In an email interview with ET, Nastik discusses how India is strategically important for Novartis and the strategy in the post-pandemic environment. Edited excerpts:
What is the attrition rate in the pharma industry and what’s NTO’s strategy during the pandemic?
We do not have any market intelligence on the pay cuts and layoffs arising due to Covid-19, but we can safely say that in the market there could be impact on long-term projects and pipeline projects due to the pandemic. Novartis made a public commitment to not lay-off people due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, Novartis has been very clear on the long-term strategic goals for NTO and we are ahead of the pharma market to execute our strategies even during the pandemic. We are currently at 400 head count (NTO Hyderabad) and are looking to increase this by the year-end. New hires could be both internal and external.
And the hiring will be mostly for Hyderabad?
We are looking at hiring in Hyderabad, Novartis Knowledge City (NKC). Hyderabad being the 6th largest city in India for the talent market space, has been able to attract with its open and welcoming culture talents, including global citizens who are interested to return to India.
What about attrition at NTO?
NTO attrition rate is trending at 5% annually. The key contributing factors for low attrition rate are the employees themselves who embody and breathe the culture of Novartis. We continue welcoming new hires month after month at NTO even during this pandemic, which has relayed a positive message in the market.
What is the company’s retention strategy amid the pandemic?
We are committed to making our employees feel at ease. We are assisting our employees to balance private and business requirements by making full use of activity-based working and are encouraging our employees to use their vacation days to find a balance between business continuity and personal time.
How significant is India as a strategic region for NTO?
India has significant manufacturing expertise. We want to transform our operations to meet the changing demands of our portfolio and allow us to adapt to the constraints of global health systems, increasing affordability and access to our products so we can continue to serve our patients and the business in a sustainable way.
The transformation will be driven by a new operating model characterised by the setup of 2 operations centres —Hyderabad, India, and Slovenia — providing functional expertise to our manufacturing sites while enabling them to focus on their core of making medicines.
What is the business roadmap for the post-pandemic period?
We have been ensuring the supply of key medicines across borders, managing workforce safety, while also handling evolving government restrictions. We established the NTO task force to appropriately manage and bring stability to an otherwise unstable time. Post the pandemic and beyond, we envisage a stronger supplier collaboration to reinforce an entire supplier ecosystem for greater resilience. During this process, E2E (end-to-end) digitization of our supply-chain has improved the speed, accuracy, and flexibility of supply-risk management.
How do you see the new normal after Covid-19?
Covid-19 has shown the world that there are other sources of disruption. We have learned about the efficacy of business continuation plans through the crisis .