Contract and Consulting Support in the Life Sciences Industry
Why Life Science Companies Should Hire Contract Employees
Hiring contractors is a growing trend in many industries in 2022. Business Facilities reported around 50% of U.S. companies plan to add headcount in the second half of 2022, and 45% will bring in additional contract employees. Benefits of hiring contractors include strategic company growth, financial advantages, and broader access to industry experts.
Strategic Company Growth
During the 2020 pandemic many companies over hired because of a temporary increase in demand. In 2022 these same companies did mass layoffs because the demand declined back to normal trends. Not only does this tarnish a company’s reputation; it is a costly way to adjust headcount. The cost of training, providing full benefits, and unemployment benefits times the amount of employees laid off, rehiring efforts in the future, and losing employees due to declined moral, adds up to tremendous amounts.
Within Life Sciences, hiring needs can increase due to remediation efforts, consent decrees, warning letters from the FDA, etc., however these hiring needs can also be temporary once those projects are completed. So how should I company manage a temporary demand or need? This is where the benefits of hiring contractors come in.
Contractors can be utilized to work on temporary projects or demands. They can assist with a time sensitive project that your current employees don’t have the bandwidth to complete within a target timeline. Contractors can also be put in place while a company tries to determine what future headcount will be.
When a project is completed, a demand has changed, or a headcount is determined, instead of a mass layoff, the contracts would end. Alternatively, if the need continues, contracts can be extended, or contractors can be converted to direct hire employees. This preservers a company’s reputation and saves major costs. Contractors come in as industry experts so they can jump into work immediately, their benefits can be provided by hiring through an agency, and they do not qualify for unemployment. Adjusting headcount as needed with contract employees eliminates the major costs company’s face by adjusting headcount with permanent employees.
Financial Advantages
There are many financial advantages to hiring contractors beyond flexibility to adjust headcount. Employees that are true contractors have an expertise they come armed with. This eases the need to have a full training period, which ultimately saves lost time and ultimately lost money. Training and onboarding costs alone averages $1,286 per employee (Chally, 2022).
Full time employees are generally offered full benefits which is a major cost. Contractors can have no benefits, limited benefits, or can be provided benefits by being hired through an agency. Embroker reported, costs for health insurance per employee alone can cost between $5,000-$30,000 annually.
When a contractor completes their assignment and their contract ends, they do not qualify for unemployment benefits whereas a full-time employee could qualify and be an additional cost. According to UIS the average cost of paying out an unemployed claim is $4,200 but can cost upwards of $12,000.
Utilizing a talent agency to hire contractors also results in major savings. The time it takes to find, hire, and manage contract candidates is a full-time job. Talent agencies step in as industry experts, streamline the hiring process, and assist managing the employee from coaching to other logistical items like benefits and logging hours.
Broader Access to Industry Experts
The job market has evolved into a candidates’ market. Attracting the right talent and securing candidates before they accept another position is a growing challenge across all industries.
With contract employees specifically, candidates line up their next opportunity in advance. Working with a talent agency like Bioethic, allows early access to candidates that are pre vetted and have current relationships with Recruiters. The moment a candidate is looking for their next role, they check in with their networks including Recruiters to seek their next position. This proactive approach leads to quicker access to candidates, and ultimately quicker hiring.
Although there are many industry experts in direct hire positions, these candidates are time consuming to attract, costly, and can come with limitations. Contract employees and consultants can come from both niche and broad skillsets. Because of the nature of contracting and consulting these experts are more widely available on the market.
For example, let’s say you are hiring a candidate with class lll medical device experience. The limitation with direct hire employees is their tenure at a company can limit the range of experience. Contractors work various roles and companies so the chances they’ve had exposure to class lll is much more likely. Along with that, finding a candidate that matches that experience, and is available on the market is much more plentiful within the pool of contract employees.
How Bioethic Can Help
If you would like to hire contractors, that’s where Bioethic can step in to help.
Bioethic provides effective solutions and highly skilled consultants within the life sciences industry. We specialize in Clinical Operations, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, Remediation Services, Scientific and Engineering disciplines.
We are experts in the industry and focus on bringing truly quality candidates to the table. We have a deep understanding of how paramount it is to remain 100% complaint. We understand one wrong hire can make or break a company.
Bioethic partners with life science startups and large multinational corporations. We come armed with a deep understanding of the functions and structures within small and large organizations. This helps us customize hiring strategies to each individual client need.
If you would like to inquire about our services, please contact us!