Putting people first

Nycomed’s Charles Depasse tells NGP of the challenges of recruiting in the pharmaceutical industry and why training is important for personal and career development.

“Building links with universities by participating in common R&D projects is very important”
-Charles Depasse

In 2007, the then relatively small Nycomed acquired the much larger Altana Pharma, causing some challenges in integration that were not always easy to handle for its HR team. Charles Depasse, Nycomed's Executive Vice President of Human Resources, talks of the uncertainty that a merger creates and the importance of communication in asserting Nycomed's company values and in supporting both those employees who left and those who stayed.

"It's not easy to stay in a company when you see some of your colleagues leave, and also when you get more work and maybe more expectations than you had before. And those were the key challenges that we had to work with," says Depasse.

"We tried to overcome those by sharing our values and our approach, trying to be as open as we could about the changes and keeping our employees aware at least of the timelines. We identified what we thought would be a fair way to treat those who had to leave with the necessary support and showing that it would be a fair process in the selection, as well as to create a new company culture from the two companies."

Depasse is used to dealing with challenges, many of which result from the pharmaceutical industry's specific recruitment needs. He points to specialized areas such as market access or R&D, for which it can often be hard to find the best candidates. He adds that this situation could be ameliorated by the fact that in recent years large pharma companies have been cutting back on their R&D departments - both AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline have recently announced reductions in the thousands.

"I expect we'll see a lot of very good people on the market as a result," Depasse says. "It will help alleviate the skill shortage, but we need to look in more detail to see if it will resolve the entire problem. We are also seeing some of those who have left large companies looking forward to working for a mid-size company, where their breadth of responsibility can be increased - where they get to understand the whole picture and have more room for maneuver than they would have in a very large corporation.

"That's at least how we see it. And Nycomed being based in Switzerland, we have people coming from the large companies in Switzerland who are happy to join us. In a mid-size company like ours, you have more of an opportunity to have an influence, your individualism can be recognized and appreciated more, and that certainly is something that we also try to stress. The culture of the company is something that we like to cherish. Having an international approach and giving everyone the impression of working in a small company, even though we're growing to become a bigger one, is part of what we keep close to our hearts."

People development

Ensuring new graduates are also able to enter the industry and fill the need for certain skills is important. Depasse cites the benefits of the company's R&D centre in Constance, Germany, to the city's university: "Building links with universities by participating in common R&D projects, and in general being seen as a participant in the scientific community, is very important."

Establishing links with young graduates in order to bring them into the company as trainees and participate in training programs is also part of Nycomed's approach. Depasse adds that being known as a company that has links with academia is also good for the commercial side.

The trend towards developing employees to take on new roles rather than hiring externally is one that is being see in many different industries, including the pharmaceutical sector. Nycomed has embraced this approach, taking the view that people development is key to keeping people motivated and allowing everyone in the company to develop as individuals, as Depasse explains.

"Motivating, training and developing our people is important for us on all levels, and we focus on internal programs where possible. This is valuable for our culture, and the professional networking and synergetic sharing of best practices. We like to give everyone the option and the opportunity to develop in an area that's appropriate for them. Our internal development center, the Nycomed Academy, offers a broad range of workshops, classroom training and online learning, covering the key areas for Nycomed's future.

"We have also developed an internal program for young leaders where we ask our top executives to present the company and themselves, and have our employees work on business-relevant projects, where they can see the benefit of the application. Not all of the projects, of course, will materialize, but quite a few will. We believe that creates as good a dynamic as an external program", says Depasse.

Nycomed is currently focusing on the sales and marketing area within its internal training, developed in conjunction with regional managers, and market access is one topic that the company has developed. Depasse explains that this involves training on key account management, as well as general training in project management and value training, whereby the focus is on ensuring that every new employee understands clearly Nycomed's values in an attempt to build empathy and trust.

"We want to be sure that everyone understands what's behind those words," he says. "What does it mean in the day-to-day behavior, what do we expect from our leaders, and what can employees expect from their leaders, so that we align expectations on both sides."

World view

With most large and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies operating internationally, they are bound to face unique challenges in various parts of the world. Depasse says that in recruitment at least, areas such as Europe and North America are not as different as they once were. One of the main difficulties in recruiting across Europe has historically been language, with the US obviously having the advantage of a common mother tongue. Depasse points out that this problem is gradually being eroded due to the dramatic improvement of the level of English in Europe.

"The situation has reversed itself somewhat," he says. "Now the fact that in Europe you bring in people from different backgrounds and cultures can be an advantage because it adds diversity." He adds that Americans were once more willing than Europeans to relocate to take up a new job, but now there is more mobility within Europe, with the added bonus of the distances being shorter.

He describes the challenges as no longer being so distinct between the two regions; instead, he believes the biggest challenge facing pharmaceutical recruitment lies in the developing world. "The challenge is in developing countries, whether it's China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia or Russia/CIS. Finding the best talent there is certainly an even greater challenge than in the US or Europe, because the war for talent is more aggressive there.

"We also see that attracting talent from Europe to those countries using generous expat packages has become a thing of the past. We have budget restrictions, and also the expectation is that you will be able to hire locally. On the other hand, the good thing is that we also see a number of people from developing countries who are highly qualified, highly trained, and more flexible about going abroad, and sometimes returning to their home country in a more senior position as a result. So that's been a very positive development."

When asked what the future holds for the pharmaceutical industry, Depasse reiterates that the industry as a whole is maturing, and HR departments will find themselves having to adapt to the new challenges and opportunities that this brings. He cites the recent mergers among the industry's top players as one example: "These mergers will result in a number of highly qualified professionals being made available on the market, and so perhaps the classic model of having difficulties in finding R&D or sales and marketing executives will be eased somewhat. 

"Otherwise, the difficulty of bringing new products to the market is continuing.  It's relentless; it's even maybe tougher than before. So specialized fields, in particular market access, will remain an area where the whole industry is looking for the best talent. Those are the trends that I see going forward," he concludes.

Charles Depasse is Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Nycomed.

Commitment to professional education

The Nycomed Academy, a combination of online learning and classroom instruction, offers a range of courses: from developing leadership and improving team dynamics to global marketing courses and building relations with key customers. Local and regional courses complement the offering at the global level.

Personal development tools are being designed to identify key competencies for motivational leadership based on our values, results from surveys and competency models. The Nycomed Academy's motto 'Educate, Motivate, Achieve' underscores the company's commitment to becoming a learning organization.