Lack of career development prospects (27%) and inadequate team (20%) and company leadership (22%) were other bugbears highlighted by UK pharma.

The results mean it is the second year in a row that administrative/ bureaucratic inertia has topped the list of complaints in our survey. Overall, the results follow a similar trend to last year and they could thus be argued to represent long-standing annoyances for the UK pharmaceutical industry.

Bureaucratic inertia is not singular to the pharmaceutical industry and can be seen as being symptomatic of working for a large modern company. But the prospect of further consolidation in the sector is never far away, with  biotech Serono the current target of speculation.

According to Boehringer Ingleheim’s HR director Chris Chugg, an increase in merger and acquisition activity will do nothing to alleviate the problem of red tape. Chugg said Boehringer Ingelheim UK had targeted 2006 as the year to reduce bureaucracy and would be consulting on how best to combat it.

Previously, the company had poured a huge effort into revamping its communication strategy, particularly between managers and employees.

“We wanted to convey messages about what employees understood about our products and commercial success and how we could improve this communication,” said Chugg.

Different departments have different concerns in they day-to-day jobs and our survey picked out some interesting details.

The top concern for all departments was bureaucracy, with two exceptions. Those in regulatory affairs voted lack of resources higher, perhaps influenced by the mounting challenges they have faced in recent years with the enlargement of the EU in 2004 and the introduction last November of a mandatory centralised procedure for certain therapy areas. Our survey also found that for those in pre-clinical drug development, buearucracy was equally as annoying as the lack of internal communication they said they face in their jobs.

Higher up the corporate ladder the next most important gripes for senior managers after buearucracy were the lack of resources (32%) and their company’s leadership/strategy (28%).

An additional cause for concern highlighted by Boehringer Ingelheim’s Chris Chugg was how companies set and then communicate their levels of remuneration.

“One other gripe is that employees didn’t understand the money they were getting paid, particularly bonuses.  We have now made a point of explaining the reasons why employees are getting paid what they are,” he said.

This could prove to be a smart move. Among those who responded to our survey and were looking for a new job, 58% said pay and benefits were one of the main reasons for doing so – clear communication about these might help persuade people to stay.

Top 5 most annoying aspects of the job:

1. Administrative / bureaucratic inertia
2. Lack of internal communication
3. Lack of resources
4. Lack of career development prospects
5, Inadequate company leadership / strategy