Recruiting right

Blogging about her recent trip to India, Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spoke about the signing of reportedly the first-ever Statement of Intent between her agency and India’s Ministry of Health and Family (MoHFW). The statement is about the two agencies collectively working to improve the lines of communication between them. Here’s hoping that the statement goes beyond being a mere photo op.

The US FDA Commissioner also rues, “many Indian companies that understand good manufacturing and quality processes have been overshadowed by recent lapses in quality at a handful of pharmaceutical firms.” While this statement could be seen as conciliatory, it did not prevent her from rejecting Ranbaxy’s plea to be allowed to export from red-flagged facilities while they corrected manufacturing lapses.

Accompanied by Nancy Powell, US Ambassador to India, Hamburg’s visit is to underline the seriousness of the stress on quality while acknowledging that “as two of the largest democracies in the world, our countries have enjoyed an enduring partnership and commitment to collaborate on initiatives designed to enhance both our economies and the lives of the people in our respective countries.” Diplomacy will have its day but manufacturers of medicines will have to upgrade their facilities to meet these norms.

However, it’s not just about installing more up-to-date technology and training personnel to maintain protocols. Reports are that some of Ranbaxy’s manufacturing goof ups were caused by disgruntled staff who had been offered a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). The VRS was part of the company’s attempt to lay off staff and obviously this did not go down well. Zydus Cadila also faced the backlash of a similar move to reduce headcount when workers went on strike recently.

Managements of global pharma companies are cutting some kinds of jobs while hiring for others. We decided to chart out these hiring strategies in a special HR-focused issue. So while the cover story highlights the hike in hiring (Hike in pharma hiring on the cards; pages 26-29) the other stories deal with the challenges faced by HR and employees (Time to get proactive, pages 30-31) as well as the role of associations and industry lobby groups (Nurturing the industry; pages 32-34). The irony is that while we have a decent sized talent pool, most professionals are not industry ready. Coping with the ever evolving industry, HR will have to strategise to identify, recruit and engage with Generation Y. Similarly, GenY will have to continuously evolve so that their skill sets remain relevant. Recruiting right has never been so crucial as today.

Viveka Roychowdhury
Editor

[email protected]