DAY ONE
8.00 am Registration & Networking
9:00 am What it Takes to Make a LEAP a Reality
9:10 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Re-Energizing Rewards & Recognition Programs
9:20 am Discover: Building a Comprehensive Total Rewards Program That Employees Value
Synopsis
- How can we reduce turnover and adopt a holistic approach to total rewards?
- Understand your budget and prioritize what matters to your employees by setting out a 3-year plan
- How Tarsus offers Fortune 500-level benefits, such as an employee stock purchase program (ESPP), an FTO policy and a range of health and wellness benefits which save them money as well as being attractive to employees
9:40 am Discover: Creating Compelling Compensation & Rewards
Synopsis
A product of Aon’s rewards practice, deliver compensation insights to the world’s most innovative companies, including Life Sciences, manufacturing, media and gaming, retail and e-commerce, technology, and transportation and mobility firms.
To learn more, visit www.aon.com/en/capabilities/human-capital-analytics
10:00 am Develop: How Can we Re-Energize Current & Future Employees By Offering Meaningful Recognition & Rewards?
Synopsis
Question & Answer Session Facilitated by the Focus Day Chair
HR leaders in scaling businesses need to prioritize their compensation and total rewards strategy. 69% of employees in the Life Sciences sector consider competitive pay and benefits as the top factor for job satisfaction. Additionally, companies with robust total rewards programs are 1.5 times more likely to report higher employee engagement and retention rates.
10:20 am Action: What Are You Now Going to Do Differently to Increase Your EVP as an Organization?
Synopsis
Output Focused Action Session Facilitated by the Chair
10:40 am Panel: Re-Energizing Rewards & Recognition Programs Panel
Synopsis
Some Critical Themes Addressed:
- How can we stay competitive in our packages to ensure we attract the right talent?
- What perks are people offering to their employees and what are they finding really resonates?
- What non-cash recognition are you giving to your employees? What affordable actions are out there?
- How are people managing pay transparency?
- How can we reward employees who stay with long term reward incentives? What creative things have been done?
- How can we reward people with exposure and scientific breakthroughs rather than jumping initially to financial incentive?
11.00 am Speed Networking Break
TRACK A – Dedicated Content for Organizations Who Are Currently Scaling Their Operations or in Hypergrowth mode
Aligning Your Talent Strategy with Business Growth Goals
12:00 pm Discover: Adapting Our Talent Strategy for Business Transformation
Synopsis
- How can we hire & build a commercial team while bringing a commercial mindset to the rest of the team?
- Set clear intentions surrounding the magnitude and pace of change
- How Cytokinetics are aligning their talent strategy with their business transformation goals to build a successful commercial business
12:20 pm Develop: How Can We Create Alignment with Our HR & TA Teams to Deliver on Business Goals?
Synopsis
Question & Answer Session Facilitated by the Chair
83% of Life Science companies report difficulties in finding skilled professionals, with uncertain economic details, and potential immigration laws creating skills gaps, staying informed about policy changes and adjusting hiring plans accordingly is crucial. HR leaders need to assess their plan for bringing entry-level next-generation talent, that will
contribute to their existing culture, into their company.
12:40 pm Action: How Are You Going to Align your HR & TA Teams on Returning to Your Organization?
Synopsis
Output Focused Action Session Facilitated by the Chair
- How will the election impact the ability to source talent from overseas? Will we have more skills gaps as a result?
- How can we practice behavioral based hiring to ensure new hires fit into the current culture of our organization?
- How can we map job descriptions to competencies and interview questions to create a rigorous interview process that emphasizes cultural importance?
- How can we create and communicate our value proposition and how can remote work tie into this?
- How can we enhance our employer branding and build advocates for our company?
Action Session Continued: How Are You Going to Align your HR & TA Teams on Returning to Your Organization?
TRACK B – Dedicated Content for Organizations Who Are Currently Stablizing, Right-Sizing or Have Finished Periods of Hypergrowth
Constructing & Communicating a Clear Company Culture
12:00 pm Discover: Communicating Clearly on Company Culture to Ensure Alignment of Values
Synopsis
- How can we align employees with our company values and retain them?
- Identify behaviors that align with your company values in order to communicate your culture
- How Omega Biotech spent 9 months observing and identifying 28 behaviors that aligned with their culture, creating peer recognition around these and weaving them into their recruitment process, leading to 50% of their employees having been at the organization for 7 years or longer
12:20 pm Discover: Bringing Company Values to Life: A Practical Approach to Cultural Integration
Synopsis
- How can we move beyond traditional value statements to ensure employees not only understand but live by our core values in their everyday work?
- Engage Employees for Authentic Buy-In: Learn about the methods used to actively engage employees through surveys and focus groups to shape an aspirational culture together
- Explore Aspen Neuroscience’s journey, key challenges faced, lessons learned, and the measurable impact of integrating values into their daily operations
12:40 pm Develop: How Can We Ensure Employees Align with Our Culture After Mass Periods of Growth?
Synopsis
Companies with adaptive cultures that align with their business goals are 1.5 times more likely to experience revenue growth. As such, after periods of rapid growth, HR leaders need to pin down and communicate their cultural framework clearly so that employees embed those values into their behaviors.
Q&A session designed to help you understand the ‘how’.
1:00 pm Action: How Are You Going to Evolve Your Culture After Periods of Hypergrowth?
Synopsis
- How can we retain important aspects of our culture as we are scaling, how can we get ahead and set these into a cultural framework?
- How can we transmit our existing culture to new sites?
- How can we identify and adapt scalable parts of our culture to align with the new organization?
- How can we control the impact this has on our employee group?
- How can we communicate with employees and bring them on this journey with us as we grow while remaining transparent?
- How can we help employees to understand our mission as a company and get that alignment set?
- How can we communicate our culture into values and embed these behaviors into our organizations?
Roundtable discussion to create an action plan for you to take back to your organization.
1.20 pm Lunch
Revolutionizing Your EVP with a Sound Remote Working Strategy
2:20 pm Discover: Embracing Remote Work; Attracting Staff & Enhancing Culture
Synopsis
- How can we use remote work as part of our EVP without compromising on productivity and culture?
- How can we implement a good performance management system, intentional culture efforts and trust your employees
- How Spyre Therapeutics are mastering remote work, building a culture of trust and enhancing the accessibility of their workplace all while cutting costs
2:40 pm Discover: Navigating Cultural Transformation: Insights from iRhythm Technologies
Synopsis
- How can we align culture with strategic growth, particularly in remote working conditions?
- Balance Tradition and Change: preserve core cultural elements while strategically evolving the culture to attract new talent without marginalizing existing employees
- Explore iRhythms year-long values campaign and the role of ‘cultural ambassadors’ in gathering feedback, driving engagement, and ensuring the transformation is meaningful and effective, tracked through comprehensive assessments
3:00 pm Develop: How Else Can We Get Comfortable with Offering Remote Work?
Synopsis
As Life Science organizations compete for staff, and struggle to retain valued employees, becoming accustomed to remote work is critical. With productivity increases of 47%, 74% of staff reporting they are more likely to stay at their company and an average saving of $11,000 per year for every employee, offering remote work is necessary. HR leaders need to iron out the creases to ensure they are leveraging this future focused strategy to its full potential.
Q&A session designed to help you understand the ‘how’.
3:20 pm Action: How Are You Going to Make Remote Work Part of Your EVP?
Synopsis
- How are organizations balancing the business need for staff to be in office versus employee’s desire to work from home?
- How have organizations changed the way that they are utilizing office space and associated costs?
- How can we police or manage hybrid work, how can we manage differentiation of engagement for different types of workers due to hybrid work?
- How can we ensure distributed teams stay productive, efficient and as effective as in person teams – so that we can continue to offer remote work as part of our EVP?
- How can we ensure we retain our company’s culture in hybrid work settings?
Roundtable discussion to create an action plan for you to take back to your organization.
Enhancing Employee Engagement During Periods of Downturn
2:20 pm Discover: Enhancing Employee Engagement & Retention: A Multifaceted Approach
Synopsis
- How can we ensure employee satisfaction and retention following layoffs and during periods of downturn in the organization?
- Explore various strategies implemented to enhance employee engagement and retention, focusing on both monetary and non-monetary approaches
- How NGM Biopharmaceuticals is focusing on repricing and value perception, nonmonetary retention tools and innovative incentive plans to foster a motivated and committed workforce
2:40 pm Discover: Transforming Performance for Engagement: Balancing Ratings & Development
Synopsis
- How can we shift to a performance strategy that’s focused on the future rather than the past?
- Tailoring approaches to organizational maturity and need
- Learn how iRhythm Technologies transformed their performance process which emphasized and encouraged growth, development and future potential rather than compensation based discussions
3:00 pm Develop: How Else Can We Keep Employees Engaged & Motivated with Our Mission?
Synopsis
After periods of rapid growth and entering a focus on business stability, employee engagement becomes a critical affair. With 45% of employees being burned out by organizational changes, HR leaders need to find new ways to keep these employees motivated through downturn and fewer career development opportunities. Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their organization and are 15% more profitable for their company – which is crucial during periods of financial setbacks.
Q&A session designed to help you understand the ‘how’.
3:20 pm Action: What Are You Going to Change About the Way You Are Keeping Employees Engaged?
Synopsis
- How can we motivate employees who are in single point sensitive roles?
- How can we motivate employees when we are limited financially?
- How can we drive momentum through exposure and scientific motivation rather than through financial incentive?
- How do we keep employees engaged with our companies journey even when we cannot offer them growth opportunities?
- How can we maintain engagement through periods of downturn and layoffs?
- How can we keep our long-term employees engaged so that we can retain them, i.e. using various reward systems such as equity awards or long-term incentives?
- How can we identify and lean on the intrinsic motivation of our employees, i.e. scientific innovation, and use this to keep employees engaged?
Roundtable discussion to create an action plan for you to take back to your organization.
3.40 pm Networking Break
4:00 pm Panel: Implementing AI & Time Saving Technology
Synopsis
The Life Science industry, particularly among smaller companies on the West Coast, is experiencing a cautious yet growing interest in AI and technology. While the potential for AI to revolutionize HR processes is widely recognized, the adoption rate is slow due to concerns about cost, relevance, and practical implementation. This session aims to address these concerns by providing actionable insights and real-world examples.
4:40 pm Action: How Are You Going to Leverage Technology to Increase Your Efficiency?
Synopsis
- How do we put together an AI policy?
- How are people using AI to summarize reviews or feedback?
- How can we use AI for data mining to create realistic pictures of employee sentiment?
- Are there successful use cases out there of organizations adopting AI at minimal cost?
- How can we leverage AI in a highly regulated industry in a way that is ethical and meaningful?
- How can we use AI to enhance our current processes and increase efficiencies?
- How can we use AI for things such as: performance management, engagement process, compensation planning etc.?
Roundtable discussion to create an action plan for you to take back to your organization.