A strong culture can create a competitive advantage in hiring that allows you to attract A-players.
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These days, talented people can work anywhere. The question every leader in life sciences must be able to answer is: Why should accomplished, talented people want to work for you? When the Great Resignation hit in 2021 and 2022, companies across the industry scrambled to attract and retain top talent, and many failed. The organizations that weathered the storm were those that had already done the work of building a strong culture—the greatest employee value proposition you can have.
Building a Culture That Attracts (and Retains) A-Players
A-players, the highly skilled, motivated individuals who drive exceptional performance in R&D, can find competitive compensation almost anywhere; everyone wants to hire them. What they can’t find everywhere is a culture that resonates with them.
That alignment is a big part of your employee value proposition—the constellation of tangible and intangible reasons a person chooses your organization and stays with it. A-players are likely to seek a culture in which they feel genuinely heard and valued, are intellectually challenged, have real opportunities for growth, and can build meaningful relationships with colleagues.
Building that culture starts with mission, vision, and values that leadership doesn’t just articulate but actively lives, setting the standard for the entire organization. I’ve previously written about the ASPIRE framework we espouse at our company (Accountability, Science, Partnership, Integrity, Responsibility, Excellence) and how it can provide a concrete structure for that commitment. Culture, however, is not built once and left alone—it requires ongoing attention, honest self-assessment, and a willingness to act on what you find.
The Importance of Continually Assessing Your Employee Value Proposition
A company’s culture is the most significant piece of its employee value proposition. Any company can provide perks like gym memberships or transportation stipends. Culture is significantly more difficult to create and, therefore, to replicate. A strong culture can thus create a competitive advantage in hiring that allows you to attract A-players.
Of course, getting people in the door is only the first step. Retention is just as important—and it requires regularly asking whether your employees are actually thriving. A deep-dive assessment every six to twelve months, asking the right questions, is essential. Are employees satisfied with their work? Do they feel the company is headed in the right direction and that they have a voice in that direction? Are they getting the support they need from their managers and the tools required to do their job? Would they recommend the organization to others?
The answers to this assessment must then fuel action. Feeding results back to employees and visibly acting on them builds trust. Without that loop, even well-intentioned programs can miss the mark—a benefit introduced with the best of intentions may go unused simply because no one ever asked whether it was valued. Closing that gap is an ongoing responsibility of leadership.
Create a Place Worth Working In, and You’ll Attract People Worth Working With
People won’t leave because they’re getting $10,000 more somewhere else, but they will leave if they’re dissatisfied with the culture and personal support on offer. What makes people want to stay isn’t the tangibles alone. It comes from building a culture of excitement and passion about the work: a mission, a vision, and core values that people genuinely buy into. That is a place where people want to work.