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Challenges in Pharmaceutical Industry: Leadership, Engagement & Innovation

Challenges in Pharmaceutical Industry
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Key Takeaways:

1. The PHB industry faces challenges in leadership, employee engagement, and innovation.
2. Trust and fairness are critical for improving workplace culture.
3. Best Workplacesâ„¢ outperform peers by 25% in practices and 5% in employee experience.

The Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, and Biotech (PHB) industry is expanding swiftly, bringing its share of opportunities and challenges. That’s why it is necessary to pay attention to leadership, innovative practices, and employee engagement. By bridging the gap between organizational intent and employee sentiment, we can create a more people-centric culture that fosters positive people practices and encourages innovation across the board. In this blog, we’ll explore these topics in depth and share insights on creating a culture of innovation in the PHB industry.

How to Overcome Challenges in Pharmaceutical Industry?

Here are a few things that will help the organizations overcome the challenges in pharmaceutical industry:

Leadership Effectiveness

For any industry to thrive, leadership effectiveness is an essential component. To foster an environment of trust and engagement among employees, leaders must prioritize building genuine connections with their team, ensuring clear and effective communication. Leaders can achieve this by being approachable and showing genuine concern for the well-being of the team; while also, clearly communicating the organization’s vision and providing a clear roadmap to achieving the goals.

Organizations should explore leaders from varied backgrounds to truly maximize human potential, and improve employee engagement. From our recent study, leaders at the Best Workplaces in PHB ensure effective communication through all channels, including top-down, bottom-up, and candid communication. Not only do these leaders ensure they “walk the talk” by delivering on promises and actions matching their words, but also focus on hiring, the fitment of employees, and overall development. By focusing on proficiency and genuinely fulfilling unmet needs, leaders in the industry are taking a step toward building trust.

Employee Expectations

According to our recent study, there is a disconnect between employee expectations and the experience delivered by employers in the PHB industries. To bridge this gap and become more people-centric, organizations must listen to their employees more and implement changes accordingly.

Real-time employee listening and delivering feedback is key to creating a framework for a great workplace. A great workplace is built on the foundation of trust and embeds meaningful values and effective leadership. This allows the organization to maximize its human potential and foster innovation For Allâ„¢. Trust is the fuel that powers performance, and the trust levels of employees are determined by the quality of their experience, which is generated through the right people practices.

Also Read: India’s Best Workplaces in Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare and Biotech 2025

Unfortunately, organizations in the PHB industry have sub-optimal levels of practices in all aspects. To improve employee engagement, overcome challenges in pharmaceutical industry and create a positive experience, organizations need to develop effective practices that show greater intent to employees. By focusing on trust, values, and effective leadership, organizations can create a great workplace culture that leads to financial growth.

Innovation Experience

Innovation is the key to success in the PHB industry, but it’s not always easy to achieve. Organizations need to focus on creating individual inspiration and organization-connect toward innovation. This can be achieved through effective practices and greater opportunities.

According to our recent study, employees in the PHB industry report the least positive experience in a culture of innovation due to a lack of innovation opportunities. The PHB industry shows maximum intent with practices focused on innovation, but employee experience is the lowest.

To improve this, organizations need to devise more and better practices as the first step and then disseminate them to employees for a better experience. By creating a culture of “Innovation by All” organizations can foster a sense of hyper-motivation and pride in the workplace. This culture is critical for sustenance and enduring success. An intentional 2-way conversation helps celebrate innovation at work and provides opportunities for developing new and better ways of doing things.

Also Read: 5 Platforms to Showcase Your Certification Badge

To build and sustain a culture of innovation, management needs to genuinely seek ideas and suggestions from employees and then act on them. This can be achieved through organizational connection, where management involves people in decision-making.

The way forward for the PHB industry is to bring the workplace culture to center stage. The industry needs to focus on fairness and managaement credibility to reduce the gap between the PHB industry and other industries in India. Compared to the previous year, organizations have managed to deliver positive growth in creating a safe place to work. However, amongst all aspects, the maximum decline is seen in fairness, followed by pay/benefits and credibility.

By addressing these areas, the industry can improve employee engagement and create a more positive and innovative work culture.

To conclude, the best workplaces in the PHB industry are leading the movement in all three aspects: quality of practices, employee experience, and culture of innovation. On average, the best workplaces score 25% higher on quality of practices and 5% more on employee experience. These organizations set the standard for the rest of the industry. This serves as a model for creating a positive and innovative work culture leading to sustainable success.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the biggest challenges in the pharmaceutical industry today?

Regulatory compliance, talent shortages, and innovation gaps are the major challenges impacting growth and competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry.

2. How can pharma companies improve employee engagement?

Pharmaceutical companies can enhance employee engagement by fostering trust, actively listening to employees, and establishing transparent communication channels.

3. Why is innovation important in the pharmaceutical sector?

Innovation drives drug development, operational efficiency, and long-term sustainability in a highly competitive market.

4. What role does leadership play in overcoming challenges in the pharmaceutical industry?

Effective leadership fosters trust, clear communication, and employee engagement, which are essential for navigating regulatory, operational, and innovation challenges in the industry.

Key trends include digital transformation, personalized medicine, increased focus on workplace culture, and the integration of AI in drug development and operations.

Meet the author​

Ashima

Ashima Avrachan

Ashima is a Marketing & Communication Specialist working with the Customer Success team of Great Place To Work India. Ashima has experience covering workplace culture, employee well-being, employer branding, and more. She helps organizations leverage their Certification for employer branding initiatives and to showcase their workplace culture.

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