Unique Solution Proves Remote Work Can Expand Possibilities in Academic Research

Client Profile

A university medical center rated among the top ten percent of U.S. hospitals for cancer treatment and research.

The Challenge

Our client's long-range goal is to become a Comprehensive Cancer Center, a prestigious designation that would place them in the upper echelon of cancer research institutes worldwide.

Yet as their grant and sponsor funding quickly reached historic levels, the client also faced a historic attrition challenge.

The problem: for the first time they didn't have enough experience or capacity to conduct research at the scale and pace required by their funding sponsors. It was brought on by a spate of resignations within their clinical operations and regulatory management teams during the pandemic and great resignation. Finding the labor market scarce, they had to promote replacements from within. That put less experienced clinical personnel into open managerial roles which then left a void in the operational ranks.

So, unless they found a solution to properly enroll patients, allocate resources, and conduct more trials, the client, whose standing in the field of cancer research was at a critical

juncture, risked losing hundreds of millions in funding and the chance to develop life-saving treatments and potential cures.

The Actalent Approach

Research capacity was the client's immediate need. But just adding experienced regulatory and clinical operations personnel, without developing a sustainable retention strategy, wouldn't truly solve the problem or contribute to the level of long-term success they wanted to achieve.

The client needed quantity, quality, and continuity.

Actalent proposed a solution where remote candidates would fill some of the vacancies -- but only where it made sense, starting with regulatory roles. The client was initially reluctant having never deployed, like most academic research institutions, remote workers for clinical research.

Relying on labor and market data, however, to demonstrate the scarcity of qualified talent and the effectiveness of remote work in the right applications, we convinced the client to try it on a pilot basis. Immediately the talent pool expanded.

Our recruiting team designed a success profile for ideal candidates and quickly found regulatory and grant consultants that top-graded the client's departures. Soon the client had enough talent and managerial bandwidth to activate studies, enroll patients, and allocate resources with agility and efficiency.

Beyond feedback, we developed performance metrics based on FDA tracking scores and National Institute of Health guidelines, which were more aligned with the client's long-range goal of being a Comprehensive Cancer Center. We also designed a streamlined remote onboarding/IT set up process, enhancing both the client and consultant experience.

The Results

Actalent filled every vacancy with top-graded talent. And based on the metrics, our consultants are outperforming the client's departures in productivity and quality.

We also proved that remote work is not only possible in the academic research sector, but can create a distinct advantage when applied properly. That was a big win for our consultants; the chance to work remotely in academic research is what top talent had been seeking but not finding prior to this opportunity. The remote factor, attached to competitive salaries, above average totals in paid time off, top-tier healthcare benefits, and tuition reimbursement, made this an attractive placement. With so many choices and opportunities, more than ever before, consultants want to remain on this project.

Retention and performance, in turn, have greatly improved. And the client is taking on more studies, increasing their revenue, developing more therapies, enhancing their speed to market, and most importantly, improving patient quality of life.

Beyond the results, Actalent impressed the client with our industry knowledge and forward thinking -- especially with regards to deploying remote work (of which they were initially skeptical). And also how we collaborated with them to implement this unique solution, as opposed to just making sweeping suggestions without providing support. Today we continue to support the medical center as they grow. They've engaged our services team to conduct compliance reviews to ensure sustained quality and improvement. We're also starting to support emerging projects in other areas of their School of Medicine, beyond cancer research.