If the last five years have taught us anything, it’s that the best people for a specific role or responsibility within an organization aren’t necessarily on your doorstep.  The rise in working-from-home also thrust a previously rare working format into the foreground – remote working.  

Today, there are now three times more remote jobs than in 2020 and businesses across many industries are now starting to realize the benefits of having fully remote teams – such as access to a wider talent pool and cost savings from choosing team members from more diverse regions. You can see more about the benefits and challenges of remote working in our blog: Understanding Globalization of Workforce: Benefits, Challenges and Strategies. 

We’re no exception, having already expanded our teams across the globe, including in India, which has a highly competitive and growing market of global pharma and CRO organizations. Our goal in India is to provide a first-class, values-driven, complete service across biometrics and data management to Veramed clients, who are seeking a low-cost alternative as part of their global strategy, but who don’t want to compromise on quality. And who want to benefit from greater flexibility, scalability and the potential to expand into new international markets, but without the commitment of a permanent step into a new geographical space. 

The challenges of expansion

Hiring and retention proved to be two of the most difficult things to circumnavigate during our expansion to India. Resourcing is hampered by India’s extensive notice period (60-90 days compared to a standard of just 30 days in the UK) which makes finding the right people at the right time significantly more challenging. It also took some time to establish Veramed as a trusted organization, and to build a rapport with those Data Managers, Statisticians and Programmers seeking work in India. 

Taking a multi-faceted approach to handling these challenges enabled us to not only meet but surpass our 2024 hiring goals. This started with employer branding to help attract new talent and to start the hiring process well ahead of time to ensure we could meet client expectations while still considering the extended notice period in India. This enabled us to avoid the need to hire based on speed rather than fit, and we were able to adhere closely to the Veramed values when selecting, shortlisting and ultimately hiring talent. We also invested in creating a unique EVP which is new to the Indian industry.  

This EVP is based on three, core pillars: 

1. Creating value

We intend to create value for employees by placing focus on work-life balance, rewards and recognition for exceptional performance, meaningful annual pay increases and best-in-class benefits. We will also ensure that we remain competitive in the local market through regular market surveys and analysis of these insights.

2. Training and development

In additional to regular training, we will be giving special attention to soft skills training, as well as education on specific therapeutic areas. We’ll be using individual development plans which provide a personalized approach to advancing skillsets and knowledge, to help ensure we place the most talented people into roles.  

 3. Creating a difference

We intend to create a difference in the Indian industry through valuable initiatives such as: 

• Internal branding 
• Employee ambassadors 
• Culture and knowledge exchange 
• High involvement in industry collaboration & volunteering 

Balancing culture in growing a global workforce

Many successful businesses have one thing in common – a strong and clearly distinct culture. This is a collection of values, behaviors and practices that define how a company operates. And it’s not just shaped by business owners and senior leaders. Instead, it’s carefully shaped by everyone involved – from CEOs to interns, from partners to clients.

Unsurprisingly, if a company grows, and particularly if it expands to include a global workforce, it’s essential to take steps to prevent the existing culture and core values from being diluted or lost, while also being open to understanding and working with the culture of new hires.

Our Culture Club is a key asset as we expand our offshore resources and continues to ensure our company values remain consistent across our globalized teams. Established in 2022, our Culture Club focuses heavily on providing awareness and training in areas that are key to maintaining our inclusive and welcoming culture, as well as celebrating our diversity and individuality. This includes neurodiversity awareness training, mandatory DE&I training and mental health first aiders, as well as quarterly meetings with representatives of the Executive Leadership Team which gives employees chance to ask pertinent questions, emphasising our flat, open structure.

Managing costs through outsourced teams

Budget constraints are a significant concern for many organizations, and a leading reason for global outsourcing. Hiring talent from competitive markets where labor costs are lower is an effective way to optimize results while remaining on-budget for your programme of activities.

We’ve already been able to replace UK-based roles with experienced individuals from Veramed’s established team in Ukraine, which is a lower cost region. In one particular case study, the client’s preference was to deploy an India-first resourcing strategy to take advantage of the potential cost savings. We drew on our considerable experience to overcome the challenges of short ramp-up time and high competition to successfully identify and recruit employees using an accelerated bench approach, with the aim of replacing partner resources with permanent hires as needed.

Utilizing technology for smooth collaboration

The acceleration of technologies for communication has undoubtedly helped to pave the way for more successful workforce collaboration, whether on a local, national or international scale. Cloud technology in particular has been instrumental, facilitating collaboration through access, sharing and editing from any device and location for approved users. This enables real-time collaboration for remote, distributed or hybrid workforces, in addition to direct access for external contributors such as contractors. Meanwhile, platforms such as Zoom and Webex support face-to-face conversations between coworkers, even if they are in entirely different locations and time zones.

And the future?

In September 2025, we will be starting a Graduate Training Program in India. Its purpose is to replicate the success we’ve had in the UK, and to develop new future leaders, and a larger pool of talent resource that we can access moving forwards into the latter half of the decade and beyond.

In April 2025, we opened our new Bengaluru office, which supports our efforts to grow Veramed’s contribution to finding and recruiting the very best talent from across the globe. Not only will we be seeking to hire experienced, senior staff, but we will also be looking to onboard developing talent and working with them through training and mentorship programmes to upskill them and get them ready to join our global workforce.

Get in touch to explore how our global talent can support your next clinical trial.