The pharmaceutical industry has made significant strides in developing drugs to combat numerous disease states more effectively than ever before. Many of the drugs that have been developed over the past few years are specialty or biologic drugs. Biologic drugs provide superior treatment options for serious or rare illnesses such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes. Biologics is the fastest growing area in pharmaceutical development. Vaccines are, in fact, biologics as are familiar drugs like Insulin.

The reality is, employee benefits plans were not meant to cover these kinds of claims. Carriers are doing what they can to reduce costs such as requiring employees to go through a prior authorization process to ensure that lower cost medications have been tried first. The most effective options involve looking to alternate funding sources such as provincial or industry programs. Our goal is to eliminate or, at least, substantially reduce the cost of biologics from benefits plans and for employees where possible. There are options, all of which involve the affected employees joining the provincial plan (Trillium, in Ontario).

 

 Learn more about Biologic drugs and the ASSOCIUM Specialty Drug Program >

No process in the life-cycle of an employee's engagement with an employer has as much influence on success as the effective matching of individual competence with expectations for outcomes. Certainly, clear delineation of goals and objectives, relevant metrics, a good review and feedback process and well-designed compensation and reward systems are all important factors in an employee's relationship with an employer. But in the absence of a good hiring process, none of these systems can make up for the gap between deliverables and deliverability that derives from an inappropriate matching of an individual to a job.

 

This article, in two parts, explores some of the key factors in a successful recruitment process. In Part 1 last month the preparatory stages of recruitment were covered. This month, Part 2 examines the execution of the interview stage. 

 

 Read part two covering the interview process of recruitment >    

Established in 1996, Career Edge is a self-sustaining social enterprise that connects new graduates - including those with disabilities - and internationally qualified professionals with employers to help launch careers through paid internships.

Career Edge's innovative internship programs provide cost-effective and low-risk workforce solutions to help multi-sector enterprises meet or exceed evolving business needs.

Learn more about Career Edge >

Our procurement services division launched in 1996 as an added source of assistance to the not-for-profit sector. Our goal is to help your organization by providing you access to competitively priced products and services as well as resolving any purchasing issues you may encounter.

ASSOCIUM Benefits 

Our employee group benefits division, being in business since 1997, gives us the experience to provide customized alternative plans and reduce administrative costs for our clients, while quoting sustainable rates at start up - and at renewal.  

For over 30 years, ASSOCIUM Consultants continues to lead the industry in specialized human resource services and organizational development.