Medical Affairs People Management Excellence: Maximizing Talent & Retention Through Better Training, Development and Career Path Leadership

This benchmarking research identifies the strategies employed by top Medical Affairs groups to optimize talent and bolster retention through the implementation of better training, development, and career path leadership. This research examines crucial aspects of People Management within Medical Affairs, including onboarding, training protocols, ongoing development initiatives, retention strategies, hiring approaches, and performance assessments.

By capturing best practices and innovative strategies in People Management, this report empowers Medical Affairs leaders to foster a workplace culture that attracts and retains top-tier talent while elevating overall team performance.

Industries Profiled:
Pharmaceutical; Biopharmaceutical; Medical Device; Health Care; Biotech; Consumer Products; Clinical Research; Laboratories


Companies Profiled:
AbbVie; Apellis Pharmaceuticals; Astellas; AstraZeneca; Baxter International; Boehringer Ingelheim; Eisai; Genmab; Grifols; Jazz Pharmaceuticals; Novartis; OM Pharma; Roche Molecular Systems; Sandoz; Sanofi; Sobi; Sumitomo Pharma; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd; UCB Pharma; Vertex Pharmaceuticals; ViiV Healthcare

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 31 Medical Affairs leaders from 28 global biopharmaceutical companies in this benchmarking research. A range of Medical Excellence, Medical Training, and other Medical leadership roles were targeted in order to capture the diverse People Management strategies and needs across the industry. Organizational support represented by this study includes Medical leaders in both Global and US-focused roles. Best Practices, LLC also conducted deep-dive interviews with Medical Affairs leaders to capture additional insights.

Key topics covered in this report include:

• Hallmarks of People Management Excellence
• Onboarding and Training Resources Provided
• Training Formats Used for New and Continuous Learning
• Training Mix and Core Competencies Required for Mastery of Skills
• Career Path Milestones
• People Management Programs: Successes, Failures, and Ratings of Support
• Assessing Managers for People Management Success
• Hybrid Lessons Learned
• Future Outlook and Focus Areas for People Management Groups

• Training Leaders: Most full-time trainers lie within Medical Affairs (56%), while about one-fourth use training staff in a centralized Learning & Development group.

• People Management Hurdles: Lack of dedicated resources (58%), time (57%), and strategy (55%) are major obstacles for effective People Management.

• Benchmark study partner companies
• Data summary: Onboarding, training, development, retention, and hiring
• Data summary: Current state of People Management (PM) in Medical Affairs, key learnings, and future priorities
• Training formats employed
• Hallmarks of effective People Management
• Hybrid lessons learned for effective People Management
• Future focus areas for maximizing Medical Affairs talent

• Differentiating with effective People Management
• The current state of People Management in Medical Affairs

• Number of full-time employees devoted to Medical training; Average number of Medical Affairs staff trained annually
• Function of full-time Medical training FTEs
• Training modules in the standard Medical Affairs training curriculum
• Time to assume full job responsibilities for a new Medical Affairs employee
• Channels used for Medical Affairs training programs
• Overall Medical Affairs training mix
• Dedicated training time for core Medical Affairs competencies

• Adherence to a formal career path to guide and reward employee growth within each of the Medical Affairs sub-functions
• Challenges hindering success in People Management within Medical Affairs
• Actions implemented by benchmark companies to enhance People Management within Medical Affairs
• Effective sources for gaining deeper insight into employee needs
• People Management scorecard for individual Medical Affairs teams

• Formal assessment of managers on their People Management results
• Efficient approaches for evaluating managers in relation to their People Management effectiveness
• Successful lessons learned for Hybrid People Management
• High priority tactics for maximizing Medical Affairs talent

• Therapeutic areas represented by benchmark partners
• Geographical scope of participating biopharma companies