Pharma industry in Goa is facing serious manpower shortage. The attrition rates in the state's pharma enterprises is estimated to be 40 percent, far higher than the 25 percent prevailing in the national pharma industry.

The main reasons for the high attrition rates are poach-ing leading to sudden exists and attitude of Goans who are prepared to switch jobs for a paltry hike. In an era of massive plant modernization, the old-generation employees who do not have a mindset to adhere to ethical standards leave the organization.

The leading companies in Goa are Micro Labs, Colorcon Asia, Ranbaxy, Wallace, Pharma, Indoco Remedies, Zydus Cadilla, Blue Cross Labs, Knoll Pharma, E-Merck India, Geno Pharma, Kare Pharma, Procter and Gamble India Ltd, Glenmark, ratio pharm india ltd, Cipla, Indoco Remedies Ltd, Vicco Labs, Lupin, Unichem, Sander Pharma, Sanofi-Aventis, Zandu Pharma, FDC Ltd and Wyeth Ltd.

Although the companies in the state agreed that there was manpower shortfall, none of them wanted to comment about the situation.

Human resources experts point out that such exists are common in production plants across all sectors and pharma without no exemption. Both qualified and skilled workforce are on the look out for better deals and this is an age for higher incomes and better work environments.

"The management of companies time and again fail to comprehend the implication of providing opportunities for development of their staff or their career growth. A favorable working atmosphere, excellent culture, training and career growth with adequate salary are some provisions that control attrition, according to RS Iyer, pharma consultant.
Many pharma companies are working to develop an organizational culture which does not give way for attrition. "These include creation of open, vibrant and dynamic culture where there is a lot of space for communication too," stated sources from Ma Foi.
Companies are working out methods to trim down employee attrition rates. The pressure is on recruiters who are identifying talent, which is loyal and productive. Many human resource (HR)experts are of the opinion that stringent recruitment process could help reduce attrition to a certain extent.

In order to reduce attrition rates in the pharma sector, HR experts opined that there should be serious effects to introduce an internal referral mechanism. This will ensure a thorough scrutiny of a candidate's background, performance pattern, adaptability and preference which would help the organization create a good resource pool and ensure fall in attrition rates.

After information technology, the pharmaceuticals industry is grappling with the highest level of attrition. The fast growing knowledge-based sector suffers an annual attrition rate of 30 to 35 per cent and pharma is also close behind it, stated V Madhusudan, president Indian Pharma Association, Karnataka and Executive Vice President- Technical, Medreich Limited. "Understanding the personnel, providing encouragement and good remunerative support are the remedies to treat the attrition disease," he added.

Pharma companies stated that in the last three years there has been a high churn out compared to the normal rate of attrition which is mainly due to poaching, burnout, high stress at work and inadequate payment. Goa or any other state in the country is no exception to this.

According to a HR consultants, world wide the rate of attrition in pharma is only 10 to 12 per cent. Annually, the pharma sector witnesses an employee turnover of 30 to 40 per cent at the sales personnel and 8 to 10 per cent at the managerial level.

In an age where Indian pharma units are in demand for contract manufacture and contract research, interests of employees should be taken care as they are the key revenue generators for the project, stated Iyer.

According to VR Kannan, pharma consultant, with the pharmaceuticals industry, poised for changes, it is high time to recognize the importance of keeping employees happy and engaging them to leverage the competitive strength in the global context.

With human resource is becoming a strategic business task in many companies, particularly in the small and medium sector, personnel management is a key area of focus. Companies will have to ensure that work force do not cite reasons like poor management, lack of appreciation, support, opportunity for growth, inadequate compensation and ethical issues, for leaving their jobs, said Kannan.

HR experts opined that as far as marketing and sales areas are concerned, pharma industry is one of the sectors most affected by high attrition rates in India. But now the skilled and semi skilled workforce from production plants who were known to stick on to jobs are also looking to migrate to better-paying companies after gaining experience.

While attrition in the marketing and manufacturing departments in pharma plants are on an upswing, the R&D divisions are also losing highly skilled people. There is a serious dearth of experienced professionals which is driven because of factors like Patent Regime leading to new opportunities including globalization of the R&D and the increased outsourcing opportunities have created a sudden demand for skilled research people, stated sources from HR firms.

The only way to save the pharma attrition levels from rising is for employers to ensure employees concern and remunerative support, added HR and pharma consultants.