Effective Strategies for Securing Top Talent in the Pharma Industry

In a recent interaction with Industry Outlook, Namita Patwari, CHRO, Alembic Pharmaceuticals shares her insights on the competitive nature of the pharma industry, how technology and digital tools can enhance the recruitment process in the pharma industry to secure top talent more efficiently, how can companies offer career progression and growth opportunities to attract and retain top talent in the pharma sector.

Namita Patwari is a seasoned HR leader with two decades of experience, having held key positions at Alembic Pharmaceuticals, DHL eCommerce, and DSV Global Transport. She specializes in M&A, talent acquisition, and organizational development, earning recognition for driving strategic HR initiatives in diverse industries.

Given the competitive nature of the pharma industry, how can companies differentiate themselves to attract top talent? What unique value propositions or benefits are essential to stand out?

Be it the pharma or non-pharma industry, people remain the same. As HR professionals it is our goal to create the best employee value proposition for ensuring our people are happy and are performing at their best. It is important to develop creative solutions in the pharma sector where competition, as well as pressure, is high in order to support the frontline employees such as medical representatives, area managers and others who engage directly with doctors.

First, the key is learning. We should equip our teams with the knowledge to completely understand the products as well as the molecules they are representing. The second most important factor is empathy. We are dealing with life-saving drugs which help improve the health of humans as well as contribute to a stronger workforce across numerous industries. And, fostering empathy in our communication as well as interaction is imperative. Lastly, but most importantly, we celebrate every moment, either big or small. Life is precious! What truly matters is how we make people feel. We take pride in celebrating the journey of our people and their successes, at Alembic.

With the rapid pace of innovation in the pharma industry, how important is it for companies to offer continuous learning and development opportunities to attract and retain top talent?

Learning is fundamental in the pharma sector. My priority is always learning especially when it comes to identifying high-potential individuals. It’s imperative to provide them with numerous and diverse opportunities, not only in technical skills but in leadership, customer-centricity & team management. We enable learning on the go by embracing digitized snippet learning.

Also, with a strong focus on leveraging the best technology, we ensure that our employees including Gen Z, are engaged and comfortable. We prioritize easy-to-use, engaging platforms which help retain our talent. Most importantly, we want our employees to enjoy working with us as much as we enjoy having them on our team.

Given the industry's need for specialized skills, what are the most effective ways to build and maintain a talent pipeline for critical roles in pharma?

While the pharma industry is a highly technical industry with niche specialized skills, we believe in building talent rather than buying it. Known as the Father of Pharmaceuticals in the country, Alembic established its first Learning & Development Center at Baroda, where individuals are trained from basic concepts to expert-level skills, assigning competencies for extensive training to each role.

We ensure that our teams are well-prepared to tackle customer questions with deep knowledge & expertise through our robust training programs. We are committed to developing our people, which in turn helps them grow to the next level. Therefore, our top talent not only stays with us but also enjoys working with us.

In what ways can technology and digital tools enhance the recruitment process in the pharma industry to secure top talent more efficiently?

Today, traditional hard copies of resumes are a thing of the past as recruitment has shifted completely online. Candidates today can now apply online, with the best tools at our disposal & AI-driven systems streamline the shortlisting process which helps us in identifying talent on a national scale. The key here is to leverage digital tools for finding the right skill set, mindset as well as cultural fit.

The hiring process can be made faster, more efficient & transparent with the help of technology and addressing questions which recruiters may otherwise avoid. We strongly believe in work-life balance that helps us attract top talent through these digital platforms.

In what ways can companies offer career progression and growth opportunities to attract and retain top talent in the pharma sector?

With India leading the way as a growth story, the pharma sector is expanding into wellness. In today’s VUCA world particularly post-COVID, the growth of the pharma industry has been significant. It is imperative to work closely with the businesses as HR in order to identify opportunities as well as create spaces for talents to not just stay but also thrive internally. Also, it is important to retain talents as homegrown talents are more valuable than hiring candidates from outside the organization. At Alembic, we believe in “Stay with Alembic, grow with Alembic,” as this has been proven by most of the meaningful contributions of those who have stayed with us and grown through the new opportunities that we have created.