The Hindu Business Line : A ‘360-degree’ look to stem biotech attrition

Bangalore, July 5 The biotechnology pharma sector, grappling with a high 37 per cent attrition rate, is apparently learning fast and starting to look relatively early for its people solutions. It has learnt from the IT sector’s experience of the 1990s and is “leapfrogging” towards smoother HR solutions, says Ms Yeshaswini Ramaswamy, Director - People Management, with HR consulting company E2e Business Solutions.

The nearly Rs 9,000-crore domestic biotech sector is “a high-value but low-number arena.” Its skill requirements are complex: data mining, genomics data, biological and clinical data, disease to DNA sequencing; research and analysis; occasionally marketing.

Naturally, unlike the IT sector, it is addressing its staff issue not as people management but rather as a matter of skill development, observes Ms Ramaswamy. And biotech companies are increasingly seeking external help well before crisis sets in. “(Biotech) companies, especially in bioinformatics, are approaching the attrition issue with a more holistic approach and not getting into the numbers game,” she told Business Line.

E2e, which has tried its ‘360-Degree’ Programme with IT and construction sectors, is now applying it to a handful of biotech SME clients in Mumbai and Bangalore. It has already seen 3-4 per cent improvement over a quarter and expects sharper results over a longer period. While IT professionals generally put money as their top priority, biotechies look for intangibles like the next challenge in the job; research, IP creation and knowledge management. “These are what 360-Degree addresses.”

It also aims at behaviour improvement, creating an open work environment; and matching the employee’s aspirations with the company’s goals.

Assessing skills

The 360-Degree plan switches on a month after a biotechie has joined. It assesses employee skills across the board. Employees also get to assess their managers in what Ms Ramaswamy calls “a holistic, initial tool to counter attrition and increase productivity.”

It may not stop everyone from leaving; but retaining those critical to the company will mean lower cost burden from the next recruitment round: for every hiring exercise, a company bears a cost that is 5-7 times the salary of the departing employee.

In the biotech industry, ‘biotechies’ - bioscience graduates, M.Sc and Ph.Ds – alone are said to number around 15,000; their salaries at 0-2-year level could hover at Rs 3 lakh a year at 0-2 year level.

Ms Ramaswamy says employees will realise that the bio industry pays better when they stay around, as a bulk of their remuneration is non-salary and comes from patents, ESOP and specialised research.

More Stories on : Bio-tech & Genetics | Human Resources | Pharmaceuticals

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