Priorities for HR to address in 2025 and beyond

As an industry that’s close to unparalleled when it comes to how much its impact has shaped the past 100 years, Life Sciences is one that piques the interest of economists, politicians and regulators, and futurists.

According to the investor research site Ourcrowd, “The life sciences industry plays a pivotal role in the global economy, offering millions of jobs and driving innovation across healthcare, agriculture, and environmental sectors.”

What challenges in particular are you facing now and do you foresee in the immediate future? More importantly, let’s take a look at how you can address those challenges.

Evolving compensation strategies

In order to attract and retain the talent needed, one of the most pressing areas of concern is assessing and revitalizing your compensation strategies. Life sciences organizations today are trying to offer competitive pay and demonstrate a progressive stance in terms of compensation practices. Many organizations are interested in understanding what it means to shift to skill-based compensation. Now that remote and hybrid work is here to stay, organizations like yours are increasingly evaluating how to structure compensation while accommodating various types of flexibility. They are mindful that this new way of working impacts not only the organization but also employee morale and retention.

Possible solutions:

• Skill-Based Pay Structures: Implement a tiered compensation framework that rewards specific/critical skills and contributions, providing career clarity and motivation for employees.
• Transparent Communication: Regularly communicate the rationale behind compensation decisions to foster trust and transparency among employees. Enable managers to have these discussions with their direct reports.
• Benchmarking: Utilize market data and competitive analysis to ensure compensation packages remain attractive and equitable.

Workforce structure and roles within life sciences

Another challenge for life sciences organizations is having a clearly defined workforce structure. It’s not a problem unique to life sciences — it’s where many companies find themselves now. Over time, as companies grow and change, jobs and roles that may already exist in other parts of the company spring up as well elsewhere in the organization. Without a functioning job architecture in place, it can be challenging to manage the job catalog with an eye on minimizing redundancies and consistent titling. More importantly, the mishmash of jobs can make it difficult for managers and employees to understand and articulate clear career paths.

Possible solutions:

• Clear Job Architecture: Establish a comprehensive job architecture that outlines role descriptions/expectations, required skills and qualifications, and abilities and expectations, as well as the linkages and advancement opportunities across all levels.
• Public Access: Make the job levels/architecture and descriptions accessible to all employees to enhance understanding and career progression and build trust in the organization.
• Regular Training: Provide ongoing training for employees to ensure they understand their roles and the potential career paths available to them. Show employees all available career paths and provide them with the tools and knowledge resources to drive their own career paths.

Role of technology and AI

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) presents several opportunities and questions for life sciences companies. First, there is an opportunity to enhance the work that employees are doing across the organization by utilizing AI. However, there are implications in doing so (e.g., disclosure of use, credit for discovery, impacts to compensation) that have yet to be fleshed out. Second, these organizations require talent to fill the emerging positions for AI/data scientists that are needed now and into the future. However, this raises questions about implications for traditional scientific career paths.

Possible solutions:

• Dedicated AI Teams: Create specialized teams focused on AI and data analytics to optimize compensation strategies and enhance decision-making.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Encourage collaboration between technical and non-technical teams to ensure that the benefits of technological advancements are fully realized across the organization.
• Career Path Inclusion: Integrate AI/data scientist roles within existing scientific career paths, providing clear guidelines and opportunities for growth.

Retention strategies

In this tight and competitive labour market, life sciences companies are keenly aware of the need to focus on retaining key talent. Many organizations are considering innovative approaches to ensure that they can demonstrate the commitment to the success of their key talent, building engagement and a commitment to stay long term.

Possible solutions:

• Long-Term Incentives: Consider implementing equity or long-term incentive programs that link employee rewards to the organization's performance, fostering a sense of ownership.
• Personalized Development Plans: Develop tailored employee development plans that include mentorship and training opportunities, demonstrating organizational commitment to individual growth.
• Engagement Surveys: Conduct regular employee engagement surveys to assess job satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.

Impact of leadership

With the rapid rate of change experienced by the organizations in the life sciences industry, the need for leaders to be able to make tough decisions while embracing an understanding and empathetic view is a critical skill. Whether it’s developing skills within existing leaders or finding the right leaders to create the culture and direction your organization needs, the right leaders create a culture that helps organizations attract and retain the critical talent your organization needs in order to thrive.

Possible solutions:

• Leadership Development Programs: Organizations not only need to ensure that leaders receive regular coaching and mentorship, but also need to strengthen the bench.
• Clear Communication Channels: Share company updates and changes frequently in order to keep everyone informed and engaged.
• Cultural Assessments: Conduct assessments to understand the current culture and identify gaps or areas needing improvement.

Let Mercer help

Mercer has various services that can address the challenges you are facing in the life sciences industry. Combine those services with a team of our deep-industry expertise consultants and you’re headed for success!

Some of the offerings we provide can be explored below.

• Compensation services: Partner with a Mercer professional to augment your team, adding a wealth of technical knowledge and industry expertise while addressing a variety of compensation and talent management needs, including job architecture.
• Mercer Skills Edge: An integrated service offering comprising consulting, technology, and data, the Mercer Skills Edge solution gives you the information and insight you need to advance skills-based talent and pay practices across your company.
• Salary surveys & pay data: Mercer salary surveys give your Human Resources team the confidence to build defensible reward structures, identify pay premiums for high-demand jobs, and execute on other important aspects related to employee compensation. No matter the size or scope of your data needs, Mercer helps you understand current market salary research trends to set you apart from the competition.

Have questions? Contact us by emailing surveys@mercer.com or by calling 1-855-286-5302.

About the Authors

Andrew Dickson, Commercial Industry Strategist
Andrew is the Commercial Industry Strategist for Life Sciences in the US and Canada. In this role, Andrew works with organizations to facilitate the best use of industry surveys and other Mercer products and offerings.