Biotechnology firm Biocon is utilising the services of its internal academy to bridge the talent gap and enable individuals to find relevant jobs in the industry. In an interaction with Moneycontrol, the company's Head - Human Resources, Amitava Saha said Biocon Academy is not a training institute for recruits, but an advanced learning centre for talent development.
As a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, Saha said they have set up Biocon Academy as a Centre of Excellence for Advanced Studies for Biosciences.
“Through various programmes at Biocon Academy, we are engaged in developing high quality, industry-ready talent to support the growth aspirations of the Indian pharmaceutical sector,” he added.
In the financial year ended March 31, 2018, more than 55 percent of the students at the Academy were recruited by India’s leading life sciences companies, while rest of them were employed by Biocon and its arm Syngene. On an annual basis, 12-15 percent of new hires are from Biocon Academy.
India's biotechnology sector has evolved rapidly to build a credible base of expertise. However, talent shortage has been an area of concern for the industry. HR officials said companies do not wish to spend time and financial resources for upskilling the talent that has been hired at the entry levels.
“The level of employability of the 40,000 biotechnology students that graduate each year is worryingly low. On an average, 300-500 hopefuls apply for every new biotechnology-related job vacancy at the 500-plus biotech companies in India, but most get rejected,” said Saha.
He added that the low employability is an outcome of the huge skill gap that exists between industry needs and educational training.
Biocon Academy is trying to address this skill gap by looking at ways to align with the growing needs of the global biotech industry and developing new programmes to address such requirements.
The key, said Saha, is to not just develop skills for the students but for teachers as well. In fact, Biocon Academy has designed a faculty development programme for biotechnology faculty to give them deeper insights into industry requirements and help them equip their students with focused and practical training.
He added this programme has already benefited several biotechnology faculty members from a number of colleges across the country. The training includes specialised training through a rigorous, multidisciplinary, project-oriented approach, combining classroom sessions with practical training in actual industrial settings.
Hiring at Biocon
As a company itself, Biocon has 75 percent employees below the age of 35 years. The company that is the only Asian firm to feature among top twenty global biotech employers according to the US-based academic journal Science, hires primarily through direct walk-ins, employee referrals and online portals.
Saha said they recruit top talent from premier Indian institutes like Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Mohali, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, National Institute of Industrial Engineering in Mumbai and Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Udupi.
Their attrition trends around low double digits on an annualised basis, he added. As at the end of FY18, about 15 percent of the employees in Biocon were women.
“We at Biocon have created an enabling work environment that takes care of the aspirations of millennials. We understand that millennials want to use their skills to benefit a cause. Being a large organisation, we provide a structured career development plan which not only assesses performance but allows employees to plan their career growth as well,” he added.
To build strong technical capabilities, Biocon has the MPower programme for high performing junior employees and the i-LEAP programme, which is a leadership development platform for mid-level managers. In addition to these programs, over 4,400 employees attended various training programs, clocking over 45,000 learning people hours, during the financial year ended March 31, 2018.
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