Swiss Quotas Won’t Limit Pharmaceutical Talent Movement - Yet

The vote on quotas for immigration in Switzerland will not immediately affect the pharmaceutical industry, according to life sciences recruiter, Clinical Professionals. However, looking beyond the Swiss developments, talent mobility could be impacted should this action spill into the EU proper.
 

Despite the announcement this weekend that the government will now have a quota system in place for non-EU nationals, the specialist recruitment consultancy has argued that highly skilled life sciences and medical professionals will remain able to move into Switzerland with little difficulty.
 

Yvette Cleland, Group Managing Director at Clinical Professionals commented: “For any pharmaceutical professional, the ability to move across borders — particularly in Europe — is key to career progression, so it’s understandable that this announcement could cause a level of unease. However, having monitored this situation over recent months, we are certain this will have no impact on such highly skilled and highly sought after individuals, particularly with the main focus of this quota system concentrating on blue collar workers.”
 

“With Switzerland a major hub for the life sciences sector it’s perhaps fair to say that this industry contributes a significant amount to the Swiss economy, so it stands to reason that organisations will still be able to recruit across borders. And with pharmaceutical professionals remaining in particular demand as a talent crisis looms, highly skilled individuals will certainly have no problem gaining work visas in the country.”

As this Swiss action causes a stir across the EU, however, there is the potential for these restrictions to cause a knock on effect in other areas, as Cleland explained; “While this alone won’t cause any disruption to the industry, the potential for other countries across the Eurozone to begin their own immigration action could lead to problems in the future. And with talent already difficult to source in the pharmaceutical arena, organisations need to assess their current resourcing strategies and be ready to face any possible situation that could arise.”