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Mepha Pharma AG / Teva Pharma AG: Talent Acquisition at Scale in the Swiss Pharma Market
- Serendi
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Quick Summary
Objective: Centralize and professionalize talent acquisition for one of Switzerland's dominant pharma companies, eliminating unmanaged agency spend and building direct sourcing capability across a trilingual market.
Strategy: Deploy an End-to-End RPO solution with embedded on-site recruiters operating under the Mepha-Teva brand, with dedicated German, French, and Italian sourcing coverage, a formal SLA framework, and a Preferred Supplier List to govern any remaining third-party agency usage.
Results: 48% reduction in cost per hire within the first year, agency spend reduced to zero, and a 97% candidate probation pass rate.
About the Client
Mepha Pharma AG is part of the Teva Group. Together, Mepha and Teva Pharma AG hold a leading position in the Swiss generics market, where the two companies account for over 70% of all generic sales. The Swiss operation covers offices in Basel and Aesch, with field-based sales teams operating across German, French, and Italian-speaking regions.
The Context
Recruitment at Mepha-Teva operated without a central TA function. The HR department managed ad hoc hiring requests alongside other responsibilities, while hiring managers engaged external agencies directly based on individual preferences. The result was: no preferred supplier list and no tracking of fees. Agency spend was considerable but untracked, distributed across individual engagements rather than managed as a budget line.
Adding to complexity, there was no shared technology platform and no common interviewing framework.
One of the most notable examples of hiring difficulties was the role of Field Sales Representative. It involved hiring across 10 Swiss regions, with trilingual coverage across German, French, and Italian-speaking cantons, with no pipeline infrastructure to draw from.
To solve these complexities, Mepha-Teva ran a formal RFP covering recruitment across Germany and Switzerland. Serendi was selected for its European base experience in pharma recruitment, and a proposal that addressed the governance, sourcing, and capability requirements specifically, in contrast to the more standardized offerings from larger international competitors.
The Solution
Serendi deployed an on-site End-to-End RPO setup over a three-year engagement.
A full-time on-site recruiter worked embedded at the Basel and Aesch offices, operating under the Mepha-Teva brand. A full-time on-site coordinator handled candidate experience, scheduling, and administration. Two to three sourcing consultants provided coverage across German, French, and Italian-speaking Switzerland.
Serendi designed and implemented a Preferred Supplier List to govern third-party agency usage, delivered competency-based interviewing training to hiring managers across the organization, and established a formal SLA framework with quarterly business reviews. Candidate data and job postings were managed through Serendi's platform until Mepha-Teva implemented its own HRIS and ATS, a transition Serendi supported throughout.
Roles covered spanned the full commercial and operational scope of the Swiss business:
Field Sales Representatives,
Key Account Managers,
Pharmacovigilance Officers,
Marketing Communications Managers,
Customer Service Representatives,
Market Access,
Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, Medical and Clinical roles,
HR, Legal, Finance, IT, and annual apprentices.
Results
● Cost per hire down 48%, agency spend at zero
Agency cost per hire was the largest unmanaged line item in the recruitment budget at the start of the engagement. By the end of the first full year of managed delivery, total cost per hire had dropped 48% against that baseline and came in 15% below the contractual target. Agency fees within that figure: zero.
Cost per hire continued to fall through the engagement.
● Field Sales: 95% direct sourcing within 12 months
Field Sales roles across Swiss regions had historically been filled through external agencies. Within 12 months, approximately 95% of Field Sales hires came from Serendi-built talent pools, with coverage across all relevant regions in German, French, and Italian.
● 97% probation pass rate
Across the first 12-month SLA period, 97% of new hires passed the three-month probation mark, which is much higher than the industry average. That outcome is a direct result of how candidates were assessed: sourced against the role, screened against the hiring manager's actual standards, and presented only when the fit was substantiated.
Metric | Result |
Cost per Hire Reduction | -48% |
Agency Spend | -100% |
Candidate Conversion (presented to interviewed) | 86%-92% |
Probation Pass Rate | 97% |
When 86–92% of presented candidates move to the interview stage, and 97% pass probation, it reflects a sourcing process built around the best fit. Hiring managers received candidates who had already been assessed against role requirements, team context, and company standards, making the final decision straightforward.
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