Staying Agile: Blended Workforces Offer Strategic Approach to Business Needs

For biopharma companies that want to have the right personnel at different business stages and during challenging times, blended workforces are a strategic solution, according to Eric Fink, co-CEO and managing partner of Slone Partners. These workforces, which mix permanent employees with external talent such as consultants and fractional workers, give employers a more flexible staffing option as their needs change, Fink told BioSpace. It’s a different approach than the standard playbook of the past.

/ Photo courtesy of Slone Partners

“Everything was about hiring and acquiring talent, kind of filling your shelves at whatever company you’re at with people,” said Fink, whose company provides life sciences and healthcare executive search and fractional talent services. “What if you thought of it as more dynamic, where you’re constantly managing a portfolio of talent, expertise and skills, and you’re orchestrating who is on that team and when?”

Blended workforces are most often seen at smaller biopharmas looking to add expertise based largely on critical work that must get done while being sensitive to the costs of full-time employment, according to Fink. He noted, for example, that fractional workers—those brought in to fill specific roles or capability gaps—can help early-stage biopharmas reach key inflection points, such as transitioning from preclinical to clinical stage.

“The reality is, sometimes the talent you need at one stage isn’t the talent you need for another, and fractional can be a great way to say, ‘What are those roles where we think we will need something different in the future? Maybe this is a less costly, less disruptive way to go about it,’” Fink said.

He noted that blended workforces are also emerging at Big Pharma companies that want to quickly access new skills or capabilities while simultaneously developing those skills and capabilities within their existing workforce, which can take time.

As to the type of external talent biopharmas use, Fink is seeing movement away from consultants, who do work on a defined project or period of time, in favor of fractional workers.

“For fractional, I think the main driver for choosing that route versus a consulting house is that you want someone who’s been there and done the actual role as an operator or been in that seat,” he said. “What you find is the people who are delivering the work at many of the consulting firms are great and very talented, but they may not have direct experience.”

Typically, Fink noted, fractional workers are placed in roles at the director level and above. He said that most often, companies look to fill technical roles in areas such as clinical development, regulatory, quality and supply chain or nontechnical positions in functions such as HR, finance and business development.

Whether biopharmas use fractional workers or consultants, Fink noted that a key benefit is that employers can adjust the working arrangement as needs change. For example, if a company expects to need someone for a year but circumstances shift, it can give 30 days’ notice to wind down that relationship. Or, if work stops immediately, there will only be minimal billing for the following month. That’s very different from ending full-time employment, Fink noted.

Other benefits of using a blended workforce include:

• Getting needed talent quickly: Fink noted that while the average hiring cycle is 90 days or longer, fractional workers or consultants can start billing in as few as two or three weeks.
• Saving money: Studies have shown that businesses can cut 40% to 60% of employment costs by engaging a fractional worker instead of a full-time executive, according to Fink.
• Tapping into diverse business experiences: Biopharmas can find specific external expertise to address challenges. For example, Fink noted, a company could bring in someone who’s successfully navigated a complete response letter.

Biopharmas can find talent for blended workforces in multiple ways, according to Fink. The most common approach, he said, is to contact people they’ve worked with in the past. Fink is also seeing more companies post job openings specifically for consultants.

In addition to those approaches, biopharmas can work with a search firm such as Slone Partners. Fink explained that when Slone works with companies, it first assesses the organization’s talent needs to determine the best way to support them.

“It shouldn’t and doesn’t matter to us if that’s a full-time retained search or a fractional placement,” he said.

Fink added that some of Slone’s most meaningful client interactions have involved helping an organization rethink its staffing needs. For example, he said, a business that requests fractional workers might be best served by a full-time employee based on the workload. On the other hand, a company that’s seeking full-time help might find that fractional workers make more sense. This flexible staffing approach, Fink noted, allows Slone to best assist clients.

“In this space, particularly in biotech, that means we can be helpful during times of growth as well as during times of transition and change,” he said.

Looking ahead, Fink said he’s confident that blended workforces are here to stay because they offer powerful strategic benefits for building and scaling workforces. In other words, he noted, they represent a new playbook for staffing a business while delivering medicines to patients and creating shareholder value.

“To me, the most critical part is that this can be a part of the solution, and I don’t think you sacrifice anything on the talent,” Fink said. “If anything, I would argue you have a better chance of finding great talent if you’re flexible in how you’re willing to engage with them.”

For more information about Slone Partners and its executive search and fractional talent services, visit www.slonepartners.com.

This article was written in partnership with Slone Partners.