OFFICE PARTY

Medical Marketing and Media, Sep 2008 by Lewis, Tanya

While some organizations find the talent shortage to be a struggle, several firms have managed to attract and retain staff by creating a culture and environment where people can thrive. Tanya Lewis reports

There's no question that the talent market continues to be tight, and that culture is critical to recruitment and retention of staff. Agencies and companies that invest in developing and maintaining a strong work culture and proactively seek to develop talent are staying ahead of the curve.

Four years ago, Bruce Epstein, managing partner of New Jerseybased Revolution Health, decided to put his experience to work growing talent by designing and teaching a pharmaceutical advertising course at his alma mater, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

"I blazed my career path with little vision or mentorship," Epstein explains. "Hard work and a lot of luck led me here. I teach to show students who were in my situation that there are options besides retail or hospital pharmacy. These students are generally highly intelligent people whose potential skills are underutilized dispensing medications."

Epstein is a registered pharmacist in New Jersey, and he earned an MBA in marketing from NYU's Stern School of Business while working as a sales rep for Roche Laboratories. Since founding Revolution Health in 2006, he's hired six PharmDs (Revolution Health's total current headcount stands at more than 40). Epstein finds PharmDs make great account supervisors because they have a deep understanding of client needs and can effectively guide creative teams.

"Our clients truly enjoy their strong clinical knowledge and youthful energy," he explains. "At the beginning, they sometimes have trouble talking to creatives because they were taught to be scientific. They adjust to being team players. It's working so well-no one has quit yet."

The agency offers summer internships and is a clinical rotation site for the pharmacy school. Students know if a career in healthcare is right for them after taking Epstein's class and spending time in the agency.

"I didn't like what the industry had become-hires never understood the medicine," he says. "It didn't seem like the right path. [With a medical background] it's easy to understand therapeutic areas. The work atmosphere is better because there isn't push and pull with clients saying we didn't deliver. Positive feedback from clients affects the culture dramatically."

Austin, Texas isn't a hotbed of industry talent, but that hasn't stopped Kerry Hilton, president/CEO of HC&B Healthcare Communications, from building a fantastic team. He says location is both an asset and a challenge-thought it's less of a challenge than it was seven years ago when the agency was founded.

"It's an asset because people want quality of life," Hilton notes. "We get a lot of resumes from ex-Texans who want to come home. Austin really fosters creativity and the entrepreneur. Once we get people here, they love the city, company and environment."

Hilton recruits a "fair amount" within Texas, and he will look to other markets when he needs talent with specialty skills he can't find at home. The agency has successfully trained people from outside the healthcare sector. Because HC&B is the only healthcare agency in the southwest, recruitment and retention are critical, thus a healthy agency culture is extremely critical. "We provide a culture where people can enjoy work and doing something relevant and important to them, clients, and patients," Hilton says. "One of our core values is 'Go on, get outta here.' If people don't have a life outside of work, they don't have a life inside of work."

Hilton notes that HC&B's culture reflects the Austin culture in many ways, adding that the atmosphere isn't quite "California laid back," but it's more laid back than many northeastern agencies.

"We operate on the philosophy of invisible walls," he says. "We balance freedom and responsibility and empower people to do their best the best way they know how."

Twice yearly bonuses and what Hilton calls "random acts of culture" help foster a close-knit environment in which people feel rewarded and invested in. Every couple of months, Hilton takes the entire agency to the movies, and last Christmas he hired actors and created a 30-minute film that spoofed the agency.

HC&B 360 is a program that trains employees about the entire healthcare continuum-products, the payer system, reimbursement issues and legal challenges for clients.

"Because we're such a unique agency, employees feel like they're building something that's not been done before," Hilton says. "People here are pioneers."

Hilton feels like "a lot people have their resumes out," and his gut tells him that's because people want to know their options in a market in which some agencies are growing while others are shrinking due to budget fluctuation.

"We've seen an increase of talent seeking us, so it's been easier for us," Hilton says.

Southern California powerhouse Ignite Health has a very unique culture, which co-founder and chief innovation officer Fabio Gratton says has been "a central attraction" in drawing talent. The Irvine office decor includes a fire pole and fire equipment, creating what Gratton calls "an ambience that we're always on fire."