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With the “war for talent” raging, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies must put a premium on developing and retaining critical talent.

Employees are no longer content with the status quo. There is a greater demand for flexible work arrangements, dynamic professional development opportunities, career advancement, and working in an inclusive and diverse culture.  

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Human Capital Optimization

What is Human Capital?

With the “war for talent” raging, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies must put a premium on developing and retaining critical talent. Employees are no longer content with the status quo. There is a greater demand for flexible work arrangements, dynamic professional development opportunities, career advancement, and working in an inclusive and diverse culture. We help HR, OD, and L&D leaders develop innovative and practical human capital strategies aligned with business needs and priorities.

As a growing biotech we wanted to make sure our field force engaged in compliant HCP interactions. More importantly, we wanted to create a culture of compliance. The WLH team integrated compliance into our coaching processes and trained field managers. Our proactivity helps me sleep at night.

—HEAD OF REIMBURSEMENT SERVICES, GROWING BIOTECH


Competency Models and Tools

Competency Models and Tools

We draw on our extensive pharmaceutical and life sciences competency data base and employ rigorous data collection methodologies to create customized competency models and tools. The competency model becomes the foundation for attracting and developing talent with supporting behavioral interview guides, development planning processes and tools, performance management, and coaching efforts.

Whether at the enterprise, function, or role level an effective competency model and career framework are necessary to enable quality individual and organizational development and elevate performance. A competency model must strike a balance between being clear and specific without being too detailed, or overwhelming, and difficult for managers and employees to use.

We partner with organizations to create competency models and other customized tools such as:

  • Behavioral Based Interview Guides
  • Customized Competency Based Assessments (web-based 360⁰, 180⁰ and self-assessments)
  • Curriculum Roadmaps
  • Development Planning Guides
  • On-the-job Developmental Experiences, organized by competency
  • Field Coaching Forms and Guides 

Talk with one of our Solutions Strategists


Talent Development and Career Frameworks

Talent Development and Career Frameworks

Pharmaceutical and life sciences companies are always looking to improve their bench strength, but as organizational structures flatten, traditional career ladders typically no longer apply.  Instead, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies are looking to update their current talent development processes and career frameworks to ensure employees see opportunity, feel valued and included.

We partner with clients to implement robust talent development practices by designing innovative planning processes, customizing guides that accelerate on-the-job development, and creating career frameworks. 

Improving bench strength in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry can be difficult, especially for specialized knowledge roles. Establishing robust career frameworks provides employees with clarity and potential direction to enhance their own personal opportunities by outlining the competencies and experiences desired to grow in role, move across the organization, or advance within the organization. Our goal is to help you retain critical talent.

We partner with clients to:

  • Design developmental planning processes
  • Customize on-the-job guides and resources
  • Design career frameworks, pathways, and experiences that are role-specific
  • Create and implement developmental planning process and career experiences that are sustainable

Talk with one of our Solutions Strategists


Talent Retention 

Talent Retention 

Retaining talent continues to be a major challenge for almost every pharmaceutical and life sciences organization. Losing critical talent can jeopardize customer relationships and impact business continuity. Due to the pandemic and as a result of the Great Resignation, most organizations have heightened the focus on talent retention efforts.

At WLH, we work with clients using our validated Rx for Retention Predictor Model™ and corresponding blended learning solution to identify and improve retention of at-risk talent.

WLH has been at the forefront of research and application related to the War for Talent. Now, the Great Resignation has started to impact the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry.  We leverage our broad array of capabilities, tools, and blended learning solutions to assess and design talent retention interventions.  We offer organizations a validated “predictor model” that outlines critical retention factors and a corresponding blended learning solution. 

We partner with clients to:

  • Evaluate cultural and systemic risk and retention factors contributing to employee turnover
  • Determine the effectiveness of specific HR practices in addressing retention risk
  • Design and execute on retention interventions
  • Deploy our Rx for Retention™ blended learning solution to strengthen people manager skills needed to identify and retain at-risk talent.

Talk with one of our Solutions Strategists


Learning Strategy & Journeys

Learning Strategy & Journeys

We work with pharmaceutical and life sciences clients to design and implement learning strategies that address the skills and capabilities required to succeed in your organization. We use the latest industry trends and research to design learning journeys for high potential first-line managers, leaders of leaders, and senior executives to design curriculum roadmaps that are targeted and practical.  All learning journeys incorporate our Learn. Do. Inspire. philosophy that ensures on-the-job application and coaching guides.

A new company direction may require reimagining and revising your existing learning strategy to ensure alignment with corporate strategic direction and to remain competitive. At WLH, we take the 70-20-10 Development Model to the next level with our “Learn. Do. Inspire.” philosophy and blended learning solutions.

At WLH, we partner with clients to:

  • Evaluate learning needs
  • Identify critical competencies and skills
  • Evaluate existing learning assets and identify potential learning gaps
  • Build tailored, custom learning journeys
  • Determine how best to fill gaps and transform existing offerings to create a robust learning pipeline and culture

Talk with one of our Solutions Strategists


Leadership Development & Coaching

Leadership Development & Coaching

Pharmaceutical and life sciences companies need capable leaders who thrive during change, understand the business and cultural priorities that must be achieved, and who can shape the future.  We partner with clients to create leadership development programs – from emerging leaders to executive programs – that address real-world issues.  Our programs can take the form of virtual or live on-demand workshops, or one-on-one or group coaching.            

Healthcare delivery continues to evolve and pharmaceutical and life sciences companies need capable leaders who can anticipate change, drive business priorities, and positively shape the culture, and ensure success of the company. This requires the development of more complex leadership skills.

Across the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry, companies are at various stages in their leadership development and coaching efforts. At WLH, we have expertise in meeting companies where they are and helping design and implement their leadership development and coaching efforts.

We partner with clients to:

  • Assess current organizational leadership development practices
  • Design comprehensive leadership development curricula for all levels of the talent pipeline (individual contributors, emerging leaders, first-line leaders, leader of leaders, executive leaders)
  • Provide individual coaching through a focused, results-oriented process that includes both qualitative 360° interview data and quantitative survey data

Talk with one of our Solutions Strategists


Assessments

Assessments

Bridging skill gaps and improving individual effectiveness starts with understanding the current state of your talent.  We design customized, web-based 360°, 180°, and self-survey instruments to measure existing competencies or skills specifically for pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. We offer full data analysis, customized reporting, and can help clients implement targeted action planning to close gaps.

Assessments are critical to understanding the organizational problem you are trying to solve. At WLH, we have been working with pharmaceutical and life sciences companies to provide general and customized assessments for nearly 30 years.

At WLH, we provide assessment capabilities in the following areas:

  • Business Acumen
  • Accountability
  • Competency and Skill Gaps
  • Organizational Culture
  • Personal Change Agility
  • Retention
  • Team Commitment and Readiness
  • Customized assessments by role

Talk with one of our Solutions Strategists


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Time for the Retention Strategy Reset

Whether you are a business leader, Human Resources professional, or individual contributor, you are likely to feel the impact as high-performing talent leaves your organization. Some of the costs associated with voluntary turnover are direct, such as recruitment, hiring, and training. Indirect costs include reduced productivity, lower employee engagement, over burdening other employees, business disruption, and lower customer satisfaction.

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Time for the Retention Strategy Reset