2020 was a year of significant change for every company — but, as BioMarin looks towards the second half of this year, the company is focused on something different to a return to a ‘new normal’.
BioMarin is instead taking a purposeful approach, reshaping and rethinking the way it works — terms like hotdesking and blended working are out, and neighbourhoods — that continue to support cross-functional collaboration — are in.
Michael O’Donnell, VP of operations and site leader, describes what the company has achieved.
“BioMarin defines itself by its purpose and its people, both the teams who are encouraged to think differently and the patient populations we treat whose stories inspire us.
“We have always talked about a sense of community both within BioMarin and between the team here and the locality. Creating the feeling of a community means supporting each other, working towards shared goals, and recognising when we need to adapt — and this last year has been all about adapting.”
Culture
BioMarin is a world leader in developing and commercialising first — or best-in-class therapies for rare genetic diseases. Rare diseases have a very high level of unmet need, with most lacking even a single treatment option.
BioMarin is one of a small number of specialist companies headquartered in San Francisco with a large presence in Ireland working to change the future for patients with these diseases and their families who care for them.
Since opening in Shanbally in 2011
BioMarin has worked to build a culture of collaboration, with an emphasis on effective relationships, in a result-oriented workplace.
Michael O’Donnell is passionate about the work at Shanbally and is proud of what the team has created as the company moves towards a milestone 10th anniversary in Ireland.
“BioMarin’s people are driven to discover and develop medicines that give patients, their families, and caregivers hope where there was little or none, the reward of this work makes Shanbally a productive and enjoyable workplace.
“Colleagues working together with a shared sense of enthusiasm has resulted in the Cork site achieving a large number of awards and accreditations.
“It’s not all about operational excellence — being part of a company that makes therapies for those who would otherwise go untreated is something that energises and inspires our teams.”
With a culture that is built around a sense of team and community, how does the pressure of a global pandemic impact?
Michael O’Donnell describes their approach: “We shifted our focus from ‘virtualising’ what we had done before and instead we looked for brand new ways to create a sense of connection amongst the teams. Our culture is our strongest asset and over the last 15 months the ability to maintain and retain it has become critical to our business.”
Recent workforce survey results and focus group outputs show an overwhelmingly positive sentiment towards the uniqueness of the culture at BioMarin, far exceeding what is normally found at this point in an organisation’s life cycle, in the sector both nationally and globally.
Sharing some of the comments made by colleagues, Michael O’Donnell said, “the language was passionate and highlighted the culture as a differentiator in attracting and retaining people.
Phrases such as ‘unlike anywhere I have worked before’, ‘overwhelmed by how positive people are’ and ‘great feeling about the place’ were shared.”
Bringing people together
Creating opportunities to gather together remotely, as well as providing supports during a challenging year have been priorities for the site. BioMarin invests in the wellness of the workforce in a meaningful way, responding to the needs of employees.
Mental health awareness and wellness initiatives include the development of a team of 50 mental health first aiders, access to tools, talks, and classes from experts. Events in the last year covered topics such as fitness, parenting in a pandemic, sleep, nutrition and resilience. The Irish sites obtained the IBEC keepwell mark for their work in this area.
BioMarin created reasons to join together marking significant events. Rare Disease Day provided an opportunity for the teams to focus on why they do what they do, and connected them back to the patients they serve.
This is a significant date in the calendar and a number of events were centered around it – including speakers from patient groups, advocacy groups and the medical professionals with expertise in rare conditions.
BioMarin focuses on creating a sense of community both within the site and between the site and the local community. Being part of the local community means more than simply providing financial support for initiatives, but also being an active participant in the locality.
Teams from BioMarin have worked with local charities supporting cancer care and homeless services, community groups including funding the development of a community centre and local GAA clubs, and employees have taught ‘engineering in a box’ in schools in the locality with the aim of sparking excitement for STEM subjects.
Annually the company marks a community service day, undertaking maintenance projects at the COPE Foundation, the Lavanagh Centre, and Marymount Hospice.
BioMarin has ‘adopted’ the Shanbally village roundabout and supports the upkeep of the local area and has recently undertaken a bee pollinator project supporting biodiversity. BioMarin has received a Chamber Ireland CSR award recognising the company’s contribution to ‘making the site and local area more environmentally friendly’.
At the cutting edge
BioMarin’s pipeline has the potential to deliver breakthrough innovation in a number of rare diseases, with ground-breaking gene therapies and other novel treatments in development. The company invests double the industry average in research and development.
Michael O’Donnell explains how this is a significant factor in attracting and retaining talent.
“For many people it is important to know they will be working in a biotechnology company that is constantly innovating, working on developing new products, and known in the industry for that.”
The recently expanded offices in Dublin provide a hub for the company’s growing operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). BioMarin has grown to a workforce of close to 500 in Ireland. Irish-based staff now represent almost 20% of employees globally, making Ireland the most significant location outside of its US Headquarters.
Expansion, investment, recruitment
BioMarin has extended its on-site capabilities through the novel introduction of a QC Bioassay Laboratory and a Viral Vector Laboratory, which will be used in the QC testing and batch release of gene therapy products.
This groundbreaking company already operates one of the world’s largest gene therapy manufacturing facilities in California. In 2018, the company announced a €38 million expansion of BioMarin’s manufacturing facility in Cork with the establishment of a drug product filling facility in Shanbally.
BioMarin is working towards starting qualification operations in 2022. This will boost BioMarin’s workforce in Ireland by 10%, with recruitment commencing in Q4 2021 for on-boarding in January 2022 focusing on drug multi-product capabilities including sterile operations, visual inspection, and tech transfer.
The addition of DP filing operations now means that Shanbally can provide all aspects of biologics manufacturing, from drug substance through to secondary packaging and labelling.
BioMarin boasts an impressive employee retention rate, maintaining a figure of over 90% year-on-year. The company credits this with having the right culture while recognising that the best foundation for retention is ensuring that you’re selecting the right people to begin with.
Liz O’Mahony, HR Director has, along with her colleagues built relationships with third-level universities but ensuring people can map out a career path in BioMarin is also key to recruitment and retention.
“As a company, we have a strong commitment to employee development, supporting career longevity, investing in our people and providing training and supports throughout an individual’s career. This also benefits the business massively as the company can often fill senior vacancies that arise from internal talent.
“Our approach to learning and development has shifted to the ‘full-self’, meaning that we put a focus on training that supports the whole person’s wellbeing.”
The workforce in Ireland is diverse. BioMarin has a large workforce dedicated to operations in Shanbally. Dublin has expanded and incorporates a range of functions serving EMEA — Commercial, Finance, Legal, and Global External Operations. It is also home to many global members and senior global leaders.
The ability to build effective, trusted relationships is a shared attribute across the people at BioMarin. Building, nurturing and sustaining relationships with external partners, with patients, with patient groups, with medical professionals and, importantly, with colleagues is key.
Post-pandemic work to go beyond a ‘return to normal’
BioMarin is looking at something very different from just a ‘return to normal’ in building a workplace for the future.
Liz O’Mahony acknowledges that there isn’t a perfect formula or a one size fits all approach in creating true flexibility in the workplace.
“As an organisation, we are working to determine exactly what flexible working arrangements mean and how it works for the teams — for those whose work is onsite, those who could have a more hybrid approach or even some that could work fully remotely.
Innovative solutions are key, creating cross functional hubs and neighbourhoods that support various workstyles with emphasis on collaboration.”
BioMarin wants to create a workplace that means that you can safely and effectively work — regardless of location.
“In the future when our teams come together again, we want it to be in a space that facilitates even greater collaboration and connection. By enhancing our work spaces and ways of working, we will be in a position which enables us to achieve that.”
As BioMarin looks towards the future the company is bringing together the best combination of how they worked pre-pandemic and what they learned as a business in the last year. The result is, simply, a better way of working.