Actelion improves candidate quality and aligns staff to ... - SHL.com

Case Study | Actelion
Actelion improves candidate
quality and aligns staff to
company values with SHL
Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd is a biopharmaceutical company, headquartered
in Basel, Switzerland, which focuses on the discovery, development and
commercialisation of innovative treatments to serve high unmet medical needs.
The company has over 2,500 employees and operative affiliates in 29 countries
worldwide.
The company’s strengths in science and innovation, its leadership in addressing
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and its global presence have given Actelion a track
record of superior value creation for its stakeholders.
The challenge
Actelion’s search for new talent was placing a significant strain on HR resources. Alex
Khatuntsev, Actelion’s HR Director, explains, “We wanted to improve our ability to
acquire the best candidates before our competitors and to be able to predict future
performance more effectively. That meant finding a more efficient and consistent
way of assessing people against the needs of the role and the company.”
The company identified three key requirements:
Attract, identify and retain specialist talent. Actelion needed to hire and develop the
right talent on a more efficient and objective basis.
Ensure a good fit to the company’s current and future needs. Actelion’s ability to
recruit and develop people based on its core values and the skills required of its future
leaders was critical.
Streamline its hiring process by implementing a single integrated process for
recruitment, from identifying the requirement and sourcing candidates through to
offer management and on-boarding.
“We have a lot of
confidence in the
partnership. We know
SHL’s opinions and
recommendations are
always very strongly
validated, which helps
deliver results and win
buy-in from our senior
management.”
Alex Khatuntsev,
HR Director, Actelion
The solution
Actelion recognised it needed a global set of competencies, linked to its core values,
to inform recruitment and development decisions.

shl.com
Case Study | Actelion
An Actelion competency framework was customised by SHL from the company’s
Universal Competency Framework (UCF), which sets out the key behaviours driving
performance across a wide range of jobs and organisations and is based on extensive
occupational psychology research. SHL aligned the UCF to Actelion’s company values
of ‘Innovation’, ‘Trust & Teamwork’, ‘Open Communications’ and ‘Results Driven’.
Alongside the values work, SHL also facilitated workshops to define the technical
skills required for specific roles.
To enable the company to assess employees and candidates against the framework,
SHL trained Actelion’s HR department in competency based interviews and
provided a ‘selection toolbox’ of assessment methods that could be used by HR, line
managers and agencies. This included tailored on-site assessment exercises, such as
role plays, to test leadership skills.
Khatuntsev comments, “Our work with SHL has given us a much more streamlined,
integrated solution that allows us to recruit and develop according to consistent
criteria. We also have a fair and effective means of targeting critical management
competencies in the people we think have real potential.”
The results
Improved candidate quality at lower cost
A much more streamlined process is helping the company identify the most suitable
candidates more efficiently and at lower cost. Khatuntsev comments, “Not only have
we improved candidate quality, but need far fewer of our people involved at interview
stage.”
Improved perception of HR and the company
Khatuntsev highlights the positive impact the project has had on internal perceptions
of his department. “We’re seen as more strategic and professional, so we’re finding
they’re much more likely to listen to our advice in other areas.”
He also believes that the company’s more consistent and objective approach to
selection benefits the brand. “Giving fact-based feedback shows it’s a fairer process,
helping us attract more of the high quality candidates we need.”
A strong partnership
The results, and the credibility of the SHL solution with Actelion’s senior
management, mean Khatuntsev is confident of a strong and building relationship. He
says, “We have a lot of confidence in the partnership. We know SHL’s opinions and
recommendations are always very strongly validated, which helps deliver results and
win buy-in from our senior management.”
Actelion needed to
improve performance
and business growth
by streamlining talent
management and
aligning staff more
closely to its values
SHL devised a global set
of competencies, linked
to Actelion’s core values
Ensured more efficient
recruitment and
development and
improved perception of
HR and the company
Supporting
more than
10,000
customers
every year
Organisations that understand and maximize
their people’s potential achieve outstanding
results. SHL gives you the insights to make
better decisions about your people.
We call this People Intelligence,
Business Results.