Photo by AIRINCer Anne Benjamin
Key Takeaways from the Pharmaceutical, Biotech, and Medical Device Round Table – March 2023
AIRINC facilitated another Pharma, Biotech, and medical device round table session with strategic leaders from around the globe to share industry insights and discuss their program challenges and focuses for 2023.
Remote Work
Companies are still struggling how to manage remote work arrangements. Companies need to be cognizant of a growing list of concerns: corporate tax implications, the precedence among the global population, and being mindful of mandated hybrid arrangements. For companies who allow global remote work arrangements, they noted relocation benefits are not provided, and the employee must move to local contract and terms.
With the growing desire to be ‘remote’ and work from anywhere, companies are still trying to find the right technology to track where people are and retention rates. Have you found the right technology for this population?
Short-Term to Long-term Assignments
When ST assignments span into LTA territory, are companies changing benefits after the 12-month mark? Some companies are struggling to move employees to a COLA from a per diem when assignment lengths surpass 12 months. Issues are arising because employees have become accustomed to a full expenditure at host. When converting ST to LT assignment, companies noted upfront conversations with the employee and better talent planning at the beginning are the best solutions to minimize employee concerns and set their expectations for the converted assignment.
Inflation
Globally, we are all seeing high inflation rates for goods and services, housing, everything! Companies discussed how they’re addressing high inflation from both a COLA and lump sum perspective. Many companies are continuing to update their COLA on a regular cadence, based on our LTA survey 73% of pharmas are updating COLA on a semi-annual basis, to capture inflation changes more regularly. For lump sums, we’re seeing more effort to review these budgets on an annual basis to ensure they’re aligning to current market.
Are you addressing these areas differently than your peers? Interested in joining our next industry event? Please contact us today.
