Veramed’s Diane Peers explains why investment in training stands to deliver rewards for employees and customers alike.
Veramed is a ‘people-focused CRO’ and as such the development of our team members throughout their careers has always been an integral part of our philosophy. As the company has reached new growth milestones, the leadership team decided to further formalise and scale up Veramed’s existing training provision by establishing a dedicated training manager role. That is how I came to join Veramed in March 2021 to fulfil this unique position, assigned entirely to supporting the organisation’s expanding training requirements. In this blog, I will outline the key initiatives that we have tackled so far, and the wider benefits of this enhanced training focus for the organisation, employees, and customers.
Streamlined pathways
We have been building on an already well-established foundation of both commitment to training and running specific programmes for our staff. Since joining I have focused on developing and streamlining distinct training pathways for staff, depending on their role and career stage. Specific training curricula are now available, which are accessible and straightforward to follow.
Consolidating the next step from Graduate Trainee
Veramed has always been renowned for its Graduate Training Programme (GTP) and brings on board a cohort of talented freshers each year. As a strategic step, we have created a pathway to help bridge these early-career staff through to the next stage of development after completing the GTP. This consolidation training includes building on domain knowledge around clinical trials as well as technical skills.
Stepping up to Study Lead or Line Manager
One of the most significant developments is two new training programmes to assist staff in taking on a new challenge as a study lead or a line manager. These roles each represent a significant ‘step up’ and require a unique set of skills and knowledge. As a conscientious employer, we must actively support these career-defining moves to avoid ‘sink or swim’ situations that leave the new line manager or study leads ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of the more senior role. Providing specific training at this stage can iron out any issues and put the framework in place to set our employees up for success in their new management roles while maintaining exceptional quality. Uniquely, with both the study lead development and line management development program, we are partnering the participants with a more experienced mentor for any questions and ad-hoc advice. Formalising this support is both an extra layer of assistance for the trainee and an enabler of better productivity throughout the organisation. It means our trainees can get up to speed more quickly while ring-fencing time for mentorship away from day-to-day operational work.
External training and electronic learning management system
While the routine focus is on internal training, there remains an essential role for external courses and conferences to bring new knowledge and skills into the organisation. With this in mind, we have also assigned a dedicated external training budget to allow staff to complement their internal training curriculum.
These enhancements will be underpinned by a new electronic learning management system, improving the accessibility of training to our staff while providing clarity on training requirements and ensuring training compliance.
What are the benefits?
All too often, training is perceived as an added extra or “nice-to-have” within the day-to-day routine of organisations. In fact, it is an essential pillar for any healthy, thriving business.
The benefits are multi-fold and are experienced by the organisational leadership, employees, and customers alike.
- For our customers, the investment in training affirms our commitment to delivering quality every time. Happy, well-trained staff will tend to stay with the organisation, which translates into better knowledge retention for customers on projects.
- For team members themselves – training ensures that they have the skills and knowledge they need to do their job and equips them for success in their role and future development. Increased technical and soft skills improve employees’ CVs and enhance their remuneration and career development over time.
- For the leadership team, training investment allows Veramed to maintain its stellar retention rate and quickly identify and develop staff within the internal ranks to fulfil business-critical roles. We can also continue to fuel commercial growth by enhancing our reputation for quality even as we grow and hit the ground running on new projects more quickly.
The reception on the ground so far has been incredibly promising, with strong involvement from employees at all levels within the company. Our ethos is that training is not just something employees attend. Instead, it is an opportunity for the whole team to work together and co-create a training culture that embeds continuous learning into the organisation and gives each employee the chance to maximise their potential.
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About the author – Diane Peers
Diane has over 30 years of clinical experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Roles have included oversight of projects, people, and resources both in Pharma and CRO companies. She has 11 years’ experience as a clinical SAS Programmer including improvement projects and regulatory submissions and 20 years leadership and line management experience that covers process improvement and quality initiatives, global line management and delivery of accelerated project submissions.
