Women in Life Sciences

Zoe Robson, Partner and Head of Life Sciences at Bailey Fisher, hosted the latest in the series of Women in Life Sciences (WILS) breakfasts, in partnership with Rachel Bradley, Partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper.  

Zoe and Rachel were joined at Chesterford Research Park by a peer group of life sciences CEOs for an informal discussion around hiring leadership talent, and hybrid and agile working, aligned with the Government’s announcement of the new Employment Rights Bill later that day.

Since launching in 2022, WILS has grown organically by reputation, welcoming a loyal and ever-expanding group of start up and scale up CEOs to share insights and discuss the challenges of growing their business.  The format is informal, with a warm welcome and the opportunity for CEOs to share issues relevant to their business journey in a relaxed peer group setting. 

At the most recent event, discussion around hybrid working touched on some of the advantages, including the ability for employers to attract the best candidates from across the globe, vs the challenges of managing a team when all have different working patterns. Suggestions raised included the importance of transparent diaries, contactable hours and core working hours, trust and communication and brief daily online "stand up" meetings. To encourage employees back to the office, senior management team should lead by example, be consistent and ensure that the office is an inviting place to be. 

Moving to hiring, discussion included the state of the talent market, which has moved from being candidate-led to client-led, and thus a good time to hire; and a challenging investment climate which has brought more early stage candidates into the market. 

We look forward to the next WILS breakfast in early 2025. If you are the CEO of an early-stage/growth company who is interested in attending, please do get in touch.