Through much of 2021, it seemed as if COVID-19 vaccines were enabling many countries to gently ease back into normalcy. Those hopes hit a rude awakening late in the year when the omicron variant emerged, and now industry leaders are forced—again—to quickly adapt.
How is biopharma preparing to work in 2022? In recent weeks, we've asked leaders at a range of companies about their workplace expectations next year, and how they can continue their lifesaving work despite the latest challenges posed by the pandemic.
At Sanofi, the company learned how to “operate effectively remotely” early in the pandemic, Clint Wallace, senior vice president of HR at Sanofi North America, said in a recent interview. Moving into 2022, the company aims to “spring from operation to collaboration, innovation, [and] building culture.”
Sanofi has worked to reinvent itself under CEO Paul Hudson, and, now, the company is setting out to “reimagine” its culture, Wallace said. Working face-to-face with colleagues will be a part of that, he added.
“There’s a deeper and different level of collaboration that you get in person versus over a screen,” Wallace said.
Hybrid work has been a hot topic for execs in the biopharma industry and beyond for more than a year. But while many signs seemed to point to a return to in-person work throughout much of the 2021, omicron threw a wrench in many corporate plans. See the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference, which just went virtual amid the latest surge in cases. And tech giant Apple just delayed its in-person work plans indefinitely.
In biopharma specifically, some companies have already started making real estate moves with a mind on the future of work.
GlaxoSmithKline, for instance, unveiled plans in October to leave its offices in Philadelphia and North Carolina in favor of smaller sites in the same regions. In North Carolina, the company said it'd leave a 562,000-square-foot campus in Research Triangle Park and head to a 68,000-square-foot office in Durham. In Philly, the company said it'd leave a 207,780-square-foot site in Navy Yard in favor of a 50,000-square-foot office in University City.
Aside from GSK, Pfizer in April said it was weighing a sale of its Philly-area campus as it searched for a more “modern and flexible” site, The Philadelphia Business Journal first reported. The company operates 1.89 million square feet at its Collegeville, Pennsylvania, site, according to the publication.
The real estate moves are highly visible illustrations of how pharma's operations have changed—and "modern and flexible" could describe what other companies are planning for 2022.
Sanofi has implemented a “flexwork” policy that allows employees to focus on the “need of the day” when deciding whether to stay home or head to an office for the day. Sanofi doesn’t want people to commute to the office just to sit through a Zoom meeting, Wallace explained, but if there’s a brainstorming session on the schedule, that warrants in-person work.
While the pandemic has proven that pharma can be effective while working remotely, Patricia Torr, president of Idorsia Pharmaceuticals U.S., predicts that "in-person interactions" will gradually "make a comeback." Hybrid work models "will likely become a norm," she said, "giving employees flexibility with working remotely while still maintaining a strong company culture through weekly in-person engagement and collaboration."
That belief is borne out by the strategies at Sanofi—and at Novartis, too.
The Swiss drugmaker's "Choice with Responsibility" program "empowers our associates everywhere to take responsibility for deciding where, when and how they work best to complete the tasks at hand, in consultation with other members of their team and in compliance with all legal requirements," a spokeswoman said.
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The company expects teams to "increasingly agree on flexible working models" to get the job done, she added.
For those who are coming in to offices, Novartis has "transformed" its workspaces to focus on "increased teamwork and co-creation, while also offering places for concentrated work and social gatherings (in accordance with local COVID-19 guidance)," the spokeswoman added.
When employees do come onto campus, they can work in a "focused and productive way," Novartis' spokeswoman noted.
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In recent months, Novo Nordisk and Biogen have begun bringing employees back to offices as well. At Novo Nordisk's offices in Denmark, employees returned "fully" at the beginning of August, a spokesperson said. Some of the company's offices in Asia-Pacific markets are still closed, but, generally, most international offices are at least partly open, he added.
In the U.S., Novo Nordisk's offices in Plainsboro, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., opened at "full capacity" in mid-November. The company's sales reps are conducting face-to-face meetings with doctors "in accordance with customer office policies and state and local guidelines."
"Employee safety remains our top concern and we will continue to evaluate the situation with COVID-19 in each market and follow local guidelines accordingly as the situation evolves," Novo's spokesperson said. "We also continue to encourage our employees to make use of flexible working arrangements as appropriate."
Similarly, a Biogen spokeswoman said the company welcomed "all campus-based and hybrid employees back to U.S. offices on November 1, 2021." Each of the company's employees are now "designated as campus-based, field-based, hybrid, and off-campus, to account for new ways of working."
The company is requiring its U.S.-based employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine or to seek an exemption on "religious or disability grounds," she said.
"Given the nature of the pandemic, we continue to monitor local conditions and will adjust our policies and protocols as needed through the remainder of 2021 and into the new year," Biogen's spokeswoman added.
While COVID-19's course in 2022 remains uncertain, one thing is clear: Biopharma experts have learned how to work in many different arrangements during the pandemic. Whether they'll spend most of 2022 in offices or at home, the show will go on.