to specialist hiring across the life sciences industry.&nbsp;</p>
<p>We offer a consultative service for our clients, where we directly address wider recruitment challenges and forge reparative solutions to improve candidate attraction and power employee retention.&nbsp;<br>Whether you&rsquo;re looking for support with executive search, niche hiring, market campaigns for team building, high-end interim hiring, or market insights and reporting, our dedicated consultants are on hand to secure the success of your hiring strategy.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a class="button" href="mailto:solutions@srgtalent.com">Click here to get in touch</a></strong><br><br><strong>About the author:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/clients/our-services/search-by-srg/biotech-start-up-secures-director-with-bioinformatics-recruiter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Janne Bate&nbsp;</a></strong>specialises in resourcing top talent within AI, Machine Learning and Bioinformatics across the Life Science industry. She partners with companies across the globe with a focus on the European market.<strong><a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jannebatesrgtalent" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;Connect with Janne on Linkedin&nbsp;</a></strong><br><br><strong>Specialist Areas:</strong>&nbsp;AI<br><br><strong>The typical roles Janne recruits include from C suite down:</strong>&nbsp;Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computational Chemistry, Machine Learning, Data Science, Biological Systems Specialists</p>
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<div class="image"><img src="https://www.srgtalent.com/-/media/srg/1---new-website/final/narrative-panel/skills-shortage-whitepaper-narrative-panel-image/candidate-attraction-narrative-panel-image/candidate-attraction-narrative-panel-image.png?h=500&amp;w=353&amp;la=en&amp;hash=EC6AF386FFD8352D73286AE29EA367FD" alt="title page for the candidate and attraction guide, the text reads srg 2022 candidate attraction and retention guide"></div>
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<div class="component-header">Global Guide to Candidate Attraction and Retention</div>
<p>Download SRG's latest report into the global trends, challenges and opportunities surrounding candidate attraction and retention in STEM</p>
<p><a class="" title="" href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-candidate-attraction-and-retention-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOWNLOAD</a></p>
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</section>

Are flexible benefits enough in today's talent market to attract and retain top employees? Find out more from Janne Bate, Principal Consultant at Search by SRG

Are Flexible Benefits Enough to Attract and Keep Top Talent

<p>Are you wondering 'what is staff attrition'? Staff attrition means the rate at which employees leave an organisation of their own volition, meanwhile employee turnover refers to the rate at which employees are replaced.</p>
<p>In a climate where STEM organisations are losing&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&pound;1.5 billion every year to the skills shortage</a></strong>, leaders are increasingly shifting their focus towards maximising employee potential and curbing staff attrition.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Despite&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/insights/industry/technology/focus-areas-to-accelerate-digital-transformation.html#endnote-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">85% of CEOs reporting their organisations to have accelerated digital transformation over 2020</a></strong>, for many businesses the journey to a digital and resilient talent model remains incomplete.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/insights/industry/technology/focus-areas-to-accelerate-digital-transformation.html#endnote-3)%20(https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/3-ways-to-strengthen-your-executive-talent-search-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">70% of senior leaders&nbsp;</a></strong>report a lack of confidence in their organisational agility, and&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/insights/industry/technology/focus-areas-to-accelerate-digital-transformation.html#endnote-3)%20(https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/3-ways-to-strengthen-your-executive-talent-search-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">only 29% of leaders</a></strong>&nbsp;have enough employees to meet current performance requirements.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the demand for technical expertise across STEM is cultivating a fast-paced, competitive talent market, where&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">7 in 10 leaders are experiencing major staff shortages</a></strong>, while struggling to find talent with the right skills.&nbsp;</p>
<p>To succeed and thrive in the future, organisations will require well-considered talent attraction strategies alongside their staff retention objectives to ensure successful employees join, stay, and thrive in the business.</p>
<p>Keep reading to explore:&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>Key drivers of staff attrition in STEM</li>
<li>How to align values to become an employer of choice</li>
<li>Using technology to remove bias in hiring</li>
</ul>
<h2>Key drivers of staff attrition in STEM</h2>
<h3>1.&nbsp;Poor diversity, inclusion and hiring practices</h3>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2022&rsquo;s Global Science Employment Report&nbsp;</a></strong>revealed that job satisfaction for workers in STEM has a strong link to diversity, equity and inclusion at work.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Across the UK, Europe and US, STEM employees who felt their workplace was not diverse, or inclusive&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">were more likely to be dissatisfied in their role overall</a></strong>. Meanwhile, employees that did experience discrimination at work, were also likely to feel satisfied with their current position.</p>
<p>This trend of workplace dissatisfaction continues for employees who haven&rsquo;t experienced discrimination, but who felt like discrimination, harassment and bullying had insufficient management measures in place.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/responsibility/our-people/inclusion-and-diversity-at-gsk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GSK&nbsp;</a></strong>are a great example of a pharmaceutical organisation who reflect their global identity across their organisational structure to establish realistic and tangible measures to power diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&amp;I).&nbsp;</p>
<p>GSK&rsquo;s work in DE&amp;I transpires across people, business and communities, to ensure a strong alignment between the international communities GSK works with and within as employees and citizens.</p>
<p>So far, GSK&rsquo;s initiatives have included:</p>
<ul>
<li>Recruitment and development reviews</li>
<li>Policy and processes review</li>
<li>Inclusion training</li>
<li>Development programme for ethnically diverse employees</li>
</ul>
<p>On top of this current action, GSK have also established aspirational goals to promote proactive and continuous implementation of their DE&amp;I strategy. These goals include having 45% of women in senior leadership roles by 2025, to be recognised in global LGBT+ indices, and to increase the number of ethnically diverse leaders in VP roles across both the UK and US.<br><br></p>
<h3>2.&nbsp;Compensation packages</h3>
<p>Continued skills shortages are driving an immense demand for specialist skills, meaning that many newly hired employees are being offered alternative attractive compensation packages from other competing businesses.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SRG&rsquo;s Report&nbsp;</a></strong>shows that younger respondents are the most likely to change roles when offered a more competitive salary, benefits, or career prospects.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In my experience, I&rsquo;ve found market insight salary reports vital in establishing transparency between both employers, and candidates. Sharing up-to-date information on current salaries can help manage candidate expectations and benchmark the salary rate for the role in an accurate way, without having to rely on out-dated sources like Glassdoor.&nbsp;<br><br></p>
<h3>3.&nbsp;Limited career progression</h3>
<p>While the fourth industrial revolution has contributed new efficiencies, it also demands new skill sets that not every candidate or employee may have.&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, this doesn&rsquo;t mean the workforce is unwilling to evolve.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">43% of employees&nbsp;</a></strong>who want to change roles in 2022 are simply looking to redirect their experience into a different area, rather than leave STEM altogether. What&rsquo;s more,<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;70% of employees are willing to upskill where necessary to meet current business requirements.&nbsp;&nbsp;</a></strong></p>
<p>Limited career progression in roles can stifle these ambitions and drive higher rates of turnover. Leaders can capitalise on their internal resources to mend skills shortages through upskilling initiatives. By revising company culture to promote learning and growth, leaders can ensure that the potential of every employee is fully realised.</p>
<p>At QIAGEN, this is accomplished through&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/3-ways-to-strengthen-your-executive-talent-search-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an open, communicative culture that promotes growth and learning</a></strong>. Lucy Colgan, Talent Acquisition Specialist describes how &ldquo;we want to further develop the company culture so everyone has a voice where they can do their job, change things and contribute their suggestions&rdquo;.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Lucy explains how highly impactful employee workshops enable QIAGEN employees to contribute and share their perspective saying, &ldquo;senior management are really listening to the good and bad from the workshops, and there&rsquo;s a lot of really good input and changes happening&rdquo;.</p>
<p>&ldquo;QIAGEN believes that focusing on its current and future employees drives the company&rsquo;s economic performance and considerably influences the sustainability of its operations. We are convinced that the professional and personal development of our employees is an integral factor in creating value for our customers, patients, colleagues, partners and shareholders&rdquo;, says Lucy. &ldquo;Being the industry&rsquo;s employer of choice by attracting and developing top talent is one of our global goals. To achieve this, QIAGEN creates a work environment that empowers and involves employees at all levels.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>How to align values to become an employer of choice</h2>
<p>Becoming an employer of choice means moving beyond the basics of employment, to deliver a workplace experience that inspires and motivates commitment and performance.</p>
<p>Equipped with innovation, and mission-led purpose, STEM organisations have all the ingredients necessary to power this approach across candidate attraction and employee retention.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.takeda.com/en-gb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Takeda</a></strong>, a Japanese multi-national pharmaceutical company, provide an excellent example of an &lsquo;employer-of-choice&rsquo; ethos in action.&nbsp;</p>
<p>By cultivating a culture where promotion comes from within, Takeda create an environment where people both learn themselves, and share that learning with others.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Takeda&rsquo;s talent strategy is shaped around key values known as &lsquo;Takeda-isms&rsquo;, and priorities that function as a guiding compass for employees across the organisation.</p>
<p>Takeda&rsquo;s &lsquo;Takeda-isms&rsquo; of integrity, fairness, honesty and perseverance are complemented by their priorities which include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Patient</li>
<li>Trust</li>
<li>Reputation</li>
<li>Business</li>
</ul>
<p>Takeda ensure that the candidates they interview align with these values and are motivated by the priorities. In the workplace, the values and priorities together are interwoven within internal processes to foster an environment where they are realised. By doing so, Takeda establish a resilient candidate attraction and retention strategy where their employees feel aligned at work and empowered to do their best.</p>
<h2>Using technology to remove bias in hiring</h2>
<p>Diverse, inclusive and equitable work environments are built from more than a diversity quota alone. They instil equitable practices, cultivate a culture of acceptance, and ensure that bias is dismantled from the start of the hiring process, all the way through the employee&rsquo;s journey.</p>
<p>Technology can play an important role in initiating this process, by helping to minimise unconscious biases that may inadvertently curb the efficacy of a diverse talent strategy.</p>
<p>For our<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/clients/search-by-srg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;Search by SRG team</a></strong>, psychometrics assessments, and video interviews are critical tools in combatting bias in STEM recruitment, and powering retention. Equipped with persona mapping, psychometric insights, international talent mapping, and much more, our expert consultants can ensure that the values, and personality of a candidate complement the organisational culture in the most productive way.&nbsp;</p>
<p>This data-driven approach provides an opportunity to avoid unconscious bias, and advance recruitment past &lsquo;first impressions&rsquo;, to support informed, and reliable decisions. The efficacy of this strategy is well reflected in the hiring success rate of Search by SRG, where 100% of short-lists are accepted by clients for interview, and 95% of assignments reach offer stage.</p>
<h2>Ready to evolve your hiring strategy?</h2>
<p>Get in touch with our Client Services Team to discuss how working with SRG&rsquo;s expert recruitment teams could strengthen and support your hiring strategy.</p>

Find out how to reduce staff attrition and become an employer of choice with guidance from Shen Mawani, Client Solutions Manager.

How to Reduce Staff Attrition

<p><strong><a href="https://www.stem.org.uk/sites/default/files/pages/downloads/stem-skills-indicator-findings.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">7 in 10 leaders across STEM are struggling with major staff shortages&nbsp;</a></strong>and a skills gap that&rsquo;s driving<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;a loss of &pound;1.5 billion a year in the UK.</a></strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, retirement is exacerbating already expansive trends.&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/manufacturing/us-mfg-talent-imperative-global-chemicals-industry.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research from Deloitte</a></strong>&nbsp;shows that in the Chemicals industry alone, almost half of the industry workforce is set to retire within the next 5 to 7 years.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Without investing in the next generation of scientists and professionals today, STEM leaders risk limiting the talent pool further and curbing their own talent pipelines.</p>
<p>However, to&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/how-to-build-a-sustainable-stem-workforce-through-early-talent" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">build a powerful and sustainable graduate recruitment strategy</a></strong>, leaders must look beyond hiring alone &ndash; the retention of the graduate workforce is crucial to unlocking the potential and benefits of the wider workforce.</p>
<p>In this article, I&rsquo;ll explore:</p>
<ul>
<li>Why top employers recruit graduates</li>
<li>How to attract top graduates in STEM</li>
<li>How to retain your graduate talent</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why top employers recruit graduates</h2>
<h3>1.&nbsp;Time-to-hire</h3>
<p>In any business time is money, and while an experienced hire can often be an ideal choice, the overall time-to-hire for these professionals can range from anywhere between 6 weeks to 3 months.&nbsp;<br>Graduate recruitment has a much lower average time-to-hire, with many being available for immediate starts fresh from university.&nbsp;<br>Coming from a learning environment, many graduates are fast learners and can quickly get to grips with the role in the same, or even shorter a time frame than it would have taken to find an &lsquo;ideal hire&rsquo;.</p>
<h3>2.&nbsp;Agile learners</h3>
<p>As we emerge from the pandemic, many organisations across STEM are continuing to evolve and shift the ways they work, and the technologies they use. When entering the workforce, graduates can readily take on new roles, learn, and help bridge skills gaps while ensuring business continuity.</p>
<h3>3.&nbsp;Cost-effective</h3>
<p>Newly qualified graduates have a much lower market-rate compared to those who have more experience in industry. When hired, and successfully retained, graduates can offer businesses a more cost-effective route to bridging skills gaps and building talent pipelines.</p>
<h3>4.&nbsp;Fresh perspective</h3>
<p>Enjoy the enthusiasm and new outlook that employing a graduate can bring, and discover new ideas to refresh old projects. Graduate hires will have spent at least 3 years developing their critical thinking skills, and may pick up on things others have missed.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>5.&nbsp;Expert knowledge</h3>
<p>Although graduates will lack on the job training, they will bring knowledge of the latest scientific, clinical, and engineering techniques and learnings. This can be especially important for digital, tech, automation, medical device type roles.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How to Recruit Graduates</h2>
<p>An effective graduate recruitment strategy should include a fundamental framework for both talent attraction, and retention to help develop a strong talent pipeline, and futureproof your workforce.</p>
<h2>How to attract top graduates in STEM</h2>
<p><strong>Ensure company buy-in:&nbsp;</strong>The first step to effective graduate attraction, is to ensure buy-in from your organisation. It is important everyone is aware of the graduate programme&rsquo;s intention and opportunity, promoting internally to encourage personal referrals, and staff advocacy.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Produce a graduate value proposition:</strong>&nbsp;Consider what makes your company a great place to work, to ensure you attract the very best talent. Is it the location, the culture, the benefits, the top-class internal training, the opportunity to try working in different departments, competitive pay and bonuses, or even a career progression programme? Remember that many graduates leaving university are looking for a sense of purpose and to make a difference in the world; if your company offer this, then make sure it is clear on your website, social media and advertising.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Targeting:&nbsp;</strong>Not all graduates will be suitable for your programme. Make sure you create a profile of your ideal candidate such as degree subject, strengths, personal characteristics. This will help clarify your targeting to ensure you attract the right talent, but (and this is a big but) remember to be open-minded. Many graduates still have lots of room to grow and to be moulded, so limiting your scope to graduates from a top university may mean you miss out on some fantastic candidates.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Timing:</strong>&nbsp;Timing is crucial when it comes to attracting graduates. Top graduates who have taken on placement years are often hired immediately after exams and begin their applications towards the beginning of the year. Building a strong talent network in advance (ideally around January) will help you navigate the graduate talent market without the pressure.</p>
<p><strong>Graduate attraction strategy:</strong>&nbsp;Once you have these fundamentals in place, you are ready to produce an effective graduate attraction strategy. Consider, advertising on your website, jobs boards, social media, and working in partnership with universities themselves.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Candidates will likely search for your company on social media, so make sure you portray&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/building-a-competitive-talent-attraction-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a strong employee value proposition (EVP)</a></strong>&nbsp;e.g., using images, videos or employee testimonials. Consider what training and progression opportunities you can offer graduates. Remember to be transparent and realistic.</p>
<p>Graduate attraction can be rewarding but time-consuming, so of course, consider the benefits of working with an expert scientific and clinical recruitment agency, such as SRG. Most recently, we have supported&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.abbvie.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Abbvie</a></strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.ovalmedical.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oval Medical Technologies</a></strong> with their graduate programmes.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How to retain graduate talent</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the success of your graduate recruitment efforts will come down to whether you&rsquo;re able to retain and progress the graduate talent you take on.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Here&rsquo;s my advice on graduate retention:</p>
<h3>1.&nbsp;Provide clear training opportunities</h3>
<p>Training opportunities are one of the main points that come up in my discussions with graduate talent. Graduates want a concise and structure learning experience and opportunities to grow when they join a company. I advise:</p>
<ul>
<li>Communicating how long training will take</li>
<li>Creating a clear progression path</li>
<li>Highlighting any further development opportunities</li>
</ul>
<h3>2.&nbsp;Enable role diversification</h3>
<p>In our&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2022 Global Science Employment Report</a></strong>, we found that 46% of under-25s in STEM industries are considering a career change.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Leaders can feed into this desire for variety by enabling cross-department role switch-ups as part of the graduate programme.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.croda.com/en-gb" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Croda</a></strong>, a British speciality chemicals company, accomplish this particularly well with their graduate scheme. At Croda, graduates spend 3-6 months in departments, before moving along to a different area. This exposes graduate hires to a wide range of processes, responsibilities, and elements of the industry in a manageable and structured way &ndash; all while enabling teams across the business to benefit from the additional staff.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>3.&nbsp;Keep up with salary reviews</h3>
<p>Once a few years have passed, your graduate hires will likely have successfully integrated within your company. It&rsquo;s at this point that your competitors may reach out with lucrative offers and benefits packages, and retention can be jeopardised. Leaders can prepare for this in advance by staying up to date with both internal, and industry salary reviews, and compensate experienced talent accordingly.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Need help with graduate recruitment?</h2>
<p>SRG have been serving the scientific community for over 30 years and our experienced talent consultants have access to well-established graduate talent networks.&nbsp;</p>
<p>We can help you achieve graduate recruitment success.</p>
<p>To talk with our team, please email solutions@srgtalent.com with your name, telephone number, and a good time to call back &ndash; one of our talent experts will be in touch.</p>
<p>Or, if you're looking for more information,&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../insights/guides-and-reports/how-to-build-a-sustainable-stem-workforce-through-early-talent" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">get our free whitepaper on 'How to Build a Sustainable STEM Workforce Through Early Talent' here</a></strong></p>

Develop your graduate recruitment strategy with advice on how to attract and retain top graduates in STEM from Chris Beckenham, Senior Recruitment Consultant at SRG.

How to Improve your Graduate Recruitment Strategy: Learn How To Attract and Retain Top Graduates in STEM

<p>In a climate of economic uncertainty, access to best-in-industry talent is more critical than ever.</p>
<p>A strong talent attraction strategy can unlock access to the expertise you need to not only preserve business continuity but thrive as an organisation. However, in STEM where skills shortages are rife, specialist talent can be hard to source. Research from STEM Learning shows that&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/insights-into-stem-skills-shortages-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">7 in 10 leaders</a></strong>&nbsp;are finding it difficult to find people with the right skills and are experiencing with major staff shortages.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While the cost-of-living crisis is currently driving&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.cv-library.co.uk/recruitment-insight/inflation-cost-living-increases-driving-three-quarters-uk-professionals-consider-changing-jobs/">more employees to switch jobs</a></strong><a href="https://www.cv-library.co.uk/recruitment-insight/inflation-cost-living-increases-driving-three-quarters-uk-professionals-consider-changing-jobs/">,</a>&nbsp;in my experience many senior passive candidates favour job security, and as a consequence experienced specialist candidates are increasingly challenging to access.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In this article, I&rsquo;ll provide actionable advice to help you overcome the hurdles and strengthen your talent attraction strategy based on my own experience working across STEM as a specialist recruiter.</p>
<p>Read on to learn more about:</p>
<ul>
<li>The importance of a strong employee value proposition (EVP)</li>
<li>3 ways to strengthen your talent attraction strategy</li>
<li>Preparing for the future of talent attraction</li>
</ul>
<h2>The importance of a strong employee value proposition (EVP)</h2>
<p>Effectively persuading candidates to consider your organisation relies on your messaging, marketing, and overall brand as an organisation.</p>
<p>An EVP encompasses this concept and is a brand campaign that highlights the value of working at an organisation.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While some companies may have well-construed customer and client marketing campaigns, creating a brand that highlights why people should work with them in a meaningful way can be challenging and often poses a key barrier for organisations.</p>
<p>Taking the time to build an EVP can provide your organisation with the platform it needs to bring your talent attraction strategy to life, and your target candidates are more likely to identify with your organisation. What&rsquo;s more, your current employees are more likely to be engaged and committed in their work, helping to&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/how-to-reduce-staff-attrition" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lower attrition</a></strong>.<br><br></p>
<h2>3 ways to strengthen your talent attraction strategy</h2>
<h3>Transparency</h3>
<p>Salary transparency encourages the right level of applications and can help overcome salary imbalance and inequities for diverse groups.&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SRG&rsquo;s Global STEM Survey</a></strong>shows that the gender and ethnicity pay gaps have widened. Salary transparency can set your organisation on the right path to overcoming these persisting imbalances.</p>
<p>Alongside supporting diversity, salary transparency can help reduce candidate fallout. Equipping candidates with the opportunity to assess the suitability of the salary range against their own expectations before they apply, can significantly reduce the number of people who leave the application process due to salary related concerns &ndash; saving you time and streamlining the recruitment process.</p>
<p>In line with salary transparency, transparency around funding rounds can be crucial for smaller start-up organisations. Successfully promoting your financial backing can reassure candidates who may be more inclined towards larger corporations and help extend your reach as an organisation.&nbsp;</p>
<p>I recently worked with a European-based healthcare IT company that secured more funding to expand in the UK. We adopted a transparent approach surrounding the level of investment and salary across the recruitment process, and in doing so directly inspired more UK candidates into the application process, despite the organisation&rsquo;s lack of UK presence.<br><br></p>
<h3>Meaningful benefits</h3>
<p>In the wider world of business where most companies provide some form of benefits package, standing out from the crowd can be tough.</p>
<p>Providing meaningful, flexible benefits can provide a key avenue to making a strong impression from the start.&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.ey.com/en_gl/workforce/work-reimagined-survey" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research from EY&nbsp;</a></strong>on the post-pandemic workforce shows that flexibility and working from home remain key motivators for candidates in the job search.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Interestingly,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-global-science-employment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SRG&rsquo;s Global Science Employment Report</a></strong>&nbsp;shows that across UK, US, and wider Europe, a good work life balance was cited as the most important factor for the highest number of people. At the same time, it was ranked as the least important factor by the most respondents in the UK and Europe, showing that flexible approach to benefits is vital; what matters to one person, does not matter to another. Over half of all respondents in all regions said they would also find an employer appealing if they offered an attractive salary and benefits package or challenging work.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Diversity and inclusion</h3>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/2022-guide-to-equality-diversity-and-inclusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SRG&rsquo;s research in STEM&nbsp;</a></strong>shows that in 2021, 25% of women reported feeling harassed or discriminated against at work, but in 2022, this figure rose to 32%. Likewise, the statistics for men also rose, from 19% in 2021, to 23% in 2022.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Gender was the biggest factor behind discrimination and harassment, but age, ethnicity, education, disability, and sexuality were other significant factors for respondents.</p>
<p>As shown by our research, DE&amp;I initiatives are increasingly critical to establishing safe and supportive work environments where all people can thrive. However, creating a successful initiative that drives candidate attraction relies on a considered, well researched approach.</p>
<p>Bayer, a global pharmaceutical organisation was recently heralded as<strong><a href="https://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/top-10-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-pharmas-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;the most inclusive organisation within the pharmaceutical industry</a></strong>. According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation&rsquo;s Corporate Equality Index, which evaluates LGBTQ+ workplace quality, resource groups, interactive workshops, and allyship dialogues, Bayer&rsquo;s score is perfect.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Some of the initiatives Bayer has progressed to help them achieve their leading score include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Scholarship programmes for the Asian University for Women</li>
<li>Leadership and skill development for women in STEM leadership</li>
<li>Embedded platforms for diverse perspectives</li>
<li>Goal to increase disabled workforce by 5% by 2030</li>
<li>Goal to establish gender parity in all management levels by 2030</li>
</ul>
<p>Outside of Bayer&rsquo;s work, I&rsquo;d like to recommend that while neurodiversity can occasionally fall under disability inclusion, proactively empowering neurodiverse employees is still an under-utilised approach.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Creating a neurodiverse-sensitive advertising campaign and considering how your roles and team could accommodate conditions, as well as benefit from them, can help unlock additional candidate pools, as well as motivate existing applicants who may be neurodiverse to commit to your organisation.<br><br></p>
<h3>Preparing for the future of talent attraction</h3>
<p>The ongoing implications surrounding Brexit, alongside current global economic uncertainty, has shifted the recruitment market in some ways, as some organisations begin to downsize, or grow both in and outside of the UK.</p>
<p>Despite these changes, the recruitment market remains candidate driven, particularly in the STEM industries where skills shortages are rife. Amending the skills gap will take educational reform, alongside workplace training, apprenticeships, and work experience programmes &ndash; these are all changes that could take a decade for their full impact to be realised.&nbsp;<br>When, and if, the recruitment market does shift back to being employer-led, those organisations with robust and meaningful candidate attraction strategies are more likely to have a better reputation amongst candidates and be prioritised by top talent in the long term.</p>
<p>With this in mind, preparing a considered candidate attraction strategy today will likely set your recruitment in good stead for the future.</p>
<p>At<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/clients/our-services/search-by-srg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;Search by SRG</a></strong>, we&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/clients/our-services/search-by-srg/search-by-srg-lead-global-project-engineer-recruitment-campaign" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">help organisations</a></strong>&nbsp;build personalised candidate packs that highlight the features of the role and company, and amplify benefits in a tailored way depending on the market segment. Alongside this, we provide candidates and clients alike with data analytics access surrounding the role, equipping both stakeholders with a real time view of how the opportunity compares to other roles that are currently advertised.&nbsp;</p>

Take your talent attraction strategy to the next level with expert advice from Holly Evans, Senior Consultant at Search by SRG

How to Build a Competitive Talent Attraction Strategy

<p>A business growth plan helps small businesses effectively navigate their path towards expansion. In STEM industries, implementing a business growth plan can mark a particularly pivotal moment in wider operational capacity and product development, making it both an exciting and critical strategic element to get right.</p>
<p>Research from McKinsey shows that high-growth companies have<strong><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/seven-principles-for-achieving-transformational-growth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;30% higher total returns to shareholders</a></strong>. Sustainable business growth creates value, from opening new avenues to existing employees, creating opportunities for further innovation and development, to driving financial profits.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Once you&rsquo;ve achieved the funding you require and rapid growth is on its way, creating a clear business growth plan is critical to ensure that your business growth is truly sustainable and future proofed. This could include reorganising or expanding your internal structure, developing policies and procedures, reviewing locations for expansion, reviewing supply chains, and of course, workforce planning, to name a few.</p>
<p>This blog focuses on workforce planning and the importance of getting the right people quickly to match your growth plans.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Keep reading to find out:</p>
<ul>
<li>What is a business growth plan?</li>
<li>Common hurdles to STEM business growth</li>
<li>How to prepare a sustainable workforce growth plan</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>What is a business growth plan?</h2>
<p>A business growth plan is a strategic framework for company growth that includes clear objectives, plans and strategies that all align with growth goals.<br><br>Business growth plans are an essential part of pre-funding strategy and are borne from wider business activities and objectives including investment, mergers and acquisitions, and portfolio momentum.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Business growth plans can cover time periods from just 1 year, to 2-3 years, and involve aligning operations across the organisation with clear actions that enable the business to achieve the goals within the pre-established timeframe.</p>
<p>Workforce planning is key to activating a successful business growth plan and involves strategising how to sustainably expand your team to achieve product and R&amp;D-related milestones, while establishing a strong employee value proposition, forging your brand vision, and building a fulfilling candidate journey to ensure access to the talent required to power your expansion&rsquo;s success.&nbsp;<br><br></p>
<h2>Common hurdles to STEM business growth</h2>
<h3>Time spent to hire</h3>
<p>Time is a crucial asset in any business, especially STEM where delays to hiring new personnel can be the difference between project success and failure.</p>
<p>In complex occupations like those within STEM,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/attracting-and-retaining-the-right-talent" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">high performers are more than 800% more productive than average employees</a></strong>, and in today&rsquo;s talent market, are far more likely to be hired fast.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the UK, the candidate market is particularly competitive, as unemployment rates have fallen to the lowest level in almost 50 years,&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8015b43f-5cdd-443e-bdcc-3079d4582e48" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">meaning job vacancies have officially outnumbered the number of applicants for the first time</a></strong>. This has created an environment where a swift and seamless hiring process is crucial to recruitment success.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Smaller STEM businesses often depend on internal managers or directors to manage their recruitment, whilst juggling their own objectives. When businesses in STEM directly source their own candidates and manage the hiring process from start to finish, they often face the challenge of additional time expenditure for all those involved in the recruitment process, including any senior leaders.<br><br></p>
<h3>Recruitment knowledge gaps</h3>
<p>Technical and niche roles in STEM businesses can be critical to business continuity, and hard to find. When HR staff are brought in to support on specialist hiring projects, they can lack the scientific background and experience required to fully align selected candidates with the nature of the role. Asking the right technical questions to measure expertise is essential in scientific recruitment.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additionally, achieving a competitive pay rate, benefits package, and finding the candidates through the right channels requires benchmarking, market intel and a tailored advertising budget to ensure you reach the right candidates. Too often pay rates are pitched too low, or job adverts aren&rsquo;t visible on the right channels, meaning quality of application is low.&nbsp;<br><br></p>
<h3>Changes in recruitment volume</h3>
<p>For small to medium businesses on the verge of business expansion, recruitment volumes can flux according to market demand and the strategic rate of expansion. Recruitment trends can rapidly shift, as has been shown by&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/the-history-of-recruitment-whats-changed-and-whats-next">both the global pandemic and &lsquo;great attrition&rsquo; of 2021.&nbsp;</a></strong>STEM businesses looking to rapidly expand need to ensure that their recruitment strategy is flexible enough to cater for any hiring volume changes that they might experience.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Scaling a workforce up requires careful planning, a smooth recruitment and onboarding process, so projects can remain on schedule.&nbsp;<br><br></p>
<h2>How to make a business growth plan</h2>
<p>The first step to powering a sustainable workforce growth plan is strategic alignment.</p>
<p>This involves evaluating the overall recruitment approach against your organisational objectives and long-term goals. Whether you choose to stay nimble by limiting team size, or choose to transform internal processes and rapidly expand, your recruitment technique should complement your wider business plan.</p>
<p>Next, map out the types of candidates you need, what criteria they need to meet, and how your business environment might inspire them.<br>In smaller teams set to grow, a strong mission can power a common sense of purpose and inspire motivation and commitment from teams. Meanwhile, in the changeable and disruptive environments that growing businesses often exhibit, adaptable and agile employees who are forward thinkers can be essential in both bringing company culture to life and ensuring business momentum.</p>
<p>Research from the Harvard Business Review indicates that when new hires have cultural adaptability (that&rsquo;s the ability to learn and conform to changes in company culture), they<strong><a href="https://hbr.org/2020/01/the-new-analytics-of-culture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;are more likely to succeed at work</a></strong>&nbsp;compared to employees who showed high cultural fit when first hired. The key here is hiring forward-thinking candidates who believe in the principles behind your organisational mission, and who can thrive in a changeable and disruptive environment.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Finally, consider&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/blog/how-to-reduce-staff-attrition">talent retention.</a></strong></p>
<p>While expanding organisations can often lack the extra financial leeway to provide monetary rewards or incentives for staff, SMEs do have a wealth of opportunities in their reach to inspire retention including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Input into the implementation of an organisational mission</li>
<li>Faster career development opportunities</li>
<li>A sense of common purpose</li>
<li>A more personal company culture</li>
</ul>
<p>The above factors should be ingrained within the wider business growth strategy to ensure that as the organisation expands, teams retain a strong sense of unity and belonging as well as career progression to encourage better retention of staff.<br><br></p>
<h2>Looking for more guidance?</h2>
<p>At SRG, we have over 30 years of experience in the STEM talent sector and can help support your organisation with competitive talent acquisition tools to streamline your business expansion&rsquo;s success.</p>
<p>Our&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.srgtalent.com/insights/guides-and-reports/mastering-business-expansion-a-hiring-guide-for-smes">free whitepaper on mastering business expansion</a></strong>&nbsp;is available to power your organisational growth with the latest insights on business expansion in the STEM sector.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, our expert consultants are on hand to help activate access to the talent you require to grow your business.</p>

Get expert advice to help you optimise your business growth strategy in STEM from Shen Mawani, Client Solutions Manager

How to Create a Successful Business Growth Plan in STEM

<h3 dir="ltr">The relationship between your business and your MSP partner will be one of the most important your organisation is ever involved in. If your partnership flourishes, so too will your contingent workforce &mdash; and you&rsquo;ll be furnished with a whole host of business benefits. If the relationship is beset by problems from the start, you&rsquo;ll have little to show for your investment.&nbsp;</h3>
<p dir="ltr">As we explored in a previous blog, the advantages of using an MSP are numerous. By bringing transparency to your contingent workforce and implementing agile programmes across your organisation, a managed service provider (MSP) solution can help you attract and retain the best contingent talent, futureproof your workforce, iron out inefficiencies and drive business growth.</p>
<p dir="ltr">To truly maximise the value and potential of the partnership, however, you need to choose the right managed service provider. This requires laying the groundwork for what you&rsquo;ll need from the MSP and what you expect them to deliver. With a little preparation, you&rsquo;ll sow the seeds for a fruitful partnership that brings out the best in your workforce &mdash; and positively impacts the bottom line, too.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Is an MSP solution right for my business?</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">This is the first question you should ask if you&rsquo;re considering outsourcing the management of your workforce to an MSP.</p>
<p dir="ltr">If your organisation has a medium-to-large contingent workforce, a managed service programme may prove the ideal solution. Whether you&rsquo;re looking to improve visibility, compliance, or control, or simply want a fresh recruitment strategy with a new partner, managed service programmes can be tailored to address the key challenges your business faces.</p>
<p dir="ltr">That said, managed service provider solutions don&rsquo;t work for every business &mdash; particularly those without sizeable contingent workforces. If you&rsquo;re a scaleup or a startup with a smaller contingent workforce, for example, another recruitment service may prove a better fit.</p>
<p dir="ltr">When deciding if an MSP is the best way to fulfil your contingent goals, you&rsquo;ll need to turn your gaze inwards.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>Step 1: Conduct an audit of your business needs</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">An outsourced workforce solution is a big commitment for any HR or procurement leader.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Confirming your requirements, engaging potential providers, picking a suitable partner and implementing the programme can all take upwards of a year. But the business value &mdash; both operational and financial &mdash; which can be unlocked from an MSP is significant enough to warrant serious consideration.</p>
<p dir="ltr">To figure out whether an MSP is right for your business, be sure to ask yourself the following questions:</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr">Are you employing more contingent labour than before?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Is your contingent workforce becoming more complex?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Is the compliance of your temporary workforce a concern?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Is having visibility of contingent workforce spend throughout your business a challenge?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Are you struggling to find the talent to drive business success?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Is recruiting and managing contingent workers distracting your managers from their core priorities?</li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr">If you&rsquo;ve answered &ldquo;yes&rdquo; to any of these questions, then an MSP solution could be the right option for your business.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>How to choose an MSP partner you can trust</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">You&rsquo;ve decided that a managed service programme is the right solution, but which provider to choose? There&rsquo;s certainly no shortage of managed service providers out there and the abundance of options can feel overwhelming.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Before launching yourself into a partnership with an MSP, make sure to build a clear picture of what your business wants to achieve from the arrangement.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Do you want to close the skills or resource gap at your organisation? Do you want to leverage new technologies to drive digital transformation or relieve pressure from the IT team? Or do you simply require assistance with a specific workforce problem that cannot be dealt with internally?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Setting clear goals or objectives will form the bulk of your brief to prospective MSPs and help you measure success down the line.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>Step 2: Interview prospective MSPs</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">You should perform due diligence by asking prospective MSPs a series of questions to assess their compatibility with your organisation. For instance:</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr">How long has the MSP been operating?&nbsp;</li>
<li dir="ltr">Are they transparent about financials?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Are they able to grow with your company?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Do they understand your brief?</li>
<li dir="ltr">What investments have they made in technologies and support tools?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Do they provide reporting? If so, what sort of reporting is it?</li>
<li dir="ltr">What services are outlined in their internal SLAs?</li>
<li dir="ltr">What recruitment processes do they follow?</li>
<li dir="ltr">Will the CEO or Managing Director be involved?</li>
<li dir="ltr">What are the MSP&rsquo;s ethos and values?</li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr">Acquiring this information from the responses of each MSP on your shortlist will help you form a clear picture of which one best aligns with your company values and project goals.&nbsp;</p>
<h3 dir="ltr"><strong>Step 3: Choose your MSP and adopt a collaborative approach from the outset</strong></h3>
<p dir="ltr">Once you&rsquo;ve decided on a particular MSP &mdash; one you are confident will really take your workforce management to the next level &mdash; aim to really take the time to get to know them.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Build relationships with key stakeholders, get to grips with their SLA and make sure that your respective strategies can evolve together in an agile manner. After all, it&rsquo;s likely you&rsquo;ll be working with them for years to come.&nbsp;</p>

Choosing the right managed services provider (MSP) and building a collaborative relationship is vital for ensuring a successful partnership.

How to extract maximum value from your managed services provider (MSP)

<h3>Once overlooked and deemed an expensive bolt-on to recruitment, the employer brand now forms an integral part of not just a recruitment strategy but a top-level business strategy, too.</h3>
<p>In today&rsquo;s competitive labour markets, attracting and retaining talent can be a tricky endeavour for any business. In certain sectors, people increasingly have a choice where they work: if businesses cannot appeal to their target audience, candidates are unlikely to consider working for them.</p>
<p>Traditional recruitment methods no longer hold sway in such a fast-paced, highly competitive environment. According to Talent Now,&nbsp;50% of candidates wouldn&rsquo;t work for a company with a bad reputation&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;even for a pay rise.&nbsp;Instead of waiting for top talent to come to them, hiring managers now find themselves having to actively pursue talent.</p>
<p><strong>When planned and implemented effectively, employer branding &mdash; the process of promoting and showcasing a company&rsquo;s working practices, benefits, and culture to target candidates &mdash; can help bring potential candidates into the fold</strong>.</p>
<p>By building and maintaining a positive brand identity, any business can consolidate itself as an attractive place to work. Indeed, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/global/en_US/site/pdf/datasheets/linkedin-why-your-employer-brand-matters-en-us.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LinkedIn survey</a>, a company&rsquo;s employer brand &ldquo;is twice as likely to be linked to job consideration as a strong company brand.&rdquo; A strong employer brand quite literally drives candidates to a business.</p>
<p>While employer branding is not a cure-all solution to a business&rsquo; talent acquisition efforts, ensuring you have a good reputation in the eyes of job seekers is crucial. After all, there&rsquo;s a reason why people want to work for organisations like Google, Apple and Netflix.</p>
<p>Here are four benefits that employer branding brings to the recruitment process.</p>
<h2><strong>1) A strong employer brand helps you attract the right candidates</strong></h2>
<p>An employer brand is a company&rsquo;s way of telling the world what it does, what it stands for, and what working for it means for its people. It&rsquo;s about conveying a company&rsquo;s mission, vision, and values in a way that&rsquo;s honest, transparent, and believable.</p>
<p>With personality being a better barometer of hiring success than experience, successful employer brands harness the latest people analytics software to hyper-target individuals who share a similar ethos to the business and its culture (as well as the relevant skillset).</p>
<p>When marketing the business to the ideal candidate, it helps to target them via the right channels. With Millennials and Generation Z making up an ever-larger share of the workforce &mdash; generations that are highly active on social media &mdash; popular platforms such as Instagram and LinkedIn are also being used to promote the employer brand.</p>
<p>This cannot be a one-way street, however. Smart businesses are unlocking the potential of connecting with prospective employees through social media and incorporating these online conversations into the candidate experience. The rise in chatbots to answer candidate queries is one such example of this ongoing dialogue in action.</p>
<h2><strong>2) A strong employer brand speeds up time-to-fill</strong></h2>
<p>This benefit is simple: job seekers who are familiar with a brand are more likely to respond to recruiters or hiring managers who reach out to them about a role at their business.</p>
<p>When candidates are more engaged with a brand and keener to join, the quicker the recruiting process becomes. Developing a robust candidate experience can facilitate this through regular communication &mdash; turning passive candidates into brand ambassadors.</p>
<h2><strong>3) A strong employer brand reduces hiring costs</strong></h2>
<p>According to LinkedIn data, employer branding can&nbsp;<a href="https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/global/en_us/c/pdfs/ultimate-list-of-employer-brand-stats.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reduce cost of hire by as much as 50%</a>. Employer branding tactics such as nurturing a large social media following and transmitting a clear Employer Value Proposition (EVP) helps to build a readily accessible &mdash; and suitable &mdash; talent pool. This, in turn, brings down the cost of recruitment marketing and other hiring processes.</p>
<h2><strong>4) A strong employer brand boosts retention</strong></h2>
<p>Though employer branding largely focuses on the candidate experience &mdash; what candidates go through when applying for a business and their subsequent perception of the brand &mdash; a robust employer brand strategy also considers the employee experience.</p>
<p>Having experienced the best and worst of an organisation, existing employees and the legacy workforce offer the most reliable insights into what it&rsquo;s&nbsp;<em>really</em>&nbsp;like to work there. If employer branding doesn&rsquo;t factor these people into the equation, not doing so could spell disaster for an employer&rsquo;s reputation. Disgruntled employees could take to peer-to-peer review websites like Glassdoor to broadcast their frustrations to the wider world, damaging a business&rsquo; employer brand.</p>
<p>With an intuitive, easy, and informative onboarding process and a company culture that consistently reinforces the employer brand&rsquo;s message, employees are more likely to buy into the mission, vision, and values of a business. And when engagement is high, people are more likely to stay in their roles.<br><br>Moreover, engaged employees become willing brand ambassadors outside of work &mdash; strengthening the employer brand further still.</p>
<h2><strong>The takeaway: when the employer brand succeeds, recruitment succeeds</strong></h2>
<p>Attracting and retaining the right people is one of the fundamental challenges of modern business. With so many companies battling over the same talent, trying to cut through the noise and reach out to the right candidates can seem like a Sisyphean task.</p>
<p>In the 2020s, candidates&nbsp;<em>expect</em>&nbsp;employers to provide engaging candidate journeys. Anything to the contrary will likely trigger a negative response.</p>
<p>Therefore, a carrot-and-stick approach to recruitment will not suffice. Instead of making them want to join the business, cajoling candidates with large salaries without considering other aspects of work such as culture, work-life balance, and company values may even create a perception that the brand doesn&rsquo;t care about people. And if there&rsquo;s one thing that the best employer brands all have in common, it&rsquo;s that they come across as prioritising people.</p>
<p>This perception is what causes a company&rsquo;s recruitment efforts to sink or swim. And perception can be influenced by an infinite number of things. As such, a strong employer brand strives to make every touchpoint across the candidate experience &mdash; from the initial job search to the onboarding process &mdash; as seamless and as personalised as possible. Crucially, it also takes a&nbsp;<em>holistic</em>&nbsp;view of the overall employee experience.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the employer brand is about receiving buy-in from people both inside and outside the business. Nobody wants to work for a dull, uninspiring brand. But almost everyone wants to work with a sense of mission and purpose.</p>

Employer branding — the process of promoting and showcasing a company’s working practices, benefits, and culture to target candidates — forms an integral part of any recruitment strategy.

How Does Employer Branding Help Recruitment?

<p>In the face of a rapidly changing business environment, the advantages of&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/what-is-strategic-workforce-planning" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">workforce planning</a></strong>&nbsp;play a pivotal role in the success of STEM businesses.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Technical and specialist talent is in high demand as leaders double down on their commitment to innovation and ongoing geopolitical disruptions post-COVID continue to drive business model transformation.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2023/pwc-26th-ceo-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">46% of global CEOs</a></strong>&nbsp;are reconsidering their market presence this year, and<strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2023/pwc-26th-ceo-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;41%</a></strong>&nbsp;are diversifying their products and service offerings. Given the context, controlling costs remains a focal priority &ndash; but not at the cost of access to talent.<strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2023/pwc-26th-ceo-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;40% of leaders</a></strong>&nbsp;are concerned about increases in inflation, but<strong><a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2023/pwc-26th-ceo-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;60%</a></strong>&nbsp;do not plan on reducing their headcount this year.</p>
<p>In this article, I&rsquo;ll explore key insights and methods to support <strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/how-to-create-a-successful-business-growth-plan-in-stem" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">building a powerful workforce planning strategy</a></strong>&nbsp;to meet the requirements of today&rsquo;s STEM business environment.</p>
<p>Read on for more about:</p>
<ul>
<li>The advantages of workforce planning&nbsp;</li>
<li>The importance of an effective preferred supplier list</li>
<li>&nbsp;How to strengthen your workforce planning strategy</li>
</ul>
<h2>The advantages of workforce planning</h2>
<p>Workforce planning enables businesses to both identify and prepare for their future business and workforce needs together.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While individual business requirements can mean the key objectives behind a business plan may change, the core principle behind a workforce plan remains the same: getting the right people in the right jobs to drive efficiencies and save time and money.</p>
<p>A powerful workforce plan needs to consider access to talent, skills gaps, and fluctuations in the internal workforce to ensure that strategic outcomes are not only achieved but accelerated.</p>
<p>To do this successfully, a workforce plan must be data-driven, connected to specific KPIs, and tied to long-term business goals.</p>
<p>&nbsp;The&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/why-strategic-workforce-planning-is-so-important" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">advantages of a successful strategic workforce plan&nbsp;</a></strong>include:</p>
<ol>
<li>An identification of internal skills gaps</li>
<li>Supply chain management</li>
<li>Governance</li>
<li>Quarterly business reviews</li>
<li>An understanding of future talent demands</li>
<li>Impactful and aligned people and organisational strategies</li>
<li>A sustainable talent pipeline</li>
<li>Improved business risk management<br><br></li>
</ol>
<h2>The importance of an effective preferred supplier list</h2>
<p>A Preferred Supplier List (PSL) is a key access point for services, including recruitment and access to talent to feed into your workforce planning strategy.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While preferred supplier lists do have a number of benefits, they can also be limiting for hiring managers, particularly when they are not regularly reviewed and optimised &ndash; hindering the efficacy of the overall workforce plan.<br><br><strong><br>Benefits of having a preferred supplier list include:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Cost competitiveness &ndash;&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://app.ramp.global/pdf/psl_research_2015.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">49% of hiring managers</a></strong>&nbsp;say working with a preferred supplier list can help control costs and gain access to more competitive prices.</li>
<li>Consistent EVP &ndash;&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://app.ramp.global/pdf/psl_research_2015.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">45% of hiring managers</a></strong> note that consistent communication of the&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/how-to-develop-a-successful-employer-branding-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">employee value proposition (EVP)</a></strong>&nbsp;when working with a preferred supplier strengthens the&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/importance-of-communication-in-candidate-retention" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">candidate experience&nbsp;</a></strong>and employer outcomes.</li>
<li>Strength of relationship with recruiters &ndash; Established relationships with preferred suppliers can support project continuity and enhance the overall candidate and employer experience across the recruitment project.</li>
<li>&nbsp;Service level commitment &ndash; Preferred suppliers can hit the ground running with recruitment projects in terms of maintaining pre-established service level commitments.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Downfalls of having a preferred supplier list include:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Time taken to manage agencies &ndash;<strong><a href="https://app.ramp.global/pdf/psl_research_2015.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;65% of hiring managers&nbsp;</a></strong>cite that the time taken to manage the many agencies on their preferred supplier list can limit the time-saving benefits the list offers.</li>
<li>The number of suppliers on the list &ndash;&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://app.ramp.global/pdf/psl_research_2015.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">60% of hiring managers&nbsp;</a></strong>find the number of suppliers challenging to both navigate and manage &ndash;&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://app.ramp.global/pdf/psl_research_2015.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">81% of organisations&nbsp;</a></strong>have up to 50 agencies on their preferred supplier list.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Access to specialist and technical hires &ndash;<strong><a href="https://app.ramp.global/pdf/psl_research_2015.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;45% of hiring managers&nbsp;</a></strong>struggle to find the technical and specialist hires they need using their preferred supplier list.</li>
<li>&nbsp;Quality of data &ndash; working with multiple systems across many providers can limit data quality in terms of compliance, quality of hire, time to hire, and DE&amp;I recruitment initiatives making it challenging to measure organisational impact.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How SRG can strengthen your workforce planning strategy</h2>
<p>At SRG, our&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../blog/the-3-key-principles-of-an-effective-hiring-strategy-in-stem" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">data-driven approach to recruitment&nbsp;</a></strong>enables us to provide measurable and impactful recruitment outcomes for businesses across STEM.</p>
<p>As a specialist recruitment organisation operating across the wider STEM industries, we have the expertise and flexibility to provide strategic and bespoke solutions to effectively streamline and optimise how our clients hire&nbsp;<strong><a href="../../../../../../clients/our-services/outsourced-solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">by powering solutions</a></strong>&nbsp;like:&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>MSP and contingent recruitment</li>
<li>RPO and permanent recruitment</li>
<li>Executive and technical hiring services</li>
<li>Bespoke solutions</li>
<li>Consultancy recruitment services</li>
</ul>

Harness the advantages of workforce planning with actionable advice on how to strengthen your strategy to suit today’s STEM business world.

The Advantages of Workforce Planning in STEM

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<h2>Achieve Results with our Executive and Technical Search Solutions</h2><p>Driven by data intelligence, our expertise in STEM recruitment and resourcing makes Search by SRG a market-leading service designed to find, hire and retain top talent for STEM businesses.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h2>What is Executive Search?</h2><p>Executive Search is a specialised recruitment service that identifies and secures top-level talent for senior executive and technical positions. Our dedicated team offers innovative solutions to match unique skills with the needs of organisations, focusing on project-based hiring and securing senior technical appointments across various industries, including pharmaceuticals, life sciences, medical, AI, engineering and medtech.</p>

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<h5>The Global STEM Salary Survey 2024: Helping to shape STEM’s future</h5><p> SRG’s annual Global Life Science, Clinical and Engineering Insights Survey is created – in association with New Scientist Jobs – to gain and provide such knowledge and insights, help us benchmark vital data and discover the information STEM companies need to deliver fair, competitive and – most importantly – attractive salaries and employment prospects.</p><p> Click the link below to take part – as a thank you, all respondents who complete the survey will be entered to win a £250 Amazon voucher.</p>

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<h5>The Global STEM Salary Survey 2024: Helping to shape STEM's future</h5><p><br></p><p>SRG’s annual Global Life Science, Clinical and Engineering Insights Survey is created – in association with New Scientist Jobs – to gain and provide such knowledge and insights, help us benchmark vital data and discover the information STEM companies need to deliver fair, competitive and – most importantly – attractive salaries and employment prospects.</p><p><br></p><p>Click the link below to take part – as a thank you, all respondents who complete the survey will be entered to win a £250 Amazon voucher.</p>

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<h2>Our Team</h2><p>Our highly skilled teams fully integrate into your working environment, adhering to your standard operating procedures. This allows you to maintain visibility and control, whilst retaining the freedom to check in with our team as much or as little as you&rsquo;d like. Most of our staff are on permanent contracts and we strive to upskill and cross-train our teams to ensure our customers always benefit from workforce stability and high engagement, as we strive to reduce the challenges of resourcing demands.&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Meet the Team</h1><p>Meet our team of empowering, determined and innovative individuals working across the globe for SRG.</p><p>Based in the United Kingdom, with offices in Birmingham, Cambridge, Glasgow, London, Luton, and Manchester, and in Ireland, Europe, and the United States, you’ll find our friendly faces in regions far and wide.</p><p>And no matter which location you’re in, each SRG environment is the same – one that’s designed to help our people thrive, working and developing alongside like-minded, creative, and driven colleagues.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Get in Touch</h2><p>Whether you are looking for your next job opportunity, or seeking talent to join your team, we will help find the right solutions for you.</p>

<h2>Work with us</h2><p>If you're looking for an environment to grow and develop in your career while delivering excellence to your clients and candidates, SRG is the place for you.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Want to Know More?</h2><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Whether you are looking for your next job opportunity, or seeking talent to join your team, we will help find the right fit for you.</span></p>

<h2>Latest Salary Survey</h2><p>SRG are industry leaders and work with 3rd party vendors for market intelligence&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Podcasts &amp; Webinars</h1><p>At SRG, we&rsquo;re taking recruitment podcasts to the next level. Join us for transformational conversations on the scientific industry, workplace, and personal growth.</p>

<h2>Refer A Friend</h2><p>Refer a friend here, please complete the form.</p>

<p class="fs-2"><strong>How does it work?</strong></p><div class="mb-4"><p class="x_xxelementtoproof">Good people tend to know good people. In fact, around a third of our placements are recommended by existing candidates and contractors.</p><p>So, when you recommend a friend to SRG and we place them in a contract or permanent job, you can receive a &pound;250 Love2Shop voucher as a thank you.&nbsp;</p><p>All you need to do is&nbsp;complete the short form&nbsp;at the bottom of this page.<br aria-hidden="true"><br aria-hidden="true">A referred candidate should satisfy the following criteria:</p><ul type="disc"><li class="x_xxmsonormal">Not already be registered with us</li><li class="x_xxmsonormal">Be relevant to the roles and sectors we cover</li></ul><p>Once the referred candidate is placed, they must complete 3 months of work before a reward can be claimed.</p><p>We will send you your voucher once we have successfully placed your friend or colleague into a new job and they have passed the probation period.</p></div><h5><strong>To refer a friend, please complete the form.</strong></h5>

<h3>Need help hiring?</h3><p>SRG can partner with you to take your recruitment strategy to the next level - our recruitment experts are on hand to help you find and retain the right people. Contact us today for an informal discussion at <a href="mailto:solutions@srgtalent.com"> <strong> solutions@srgtalent.com</strong> </a></p>

<h3>Looking for your next opportunity?</h3><p>SRG work with leading global organisations at the helm of innovation in STEM. We have job opportunities across the STEM industries, covering all experience levels from graduate and entry level to executive leadership.</p>

<h2>Salary insights and trends from over 4,000 global professionals across STEM industries</h2><p>Wondering how your company’s salary offers compare to your competitors? Are you offering above, or below industry standards? Is your business as diverse, inclusive and fair as it should be?</p><p>Or are you a STEM professional seeking to uncover salary trends and expectations for your role?</p><p>The exclusive insights from our Global STEM report not only offers the answers you're looking for, but also empowers you to make informed decisions for your career or recruitment strategy.</p><p><strong>Download now to discover:</strong></p><ul><li>Global Life Science, Engineering and Clinical sector salary trends</li><li>How ethnicity affects salary</li><li>Differences in the gender pay gap</li><li>Insights into AI in the workplace</li></ul>

<h1>Global Talent Trends and Insights 2024</h1><p>Finding, attracting and retaining the very best talent isn’t just vital for the future of your business, it is critical to the future of STEM too.</p><p>In the competitive and skills-short STEM recruitment market, understanding salary levels and expectations, along with embracing diversity and inclusion, can give your company an advantage. Anticipating future industry skill needs can also benefit potential hires.</p>

<h3>Need help hiring?</h3><p>SRG can partner with you to take your recruitment strategy to the next level - our recruitment experts are on hand to help you find and retain the right people. Contact us today for an informal discussion at <a href="mailto:solutions@srgtalent.com"> <strong>solutions@srgtalent.com</strong> </a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>Looking for your next opportunity?</h3><p>SRG work with leading global organisations at the helm of innovation in STEM. We have job opportunities across the Life Science, Engineering and Clinical industries, covering all experience levels from graduate and entry level to executive leadership.</p>

<h2>Discover Global STEM Talent Trends &amp; Insights 2024</h2><p>Gain valuable insights from over 4,000 professionals on salary benchmarks, workplace trends, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, AI in the workplace, and more. In today’s competitive market, securing and retaining top talent is crucial for success, whether you’re a business or an individual striving for career growth – stay ahead of the curve!</p>

<p>At SRG, we have served STEM industries and companies in the UK, Europe and beyond for over 30 years, using our skills, expertise and understanding of what job seekers and employers are looking for to find the right people, for the right roles, at the right time.</p><p>As industry leaders, we know where to find the very best talent, and recognise the potential for innovation that will help build a brighter future for STEM.</p><p>That’s why our STEM recruitment experts in Ireland, located in Dublin and Cork, are ready to provide tailored STEM Recruitment and Global Managed Services to clients and candidates, drawing on technical and scientific knowledge to begin a journey to success that will continue long into the future.&nbsp;</p>

<p>At SRG, we understand the challenges that come with hiring scientific and engineering talent – whether you’re starting and scaling up a business or an established leader in your field. That's why we offer tailored services to best serve our clients' needs.</p><p>With over 30 years of experience, our team of consultants can provide guidance and support on all aspects of the recruitment process.&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Synergy Scientific Solutions</h1><p>Synergy provides flexible Scientific Service Management solutions, deploying and integrating expert teams to deliver core Lab Activities across the pharmaceutical, biotech, FMCG, chemical, clinical research, biopharma, and sensory industries.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>Empowering Your Business and People with Synergy Scientific Services</strong></h2>

<h2>Subscribe to our newsletter</h2><p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2 class="elementToProof"><strong>SRG &amp; Graduates</strong></h2><div class="elementToProof">&nbsp;</div><div class="elementToProof">Our Chemicals recruitment team, working with hundreds of companies across the UK who are looking to hire graduates, are dedicated to helping you navigate this journey with confidence and ease.</div><div class="elementToProof">&nbsp;</div><div class="elementToProof">If you are a graduate of Chemistry, Materials Science or Forensic Sciences looking to register your CV, explore the latest graduate job opportunities, or learn more about how we can support your career ambitions, you've come to the right place.</div>

<h3>Need help hiring?</h3><p>SRG can partner with you to take your recruitment strategy to the next level - our recruitment experts are on hand to help you find and retain the right people. Contact us today for an informal discussion at<a href="mailto:solutions@srgtalent.com"><span><strong> solutions@srgtalent.com</strong></span></a></p>

<h1>Powering the Future of STEM</h1><p>Together, we are united by one purpose, one culture, and one driving force: virtuosity. A core part of Virtuosity is customer-centricity.&nbsp;</p><p>Our teams come together across Impellam to combine our integrated capabilities, our digital solutions and our culture of virtuosity and that is when the magic happens for our customers.</p>

<h1>About Us</h1><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW172642023 BCX0"><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW217087604 BCX0">&nbsp;</div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW217087604 BCX0"><p class="Paragraph SCXW217087604 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">Our team is&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">comprised</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0"> of seasoned professionals with deep </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">expertise</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0"> in th</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">e life sciences sector, bringing</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0"> together years of experience in </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">biologics, </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">biotechnology, </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">clinical trials, medical devices, pharmaceutical</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">s, and healthcare.&nbsp;</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW217087604 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}">&nbsp;</span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW217087604 BCX0"><p class="Paragraph SCXW217087604 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0">We&rsquo;re</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW217087604 BCX0"> passionate about innovation and excellence and are dedicated to connecting clients with the transformative talent that will drive the future of life sciences.&nbsp;</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW217087604 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}">&nbsp;</span></p></div></div>

<h2>Work for us</h2><p>Interested in joining our team? Apply today!</p>

<h3>Join the Team at SRG Talent</h3><p>If you're looking for an environment to grow and develop in your career while delivering excellence to your clients and candidates, SRG might just be the place for you.</p><p>Developing alongside creative and driven colleagues, you'll have the opportunity to work with a range of dynamic clients -&ndash; from top-ten pharma organizations&nbsp;to start-up medtech companies</p>

<h2>The SRG Pulse: Latest News, Events &amp; Insights</h2><p>Our Life Sciences expertise and partnership-led approach allows us to deliver highly successful results for our clients so they can attract and retain unique talent for their business. Explore our latest collection of case studies, news, events, and insights from SRG.&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Business Solutions</h1><h3><strong>Partner with the leading STEM recruitment agency</strong></h3><p>Your standards and expectations are high. So are ours. We know what matters, so that’s what we focus on. You can rely on us to build relationships, tailor solutions, and champion talent, whilst adapting, flexing, and collaborating with you to create the talent solutions required.</p>

<h2>Get in Touch!</h2><p>There are many way to get in touch.</p>

<h3>Send Us Your CV/Resume</h3><div class="mb-4 contentWrapper"><p>Unlock the untapped potential in people, jobs, and data to enhance the now and shape the future.</p></div>

<h2>Get in Touch</h2><div class="mb-4"><p>Do you have a question? Leave it with SRG.</p></div>

<h2>Newsletter Sign up</h2><div class="mb-4"><p>Stay up to date with SRG</p><div class="mt-4"><div id="sourceflow-form-e54992b4-68bf-4d40-9716-616c209fc500" data-sourceflow-form="form" data-sourceflow-form-id="e54992b4-68bf-4d40-9716-616c209fc500"><div id="edolvuk" class="formio-component formio-component-form  formio-component-label-hidden"><div class="formio-form"><div id="edfkgjf" class="form-group has-feedback formio-component formio-component-radio formio-component-typeOfNewsletters"><div class="form-radio radio" role="radiogroup" aria-labelledby="l-edfkgjf-typeOfNewsletters" aria-required="false"><div class="radio  form-check">&nbsp;</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

<h2>Get in Touch!</h2><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW216223936 BCX0"><p class="Paragraph SCXW216223936 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">Do you have any questions?&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">Don't</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0"> hesitate to contact our SRGContractor</span>&nbsp;<span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">Team&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">for quick&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun CommentStart SCXW216223936 BCX0">answers</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">!&nbsp;</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW216223936 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:279}">&nbsp;</span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW216223936 BCX0"><p class="Paragraph SCXW216223936 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">Whether you are a beginner or an experienced contractor, we are here to provide you with the latest and reliable information to&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">help</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">&nbsp;you</span>&nbsp;<span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">through</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">&nbsp;your journey with</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0"> SRG</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">.</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW216223936 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW216223936 BCX0">No matter how big or small your question is, we will do our best to provide you with helpful and informed responses.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW216223936 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:279}">&nbsp;</span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW216223936 BCX0">&nbsp;</p><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW135433514 BCX0"><h5 class="Paragraph SCXW135433514 BCX0"><strong><span class="TextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">Contractor&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">B</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">enefits</span></span></strong></h5><h5 class="Paragraph SCXW135433514 BCX0"><sup><span class="TextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">Benefits offered by Lorien&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">m</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">ay</span>&nbsp;<span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">include</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">:&nbsp;</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW135433514 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}">&nbsp;</span></sup></h5></div><div class="ListContainerWrapper SCXW135433514 BCX0"><ul class="BulletListStyle1 SCXW135433514 BCX0" role="list"><li class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW135433514 BCX0" role="listitem" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"><p class="Paragraph SCXW135433514 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">Choice among three major medical plans and one minimum essential coverage medical plan&nbsp;</span></span></p></li><li class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW135433514 BCX0" role="listitem" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"><p class="Paragraph SCXW135433514 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">Integrated prescription benefits with your medical plan&nbsp;</span></span></p></li><li class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW135433514 BCX0" role="listitem" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1"><p class="Paragraph SCXW135433514 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">Two standalone PPO dental plans (</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">o</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">ne plan includes orthodontic benefits for adults)&nbsp;</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW135433514 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}">&nbsp;</span></p></li><li class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW135433514 BCX0" role="listitem" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1"><p class="Paragraph SCXW135433514 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">Standalone vision plan with exams, lenses, contact lenses, and frame benefits</span></span></p></li><li class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW135433514 BCX0" role="listitem" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1"><p class="Paragraph SCXW135433514 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">Savings&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">p</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">rograms: Our 401(k) allows participants to contribute to both pre-tax and after-tax payroll deductions. In addition, we offer a flexible, tax-advantaged Section 529 College Savings Program.</span></span></p></li></ul><ul><li class="Paragraph SCXW135433514 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135433514 BCX0">Direct deposit (weekly payroll)&nbsp;</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW135433514 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}">&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p></div></div><h5>Our hotlines are:</h5>

<h4><strong><span class="EOP SCXW135433514 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}"><span class="TextRun SCXW64043463 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW64043463 BCX0">Professional Referrals</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW64043463 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:279}">&nbsp;</span></span></strong></h4><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW175820273 BCX0"><p class="Paragraph SCXW175820273 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="TextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">At SRG, we believe in the power of professional connections to fuel our industry's future. </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">That's</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">&nbsp;why we highly value candidate referrals from our trusted network of contractors. These referrals are more than just names&mdash;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">they're</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">&nbsp;seasoned professionals who come highly recommended for their skills, reliability, and dedication to their career.&nbsp;</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW175820273 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:0,&quot;335551620&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:279}">&nbsp;</span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW175820273 BCX0"><p class="Paragraph SCXW175820273 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="TextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">When a contractor refers a candidate to us,&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">it's</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">&nbsp;a testament to the candidate's quality and fit for upcoming projects. We carefully consider each referral, aiming to seamlessly integrate these skilled individuals into our staffing solutions, thereby ensuring our clients receive top-tier talent.&nbsp;</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW175820273 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:0,&quot;335551620&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:279}">&nbsp;</span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW175820273 BCX0"><p class="Paragraph SCXW175820273 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="TextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">This collaborative approach not only enriches our talent pool but also strengthens the bonds within our professional community, leading to more successful projects and satisfied clients.</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0">&nbsp;Please speak to your recruiting contact to discuss our referral bonus</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW175820273 BCX0"> program in greater detail.</span></span></p></div><p>For all other questions, please complete our form:</p>

<h1>Contractors</h1><p>As an established staffing partner to our amazing client companies, your success is our top priority. We&rsquo;re here to support our Contractors every step of the way in your career with SRG.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Whether you are a new starter or a career contractor, SRG is your trusted advisor. We provide you with personal, responsive attention and will assign an employee care representative to answer any questions you might have.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Powering the Future of STEM</h2><p>Unlocking exceptional job opportunities for Life Sciences talent in niche markets, we transform our partners' businesses.</p>

<h2>Awards &amp; Industry Recognition</h2>

<h2>Featured Jobs</h2><p><span style="color: rgb(43, 42, 41); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Find the best Life Sciences career opportunities:&nbsp;</span></p>

<p>SRG is the leader in the Life Sciences human capital industry. We apply three decades of specialized knowledge to a full spectrum of clinical, quality, regulatory, and compliance talent solutions. We recruit across the Life Sciences product life cycle&mdash;covering scientific research and development (R&amp;D), clinical trials, manufacturing, and engineering disciplines.&nbsp;</p><p>Together, we create world-class communities that empower individuals and businesses to shape tomorrow&rsquo;s world.&nbsp;</p>

Industry Leaders in <br> Life Sciences Recruitment

<h1>Insights</h1><p>Our Life Sciences expertise and partnership-led approach allows us to provide unique insight into industry trends. Explore our latest collection of case studies, news, events, and insights from SRG</p>

<h2>More Information</h2><p>Looking for more? </p>

<h1>Featured Employers</h1><p>SRG will feature your company as one to work for! Reach out to us today to learn more.&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Industry-Leading Opportunities&nbsp;</h1><p>The Life Sciences industry is multi-faceted, and our team deeply understands each sector’s nuanced demands. This expertise enables us to identify opportunities that pinpoint precise skill sets and cultural alignment, ensuring a perfect match for our candidates and client industry-specific needs.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Industry-Leading Positions in Clinical &amp; Quality, Regulatory &amp; Compliance Fields&nbsp;</h2><p>Find our latest life sciences career opportunities.&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Shaping the Future of Life Sciences</h1><p>As technological advancements accelerate, new fields emerge, and competition intensifies, the demand for professionals in the Life Sciences industry continues to outpace the available talent pool. In fact, life sciences occupations have the second lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 0.6%.</p><p>Our dedicated team of recruitment specialists will find you the best fit from our outstanding client list and provide amazing career opportunities so you can grow and flourish in your career.</p>

<h1>Meet the Team</h1><p>We are a global STEM network offering a full spectrum of roles and talent solutions across science, including clinical trials, technology, engineering, and maths disciplines. </p><p>We're here to enable innovation, but our success comes from people and connections.</p>

<h2>Get in Touch</h2><p>Do you have a question? </p>

<h3>Need help hiring?</h3>
<p>SRG can partner with you to take your recruitment strategy to the next level - our recruitment experts are on hand to help you find and retain the right people. Contact us today for an informal discussion at <a href="mailto:solutions@srgtalent.com"> <strong> connect@srgtalent.com</strong> </a></p>

<h3>Looking for your next opportunity?</h3>
<p>SRG works with leading global organizations at the forefront of innovation in Life Sciences. We have job opportunities covering all experience levels.</p>

<h2>Salary insights and trends from over 4,000 global professionals across a wide variety of industries</h2>
<p>Wondering how your company&rsquo;s salary offers compare to your competitors? Are you offering above or below industry standards? Is your business as diverse, inclusive, and fair as it should be?</p>
<p>Or are you a Life Sciences professional hoping to find out whether your salary matches up to your peers, or the average salary expectations for your role?</p>
<p>The exclusive insights gained from our Global Talent Trends &amp; Insights Survey could provide the answers you&rsquo;re looking for and help you make more informed decisions for the next stages of your career or recruitment strategy.</p>
<p><strong>Download now to discover:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Global Life Science salary and workplace trends</li>
<li>How ethnicity affects salary</li>
<li>Global differences in the gender pay gap</li>
<li>Insights into AI in the workplace</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a class="primaryBtn" href="/site-assets/pdf/SRG_Global_Talent_Trends_Insights2024_US_Version.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Download Report</a></p>

<h1>Global Talent Trends &amp; Insights 2024</h1>
<p><span class="TextRun SCXW110141590 BCX0" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW110141590 BCX0">This year’s Global Talent Trends &amp; Insights report is set against dramatic change. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the drive to develop vaccines and treatments led to considerable investments in the life sciences sector and increased demand for skilled workers. This inevitably led to a reset&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW110141590 BCX0">when</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW110141590 BCX0"> the virus</span> <span class="NormalTextRun SCXW110141590 BCX0">was eventually curbed</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW110141590 BCX0">. This year’s </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW110141590 BCX0">report</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW110141590 BCX0"> suggests a potential return to pre-pandemic activity levels.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW110141590 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}">&nbsp;</span></p>

<h2>Discover Global Life Sciences Talent Trends &amp; Insights in 2024</h2><p>Gain valuable insights from over 4,000 professionals on salary benchmarks, workplace trends, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, AI in the workplace, and more. In today&rsquo;s competitive market, securing and retaining top talent is crucial for success, whether you&rsquo;re a business or an individual striving for career growth &ndash; stay ahead of the curve!</p>

<h2>The SRG Pulse: Latest News, Events, and Insights</h2><p>Our tech expertise and partner-led approach allows us to deliver highly successful results for our clients so they can attract and retain unique talent for their business. Explore our latest collection of case studies, news, events, and insights</p>

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