Diversity In Action

IT plays a major role in drug research at Covance

Bringing medicine to market requires techies who enjoy challenge, declares the HR SVP. "We want people who say, 'I'm jazzed about being here.'"

Don Kraft of Covance: "If you like the thrill of being on the edge, come here."

IT is a competitive imperative for contract drug developer Covance. The company relies on its IT staff for quick access to data on the safety and effectiveness of its clients' drugs, says Don Kraft, SVP of human resources.

Bringing medicines to market requires scientists and IT pros who enjoy varied and challenging projects, Kraft notes. Covance provides that, plus a quick pace and a small-company atmosphere where each staffer can have a broad impact. "If you like the thrill of being on the edge, then you come here," Kraft says. "We're energized when we can accelerate the timeline and bring medicines to market sooner."

Covance became a public company in 1996. It's a contract research organization (CRO), supporting some 200 pharma and biotech companies through all phases of drug development. Its three main specialties are pre-human testing (early development); human clinical trials (late-stage development); and central lab testing (work associated with the entire process).

Although there are some 1,000 CROs around, only a half-dozen are publicly rated on the same scale as Covance, Kraft says. The company was a pioneer in pharmaceutical contract research.

About 65 percent of 6,600 employees are based in the U.S. The rest are in seventeen other countries. Product development work is becoming more global, Kraft says, although "Most of the money is still spent in Western Europe and America.

"Drug companies want to be able to launch a product worldwide," he says. "They need to meet regulatory requirements all over the world, so the work we do is based on the global nature of the drug industry."

IT plays a big part in this. It enables Covance to work quickly, efficiently, and cheaper than its clients can in-house. "We're helping our clients bring the miracles of modern medicine to market sooner," Kraft says.

Covance is looking for IT pros who are good at designing very efficient databases. A pharmaceutical industry background is helpful but not essential.

The company outsources its IT infrastructure duties, so most of its 300 IT folks are in applications and development. Another 100 to 150 are in data management or are statisticians.

"Our biggest need is people who can understand our business and have a strong technical base," Kraft says. "We need to help our clients streamline data collection and data analysis. Our goal is to cut months out of work that usually takes three or four years."

The company's workforce is relatively young, and about two-thirds female. The average employee is in her early thirties.

Partly because so many employees are women and partly because the company is small, "We offer much more flexibility, and we're more creative in how we help our folks with work/life issues than some of the big companies are," Kraft says. "Our employees appreciate our people-friendly work environment."

For example, the company is willing to work with mothers of young children who want to cut back their hours but still continue their careers. "If that's what you want to do, we'll look for ways to accommodate you. And then if you come back later and say, "Now I'm ready to be on the fast track again,' that's great," Kraft says. "We understand that happy employees are more motivated to succeed."

There's also a program to help employees locate high-quality daycare, and flexible spending accounts to apply to its cost. Covance is currently exploring eldercare and may have some programs in place next year as part of its general benefits.

To emphasize the importance of workforce diversity, the company requires all employees to attend awareness courses. It has been making annual employee opinion surveys, and created a diversity council in response to survey feedback.

The diversity program began with the creation of a global diversity council made up of senior management. Its role is to convert the company's overall diversity strategy into an annual plan. This year, the council set three goals, involving the women's affinity group, global virtual teams and mentoring. The group also oversees local diversity councils, which report on their work once a month.

A diversity scorecard, posted on the company intranet, reports on various diversity measures, some pulled directly from the employee surveys. "Are we creating a good place to work? Are we promoting women into management? We track our progress quarterly and post it. We've gotten good feedback from it," Kraft says.

The women's affinity group identified some issues of its own: women in leadership, skill deficiencies among women, networking, mentoring, and health. The group has vigorously addressed them, Kraft notes. The company will welcome more affinity groups if they work as hard as the women's group, he adds with a smile.

Employees who are interested in supporting charitable organizations in their local communities can access the Covance Foundation on the intranet to apply for grants. The company may soon formalize time off for community volunteerism.

"We're a growing company in a secure industry," Kraft says. "We have to invest in the satisfaction and development of our people so they can continue to serve our customers.

"Clearly, we want to create an environment where people really say, "I'm jazzed about being here.'"

D/C