Client Context
Our client is a global boutique life sciences strategy consultancy delivering advisory services across the product lifecycle at asset, corporate, and portfolio level. Operating in a highly competitive US market, the firm had ambitious growth plans and needed to expand its consulting team across multiple levels, including Consultants, Senior Consultants, and Managers.
As competition for specialist talent intensified, leadership wanted greater clarity on how their employee value proposition compared to peer firms — and where hidden retention risks could undermine long-term growth.
The Challenge
The client faced several questions:
- How competitive is our current offer across key consulting levels?
- Where are we losing candidates to competitors, and why?
- How can we refine our value proposition to attract key talent?
- How do we retain key hires as we continue to grow?
Without a clear, data-led view of the external market, the firm risked losing high-potential hires early in their tenure and making investment decisions based on assumptions rather than evidence.
Our Approach
We were engaged to provide a structured, evidence-based assessment of the talent landscape and translate this insight into practical retention levers.
Our work included:
- Competitor benchmarking across seven direct US competitors, covering role scope, organisational structures, headcount by level, progression timelines, working patterns, value levers, and demographic composition.
- Progression and compensation mapping over a five-year timeframe up to Manager level, highlighting how salary trajectories evolved over time and where internal gaps could increase attrition risk.
- Academic pathway analysis, comparing compensation and progression trends for undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD hires against key competitors.
This approach gave leadership a clear view of where they were leading the market — and where they were vulnerable.
Key Insights
The analysis surfaced several critical findings:
- Progression timelines were faster than the market average, representing a strong but under-leveraged retention advantage.
- Entry-level compensation for PhD hires lagged competitors, contributing to candidate drop-off and early attrition.
- Bonus structures were competitive in practice but poorly communicated, meaning their full value was not being recognised by candidates or employees.
Recommendations
Based on these insights, we supported the client in refining its retention and reward strategy, including:
- Advising on reframing the language of bonus structures in employment contracts to clearly communicate maximum achievable outcomes rather than target expectations.
- Aligning PhD entry-level compensation with the market through targeted salary uplifts.
- KRS additionally supported with the recruitment of four PhD graduates through our Campus-to-Career service.
- Positioning accelerated progression timelines as a core element of the firm’s employee value proposition.
Impact
The client gained a clear, evidence-based understanding of its competitive position and implemented targeted changes that materially improved its ability to attract and retain high-value talent.
These insights directly informed early talent hiring decisions, resulting in the successful recruitment of multiple PhD graduates and a stronger, more sustainable foundation for continued growth in a competitive market.
