The document discusses employee retention strategies in the pharmaceutical industry in Lebanon. It begins by outlining the importance of understanding the root causes of employee turnover. The research aims to assess the opinions of Lebanese pharmaceutical employees regarding the retention strategies used by their companies. A survey was conducted of 204 employees across 30 companies. The survey examined factors like compensation, career development, work environment, leadership, and organizational culture. The results showed areas of both satisfaction and dissatisfaction among employees. For example, over 50% were satisfied with their benefits but only 52% felt they had sufficient training opportunities. The research provides Lebanese pharmaceutical companies with insights to help them develop more effective employee retention strategies.

1. Employee Retention in the Pharmaceutical
Companies: Case of Lebanon
Prepared by: Bassima Hazimeh
Degree : Master in Business Administration
http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol18-issue4/Version-1/H1804015875.pdf
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2. Disclosure
“ Bassima Hazimeh ” declare to meeting attendees that there are no
financial relationships with any for-profit companies that are directly
or indirectly related to the subject of my presentation

3. Video
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4. World wide pharmaceutical sales was valued at USD 959 billion (2012 )
The major players in the pharmaceutical industry include the Swiss company
Novartis which ranked first in terms of its sales in 2012 that reached USD 50.7
billion. Second came the American company Pfizer, recording total sales of
USD 46.9 billion
The industry directly employs 650,000 people in the United States and 663,500
people in Europe.
Pharmaceutical Market
Source :Analysis of Lebanon’s Pharmaceutical Market
(2009 – 2013)
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5. Geographic distribution of pharmacies and labs according to
Mohafazat (2011)
Mohafazat Hospital
pharmacies
Private
pharmacies
Hospital labs Private labs
Beirut 89 223 20 41
Mount Lebanon 57 1,027 38 67
North 24 349 22 29
south 23 243 23 31
Nabatieh 8 145 - -
Bekaa 20 328 18 13
Total 221 2,315 121 181
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6. Direct Cost: Expenditures incurred on the
selection, recruitment, induction and training of
new employees
Indirect Cost: Cost of learning, reduced morale,
and pressure on the existing employees and the
loss of social capital.
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7.  People leave a company for more pay
 Incentive programs produce long-term profits and improve productivity and morale.
 People don’t want more responsibility.
 Loyalty is dead.
 improving employee satisfaction is expensive.
 Employee satisfaction is “fluff.”
 company/industry/people are different!
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8. Definition
Employee retention is all about ‘keeping good people and taking
measures to retain them in organization for maximum period of time
There is no one Strategy or no single “quick fix” to the problem.
Identifying the reasons for employee turnover in organization is a
critical first step to designing strategies to combat it.
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9. Process
Identification of
Reasons for High
Turnover
Gathering
information
Formulating
retention
strategy
Implementation
Monitoring
and
Evaluating
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Gap closing process
1-Identification of reasons for high turnover (for example, low salaries, heavy workloads, office- work
burdens, poor supervision and/or lack of supervisory support, unavailability of training and/or insufficient time to
participate in training, low morale, and risk of violence).
2-Gathering information (using SWOT analysis, gathering the data to help identify the cause of turnover ;
exit interviews and surveys (EIS); staff focus groups and surveys; and, detailed employee turnover reports).
3-Implementation of retention strategies Each employee makes the decision to stay or go based on a complex
mix of tangible and intangible factors that are unique to what that person values

10. Components
A . Career planning, development and training program
Development and training
program
Development and training
program
Financial
benefits
Financial
benefits
Working
environment and
organization
culture
Working
environment and
organization
culture
Leadership styleLeadership style
Career Development should be tailored to meet Organization and employee needs
 career path and growth options in the organization
 skills are needed to achieve this
 Gaps and Area of Development
 Recommendation for high performers
 promoting from within
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11. B. Financial benefits Development and training
program
Development and training
program
Financial
Financial
benefits
Financial
Financial
benefits
Working
environment and
organization
culture
Working
environment and
organization
culture
Leadership styleLeadership style
 Fairness
 Incentives to superior performance
 Bonus
 Pay matching job performance
 retirement benefits, daycare, tuition
reimbursement, Long-term disability
 Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs)
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Employee benefits are , non-wage compensation provided to employees in
addition to their normal wages or salaries

12. C. Working environment
and organization culture
Development and
training program
Development and
training program
Financial
benefits
Financial
benefits
Working environment
and organization
culture
Working environment
and organization
culture
Leadership
style
Leadership
style
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13. E. Leadership style
 Leading by example
 Creating high sense of belonging
 Implementing reward system
 Giving employee decision making space
 Encouragement of new ideas
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Development and
training program
Development and
training program
Financial
benefits
Financial
benefits
Working environment
and organization
culture
Working environment
and organization
culture
Leadership
style
Leadership
style

14. Benefits
• Saving costs of turnover
• Preventing loss of company knowledge
• Avoiding interruption of customer service
• Decreasing rate of turnover
• Maintaining goodwill of the company
• Regaining efficiency
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15. Summary
The reasons for high employee turnover are generally
multifaceted. Understanding deep root of the problem is the
critical first step to design strategies and to combat it.
The purpose of the current research is to assess opinion of
the Lebanese employee working in pharmaceutical industry
about retention strategies followed by their Companies and
management efforts to retain them in their workplace.
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16. Research objective
 Importance of employee retention strategies in today corporate world
Strategies employed by pharmaceutical companies to improvise on rate of turn
over
 Show how to effectively identify, develop and retain capable and skilled
employees.
What are the considerations that should be taken when implementing a
retention strategy in an organization?
What types of leadership development have been practiced when implementing
such a program?
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17. Scope of the Research
Observation and interviews with employees in different pharmaceutical
companies, sales managers, human resource managers as well as chairpersons in
different companies.
 Revision of rules, regulations and procedures in recruiting, training,
development, compensation programs, rewards and recognitions.
 Studying the importance and significance of human capital management (HRM)
in today corporate world, employee turnover faced by companies and cost this act
adds up to companies.
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18. Research Methodology
Data sources: primary Data (field surveys)
secondary data-internet ,books and journals
 Area of research: Case of Lebanon
Research approach :Survey Method
Research instruments: Questionnaires and interviews
Sampling Method: Quantitative analysis using SPSS
Sample size :204 employees from 30 pharmaceutical companies
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19. Questionnaire design
64 questions divided in seven sections:
1. Section one, designed to assess the Salary and financial impact
2. Section two, question six to sixteen covering job/working conditions
3. Section three, from seventeen to thirty four designed to assess Work Relationships
4. Section four, from thirty five to forty two tackling culture within organization
5. Section five, question forty three to fifty cover motivation strategy in the
organization
6. Section six, designed to evaluate Leadership style within the organization.
Question fifty one to fifty seven.
7. Section Seven, designed to assess the respondent’ demographics
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20. Result and finding
Financial benefits:
56 % of respondents agreed that
their salary is fair to their peers in
the organization, 25% uncertain
while 19 % disagree.
Salary is fair to their peers in the organization
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21. Result and finding
Financial benefits:
Respondents are on the average
satisfied with their Financial benefits
Employees satisfied with company benefits
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22. Result and Finding
Responses
Percent of CasesN Percent
motivation To you, the following factors
are considered motivational at
work: adequate rest area
88 12.0% 43.6%
To you, the following factors
are considered motivational at
work: sanitary services
127 17.3% 62.9%
To you, the following factors
are considered motivational at
work: medical facility
84 11.5% 41.6%
To you, the following factors
are considered motivational at
work: sport facilities
133 18.1% 65.8%
To you, the following factors
are considered motivational at
work: housing
124 16.9% 61.4%
To you, the following factors
are considered motivational at
work: other factors
177 24.1% 87.6%
Total 733 100.0% 362.9%
Motivational factors
 flexibility of working Hours
 Incentives ,Schooling..
 job security
 training program courses,
certificates
 Support , trust, recognition of
Effort
 management leadership style,
healthy relationships.
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23. Result and finding
Responses
Percent of CasesN Percent
Dedication your dedication to work is
based on the management
effort to improve employee
morale
101 16.1% 50.5%
your dedication to work is
based on proper delegation
system
149 23.8% 74.5%
your dedication to work is
based on balance between
authority and responsibility
86 13.7% 43.0%
your dedication to work is
based on the existence of
proper encouragement
114 18.2% 57.0%
your dedication to work is
based on other factor
176 28.1% 88.0%
Total 626 100.0% 313.0%
Job/Working conditions
Dedication to work is based :
 balance between authority and
responsibility (57.8%)
 management efforts to improve
morale (50.5%)
 existence of proper encouragement
(44.1%)
 existence of a proper delegation
system (27%).
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24. Result and Finding
Are you having sufficient training Opportunities
52 % of respondents have sufficient
job advancements and 48 % of them
don’t
Job /working conditions: Career planning

25. Result and Finding
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid yes 142 69.6 69.6 69.6
no 62 30.4 30.4 100.0
Total 204 100.0 100.0
I believe that unsuccessful teamwork is based on lack of
cooperation among the members
70 % of respondents agreed on unsuccessful team work is due to lack of cooperation
between team members and 30 % of respondent answered unsuccessful team work
depends on other factors.
Work relationship
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26. Result and Finding
A. My immediate supervisor is fair with subordinates
74 % of respondent agree that their immediate supervisors are fair with subordinates, 7%
are not and 19% are neutral
B. Leadership and management enjoy a high level of trust between employees
76% of respondents agreed that leadership and management enjoy high level of trust, 13 % disagree
and 11% uncertain
C. Managers keep me Informed and up to date
68% of respondents agreed on that manager’s keep them informed and updated, 17%
disagree and remaining are uncertain
Leadership Style
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27. Result and Finding
Organization Culture
78% of respondents agreed on that the organization celebrate success with
their employees, 13% of companies don’t do this and 9 % uncertain
a. The Organization celebrates its success with employees
b. The organization encourages the sharing of information, knowledge, and resources
76% of respondents agreed on that their organization encourages sharing of information, knowledge
and resources,10% disagree and 14% are uncertain.
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28. Result and Finding
t
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid strongly disagree 8 3.9 3.9 3.9
disagree 14 6.9 6.9 10.8
uncertain 32 15.7 15.7 26.5
agree 110 53.9 53.9 80.4
strongly agree 40 19.6 19.6 100.0
Total 204 100.0 100.0
There is continuous communication in the
organization about the goals and progress achieved
74% of respondents agreed on that
there is continuous communication
in the organization about goals and
progress achieved, 11% disagree and
15% are uncertain
Organization Culture
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29. Result and Finding
69% of respondents agreed on the facts
that organizations supports honest two
ways communication between managers
and employees to share and exchange
ideas, 17% disagree and 14% are
uncertain
Organization supports honest two ways communication
between managers and employees to regularly share and
exchange ideas
Organization Culture
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30. Result and Finding
Demographic
A . Firm type:
51 % of respondents are working in multinational companies while 49% are in generic firms
B. Current job Level:
62% of respondents have non managerial position, 16% first line management, 18% middle management and 4% are from top
management
C. Experience in the organization :
56% of respondents have 1-5 year of experience in the current organization, 20% have 6-10 years, 11% have 11-15 years of experience in the current
firm, 8% have 16-20 years and 5% more than 20 years.
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31. Result and Finding
Survey cross tabs
Count
you are satisfied with
duties and responsibilities
assigned to you
Totalyes no
Are you in position to
work with devotion
and happiness?
yes 136 17 153
no 26 25 51
Total 162 42 204
Crosstab" Are You in Position to Work With
Devotion and Happiness" Versus “You Are Satisfied
With Duties and Responsibilities Assigned to You”
Symmetric Measures " are you in position to work with
devotion and happiness" versus "you are satisfied with
duties and responsibilities assigned to you"
Value
Asymp.
Std. Errora
Approx.
Tb
Approx.
Sig.
Interval by
Interval
Pearson's R .406 .075 6.313 .000c
Ordinal by
Ordinal
Spearman
Correlation
.406 .075 6.313 .000c
N of Valid Cases 204
67 % of respondents are working with devotion and happiness& they are satisfied with duties
and responsibilities assigned to them Pearson’s R= .406 moderate correlation
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32. Result and Finding
Count
Managers communicate frequently and
honestly about issues affecting employees
Total
strongly
disagree
disagre
e
uncertai
n agree
strongly
agree
I am happy
with the
position and
the status of
my
organization
strongly
disagree
6 3 0 2 0 11
disagree 3 4 2 11 4 24
uncertain 1 6 19 23 2 51
agree 3 6 19 58 8 94
strongly
agree
0 1 3 11 9 24
Total 13 20 43 105 23 204
Value
Asymp.
Std.
Errora
Approx
. Tb
Approx.
Sig.
Interval by
Interval
Pearson's R .400 .075 6.206 .000c
Ordinal by
Ordinal
Spearman
Correlation
.331 .071 4.982 .000c
N of Valid Cases 204
Crosstab "I am Happy with the position and status of my
job "versus " managers communicate frequently and
honestly about issues affecting employees
Symmetric Measures "I am happy with position and
status of my job" versus "Managers communicate
honestly and frequently about issue affecting
employees
42 % of respondents are happy with the position and status of their work& agree on that managers
communicate honestly and frequently about issues affecting employees Person’s R=.400.moderate correlation 32

33. Survey Regression Analysis
Leadership within the Organization
Coefficients a
Model Summary
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate Durbin-Watson
1 .473a .224 .220 .90420 1.962
a. Predictors: (Constant), I receive recognition and praise from my seniors for a job well
done
b. Dependent variable: I am happy with status and position of my job
There is 47 % linear
association between 2
variables, which is quite
good correlation.
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardize
d
Coefficient
s
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 1.773 .231 7.667 .000
I receive recognition and praise
from my seniors for a job well
done
.474 .062 .473 7.636 .000
a. Dependent Variable: I am happy with the position and the status of my job
The regression equation as:
I am happy with the position and
status of my job %= 1.773+-0.474 (I
receive recognition and praise from
seniors for a job well done)
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34. Survey Regression Analysis
Leadership within the Organization
Coefficients a
Model Summary
By looking at the B column
under the Unstandardized
Coefficients column, we
can present the regression
equation as:
I am happy with the
position and status of my
job%= 1.742 +0.487
(Managers empower
employees to make
effective decisions
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate Durbin-Watson
1 .502a .252 .249 .88753 1.763
a. Predictors: (Constant), Managers empower employees to make effective
decisions
b. Dependent Variable: I am happy with the position and the status of my job
The R value is 0.502, which
indicates a correlation; there is 50
% linear association between 2
variables, which is quite good
correlation.
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardize
d
Coefficients
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 1.742 .218 7.981 .000
Managers empower
employees to make
effective decisions
.487 .059 .502 8.257 .000
a. Dependent Variable: I am happy with the position and the status of my job
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35. Survey Regression Analysis
Culture within the Organization
Coefficients a
Model Summary
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate Durbin-Watson
1 .474a .225 .221 .90353 1.834
a. Predictors: (Constant), There is equal opportunity for advancement at my work
b. Dependent Variable: I am happy with the position and the status of my job
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 2.130 .186 11.444 .000
There is equal opportunity for
advancement at my work
.429 .056 .474 7.661 .000
a. Dependent Variable: I am happy with the position and the status of my job
I am happy with position and status
of my job %= 2.130+0.429 (there is
equal opportunities for advancement
at my work
there is 47 % linear association between 2
variables, which is quite good correlation.
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36. As for the first section of survey questionnaire
which is designed to assess the Salary
56 % of respondents agreed that their salary is fair to their peers in the organization, 26%
uncertain while 19 % disagree.
60% of respondents agreed that salary offered is fair to their counterparts in similar job in other
organization, 17% are uncertain while 27% disagree that their salary is fair
48% of respondents agreed on that their Salary adjustment reflect job performance, 31% disagree and
21 are uncertain
Employee satisfied by company R=0.348 working with
benefits P=.000 happiness
Summary of Major Findings
36
Financial benefits Leadership Culture
Working
condition

37. Summary of Major Findings
Leadership within organization
65% of respondents agreed on the fact that there is a continuous communication about employees’
development, 17% disagree on communication about employees developments and 18% are
uncertain
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Happy with
the status of
workR=.400 P= .000
Managers communicate
honestly on issues
affecting employees
Financial benefits Leadership Culture
Working
condition

38. Summary of Major Findings
Leadership within organization
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Financial
benefits
Leadership Culture
Working
condition
 Leaders and managers enjoy a high level of trust
 Recognition and praise from seniors for a job well done
 Managers empower employees to make effective decisions
 Managers show transparency and respect in their interactions with employees
 Supervisor shows interest in employee‘s welfare and progress
 Managers Show Fairness

39. Summary of Major Findings
Motivation within organization
39
Financial
benefits
Leadership Culture
Working
condition
 Payment matches job performance
 Organization provides the materials and equipment needed to perform the work
 Job promotions are awarded based on merit
 Promotion prospect in the company are good
 Equal opportunity for advancement at the organization
 Job is enjoyable, rewarding and satisfying
 Teamwork is encouraged in the department
 Colleagues are committed to perform high quality work

40. Summary of Major Findings
Motivation within organization
40
Financial
benefits
Leadership Culture
Working
condition
The organization celebrates its successes with employees
The organization gives incentives to superior performance
The organization deals effectively with poor performance
The mission of their companies makes them feel important ( Values in the company )
The organization encourages the sharing of information, knowledge, and resources
There is continuous communication in the organization about the goals and progressed achieved
The organization supports honest two-way communication to regularly share and exchange ideas
between managers and employees.

41. Summary of Major Findings
41
Financial
benefits
Leadership Culture
Working
condition
 Receive support from peers in the department
 Clear job description ( Each know what is expected at work)
 The working relationship with peers is generally amicable
 Team spirit ( alignment of common goals and objectives )
 cooperation, coordination , communication
 no competition among team members

42. Summary Of Major Finding : Business Model

43. Conclusion
In Lebanon, Companies tend to head hunt from their competitors. Currently not
many companies adopt employee retention strategies, most of the organizations fall
short in their efforts to offer the necessary tools to improve, develop and retain
talented employees.
Moreover, If employees feel that they are not able to use their full potential and are
not heard and valued, they are likely to leave. They need a transparent work
environment to work in to get a sense of achievement and belongingness, where they
can best utilize their potential and realize their skills.

44. Recommendation
As Hejase, Eid, Hamdar, &Haddad(2012) concluded" reaching a competitive
edge depend on the employment, engagement and retention of the talented
and experienced employees who are distinct and skilled in showing great
leadership and technical abilities. Right people doing the right jobs are so
precious and need to be well managed to offer and guarantee the best business
achievements .
Efforts must be done to retain talented employees"
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