The Recruiting Recipe: Why pharmaceutical employers need listening as an active ingredient

It sounds obvious, but many employers have forgotten how to listen. Having an open ear for your own employees helps you to recognize and understand their true needs. These insights are not only the key to successful recruiting, but also to long-term employee retention and a valuable reputation.

Recruiting – From “We’re looking for you” to “It’s a Match!”

The competition never sleeps – especially in the pharmaceutical industry. If you want to convince potential applicants, you need to know what motivates and inspires them, but also what discourages them from applying. For example, reservations about working in isolation in a laboratory, long working hours or too much pressure to perform can be an obstacle to applying.

Storylistening, i.e. the intensive listening and teasing out of stories, is the keyword here. By focusing on the experiences of their employees and asking specifically about employees’ experiences, HR managers can bring to light both the benefits and the challenges of a company. Questions such as: “If your team were to describe you in three words, what would they say?”, “Where have you been able to help a colleague particularly well? An occasion that you say we wouldn’t have done so well without each other?” or ‘Can you describe a moment in your job that made you particularly proud?’ provide information about the team’s true emotions.

Of course, such discussions should take place without management in a protected environment so that employees feel comfortable and really want to talk. However, neutral storytelling experts can provide support. For example, by simply listening, suggesting measures without judgment or using the best stories for employer branding. The knowledge gained and authentic insights into the day-to-day work of real team members help you to be better prepared for future recruiting journeys and to impress from the outset with real experiences from everyday working life.

Retention – Came to stay

Feeling comfortable in the new company is the first onboarding goal for the new talent. The concept of employee loyalty – or retention – is therefore an essential means of motivating employees who have arrived to stay. However, HR managers must not disregard their existing specialist staff. Because anyone who doesn’t feel heard or taken for granted will leave.

Our Head of Onboarding, Julia, has written down what the onboarding process looks like at Mashup: Our onboarding between heart and mind.

In order to turn newbies into long-term companions, HR experts need to consider not only storytelling in recruiting but also its use in onboarding and long-term internal value communication. For pharmaceutical companies, for example, buddy or mentoring programs can be a sensible investment for long-term cooperation. Newcomers benefit from the knowledge of experienced employees, especially when dealing with the regulatory requirements for drug production.

However, the changing needs of long-standing colleagues should also be kept in mind. To prevent them from leaving or being headhunted, it is important to specifically ask about career hurdles, goals or wishes in personal employee interviews or regular surveys and to listen carefully here too. How could day-to-day work be improved? And what would that require?

Generic benefits such as the obligatory free coffee or the self-evident “working in a friendly and familiar environment” can thus be avoided. Promoting fitness programs or subsidies for preventive healthcare are much more lucrative than hip team events. As many pharmaceutical companies also operate globally, the option to work internationally can also offer added value.

On the one hand, it offers employees the opportunity to gain intercultural experience and possibly live abroad. HR managers can also express their appreciation of their employees through a workation offer, as this gives them the space for self-realization. Finally, training and further education opportunities are also an aspect that should not be underestimated, as those working in research sometimes want to continuously expand their knowledge. Therefore, investing in appropriate measures can be a competitive advantage for these organizations in particular.

Reputation – advertising through employees

Satisfied employees also communicate to the outside world that their job fulfills them. They are the best advertisement for an organization. But how do HR managers find out whether their own team is happy or whether things are going wrong?

The answer here is also: Storylistening. Whether together in a group or privately: active listening and listening to the mood of employees is a promising way to work on solutions and emphasize the value of team members for the company. Those who are proud of their own work also like to reflect this to those around them. In pharmacy in particular, values such as integrity, team spirit and willingness to learn are important anchor points that must be lived rather than forced. With the right reputation, companies can stand out in the highly competitive job market and win over potential talent more quickly. After all, who do they trust more: the standardized statements in a job advertisement or someone they know?

Conclusion: Listening means (showing) understanding

The shortage of skilled workers is still omnipresent and will remain so for the time being. That’s why it doesn’t help to just complain about the status quo. Even if solutions cannot be found overnight, listening is an efficient first step that any organization can take. From recruitment and retention to the reputation they have earned, existing employees are the heart of every company.

Listening to them can break a major barrier and help to address exactly the needs that new talent has. At the same time, a possible exodus is counteracted, as long-term employees do not see themselves as indifferent or taken for granted. After all, listening means taking things seriously, investing time and wanting to understand and is therefore probably the most important benefit that HR managers can offer their specialists.