Industry: Life Science   

Company Size: 1500+ employees

Engagement Length: 6 months

Focus Area: Working together, the hybrid way, transforming into a hybrid environment

Background:

During the later phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major pharmaceutical company urgently needed to reintegrate its workforce, particularly among high-impact teams such as R&D, regulatory, commercial, and supply chain. While remote work had taken hold, it caused slower cross-functional decisions, siloed communication, reduced innovation and velocity and executive misalignment on hybrid policies and productivity. The challenge for this organization wasn’t just returning to the office—it was rebuilding trust, collaboration, and a high-performance hybrid culture.

Goals:

Three guiding principles were established for this project: 

• Well-being - a healthy hybrid work environment grounded in mutual trust where employees feel safe, productive and supported to achieve their career and personal goals.

• Collaboration & Innovation - an energized hybrid work environment where employees work together, leveraging technology to generate creative solutions and optimize team productivity.

• Sense of Belonging - a diverse and inclusive hybrid work environment where; regardless of where an employee works, they are connected, creating a sense of pride, loyalty and commitment.

Approach:

We partnered with the Change Lead and the Executive Sponsors to develop an overarching change and communication plan to engage and transform into a hybrid work environment, including:  

• Leadership Alignment to define guiding principles for the return to work 

• Communication Campaign to share targeted messages to influence change

• Pulse Checks to survey employee sentiment and capture feedback 

• Learning Café on effective hybrid meetings, building relationships and networking 

• Post Project Review to support transparency and to assess lessons learned

Results:

• Met established timelines for RTW

• Employees reported improved clarity on RTW expectations and hybrid teams 

• Significant reduction in cross-functional miscommunication

• Retention rates stabilized after a prior six-month decline