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2009 Life Science Industry Statistics

Northern California Life Sciences Cluster - Highlights:

• Birthplace of Biotechnology - Genentech founded in 1976
• 9 Counties, 101 Cities, 7,000 Square Miles of Land
• 1,377 Life Science Companies
• 250,000 Direct and Indirect Employees
• 100,000 Employed in Life Sciences Directly
• $6B Wages Paid
• 560 Marketed Products
• 463 Products in Phase II and Phase III Clinical Trials
• 95 Publicly Traded Companies
• $144 Billion Market Cap
• $2.2 Billion NIH Grants Awarded to Northern California Organizations
• $860 million invested by Venture Capital firms in Northern California life sciences in 52 Deals

Source: BayBio Industry Overview 

California Life Sciences Industry Highlights:

Employee loyalty on the decline

A BOLD summary by Ana Jardim Evans

The Economist recently reported that in the last two years employee loyalty has declined by almost 60%, and more than 25% of employees are planning to look of other jobs as soon as the economy recovers.

The Economist argues that this is hurting productivity in the short-term, and competitiveness in the long-run. In addition, companies are at risk of losing their top talent as soon as the economy recovers- i.e., when they most need them.

Biotech on a Roll

 "Biotech continued its steady improvement during the third quarter" reported Burrill and Company in its October 1st Press Release.  And it's not just biotech's "blue chip" companies says Burrill - there were a number of notable 'gainers' this last quarter.
 
While many believe 'the worst might be over', the general word is that investors remain cautious and companies need to be prepared for the effects of the recession to linger.
 
Translated to the people side of business, this means that although hiring and salary freezes may have been reversed, travel and training budgets, for example, remain limited. 

Commitment: A Key to Engagement?

“Employees at Best Companies experience more cooperation and commitment” said Lindsay Nelson of Great Place to Work.

“Highly committed and engaged employees add 57% more discretionary effort, and have a greater than 87% chance of staying” reported Steve Knight from Integral Talent Systems. 

These experts were among the five presenters at the BOLD workshop “Clarifying Employee Engagement:  Helping People Go the Extra Mile” last Wednesday. 

Watson Wyatt: Effect of the Economic Crisis on HR Programs

Thanks to Watson Wyatt for generously sharing their latest finding about how the economic crisis is impacting HR programs:

"More employers are planning to reverse pay freezes and reductions, as well as other cutbacks. However, employees are still facing lower raises, lower bonuses and higher health care costs. A majority of employers are now more concerned about retaining their top performers and critical-skill employees than they were before the economic crisis hit in September 2008 and are increasing their communication programs in order to keep employees engaged..."

Click here to read the full report.

Engagement, what do you mean by engagement?

There’s been a lot of talk lately on the topic of employee engagement.  Some say that the economic downturn and the ‘do more with less’ attitude prompted HR to re-examine the role of engagement, hoping that if addressed, employees would be motivated and more prepared to work in an uncertain environment.

Although this may be a reasonable assumption, the fact is that employee engagement has been referred to for years.  Yes, it’s compelling to claim that employee engagement drives bottom-line results – but is it true?  After all, the definition, metrics and practices vary widely – and academic researchers and practitioners differ in their terms and scope.

Significant Change Predicted for Bioindustry

Interesting insights on the state of the life sciences industry in this month's Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News:

"Despite the apparent turn of market fortunes more recently, by virtually any measure it would appear that the life science industry may be poised for a period of profound structural transformation. Declines in equity values and their implications paint a sobering picture for the future.

While off their March lows, equity values have dropped precipitously—the BTK is off 29.3% and the NBI is off 26.6% from their respective August 2008 highs. And while the decline from the highs has not been as pronounced as the drop in either the DJIA or NASDAQ, given that the biotech sector highs lagged these broader indices by 10 months, might the bottom possibly lag as well?"

Continue reading the full article here.

Summer is here

Summer is here, and along with sun and vacations, comes time to relax and reflect.... and celebrate!

June was a milestone month for BOLD - fourteen new members joined!  And we're going to celebrate with some summer fun and networking opportunities. 

Holding on to top talent you can’t afford to lose

by Mary Ann Ireland, originally published May 19, 2009 on BayBio

We’re in the midst of a lot of change.  While executives are “Navigating the Storm” in these uncertain times, managers and individual contributors are also navigating their own storms – and all this is contributing to significant workplace change, ultimately affecting the bottom line.

According to a recent Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) article, “The inability to adapt to workplace change can decrease employees’ level of engagement and effectiveness on the job as well as put organizational productivity at risk for many organizations.”

Just as companies are re-evaluating their pipelines and reducing burn rates, top performers are re-assessing their options, managing their finances, and adjusting their expectations as they plan for their future.  And some will leave.  These days, top talent wants more than attractive compensation - transparency and other “natural rewards” come high on their priority list.

What is Employee Engagement?

Rutgers University professor Richard Beatty recently sparked a heated debate with his CFO.com article, Memo to CFOs: Don't Trust HR, where he criticized the human resources profession for being mostly unable to talk the language of business and help companies build economic value. Since then, CFO.com has published a summary of rebuttals to the original article in Memo from HR: We Do Too Create Value.
One of Beatty's most contentious points is that employee engagement and job satisfaction don't necessarily impact financial returns. Beatty admits in the follow-up article that it's difficult to measure the impact of employee engagement because we lack a uniform definition of it and a common understanding of what drives it.
This month we're discussing some of these same issues in our May roundtable meetings - specifically, how to keep employees motivated during difficult times. BOLD members, please join us at a roundtable meeting or join the discussion online at the BOLD LinkedIn Group to share your thoughts on employee engagement.