Do clinical research industries allow work-from-home for researchers?

Posted by Zain Malik on April 6th, 2021

Do research industries allow work-from-home for researchers? On account of the vast developments of technology and the COVID-19 pandemic, along with globalization, there are several home-based pharmaceutical jobs and biotech jobs as well. These are also largely based due to the change in the attitude of the employers. Working from home also has a large number of benefits for both the companies and the workers. It is most likely that home-based pharma-jobs will grow even after the pandemic. There are many institutes that offer the best clinical research courses.

This form of working has accelerated innovation as well as flexible collaboration. Remote interaction between healthcare representatives and healthcare professionals has soared over the last few months. A large number of studies show that healthcare representatives prefer virtual interactions to conventional ones as they save a lot of time and are extremely convenient.

The transition to working-from-home

The hardest challenge in transitioning to working from home for the pharmaceutical and biotech jobs involves adhering to strict pandemic protocols. Understanding how much work can be done outside of the workplace while complying with the protocols to reduce risk at the workplace is a challenging adjustment. Owing to the nature of some job roles, certain positions in this sector are more likely to have an opportunity to work-from-home than most other roles. Employees from the human resources, marketing, finance, and other supporting staff had a quick transition to working from home. However, this transition is harder for roles like lab workers, doctors, lab experts, etc.

Apart from this, pharmaceutical sales representatives had to find an alternative model to conduct their business strategies. Emails, digital conferencing, and other digital platforms have made this transition much easier for these kinds of jobholders. They have effectively able to conduct their business even during the pandemic while adhering to all the protocols.

Based on the type of company and their policy, it is seen that some supporting pharma and biotech jobs may continue working -from-home even after the pandemic. However, there may be a few companies that may choose not to allow work-from-home to their employees. Great ideas generally come from working side-by-side with colleagues, researchers, etc., show us that working together in a central environment can benefit any business.

Development of a remote work-force

The continuous need for training and up-skilling of the life science industry work-force to make the most of the data and digitally driven technology comes with more remote working. The key to the future of training and up-skilling to empower people to take control of their learning will completely be based on digitally-driven technology. Trust is a vital aspect of any remote work-force. This should filter down even into personal training programs. It increases productivity and also boosts the confidence of the employees as their strengths and weaknesses shall be known.

It could lead to an exciting future where job applicants will be not be restricted by their geographic location. Despite this globalization of working have its challenges, it has proven to be adaptable due to the restrictions of the COVID-9 pandemic. It is seen that a remote work-force is just as efficient and collaborative as office-based teams. This also gives rise to diversity, enabling the introduction of new ideas and perspectives that can challenge and improve existing technologies. 

The future of remote working in the research world

The pharma and biotech sectors were not immune to the financial implications of the Covid-19 pandemic. This industry as a whole is experiencing unprecedented growth globally. The new entrants of this industry are entering the industry at a pivotal time owing to the race to develop and test the new vaccine to treat the Covidc-19 disease.

Despite medical research being a face-to-face approach, it is seen that this is possible even remotely for most job roles of this sector. The healthcare professionals administer treatments and monitor patients as the patients are treated only at specific sites. Those resuming life-saving research, which was stalled at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, need to implement these new technologies that can alleviate the burden of the patients. This approach will not only reduce costs but will also improve efficiency. This form of working also has the potential to open up trials for a large number of patients of diverse communities. It also improves the work-life balance of trial administrators.

As today's technology has enabled many businesses to connect their global work-force, the number of people doing clinical research training from home is likely to increase. It shall change the world of medicine as mobile healthcare shall begin to change the way of conducting clinical trials in the future. Working and learning communities can now go beyond a common location due to rapid digital and data technologies growth.