Leaving Your Job Soon?

What Happens to Your Ongoing Projects?

You have probably worked several years as a health economist for your current employer. You have enjoyed your time there and done great work. But now, it is time for something new, and you’re leaving for a new role in another company. Finding your replacement might take long, and is likely to happen only after you have left already.

Who Will Continue Your Work?

As your focus shifts towards your new opportunity, an important question arises: What happens to the work and projects you’re leaving behind? You’ve worked on important projects and you don’t want to lose all the effort you have put in—and neither does your boss.

Your models: You might have poured days, or even weeks, into building a health economic model for a new product that is almost ready, but without a proper face-to-face handover, it will be difficult and time-consuming for someone else to take over.

Ongoing collaboration: You are a trusted member of a multidisciplinary project team with external clinical experts, as well as your company’s clinical affairs and marketing colleagues. As the health economist expert, you are responsible for the HEOR aspects of the project. During the recruitment gap, this cooperation can pause, putting your hard work, detailed plans, and progress at risk of delays or even cancellation.

The Consequences of Leaving Without a Successor

Leaving your current role without a successor and a proper face-to-face handover can create challenges:

• Abandoned Projects: The economic modelling projects you’ve worked so hard on might be delayed or even cancelled.
• Lost Expertise: As the trusted health economics expert of a multidisciplinary project team, the loss of your “institutional memory” and insights may leave a void in the team that’s difficult to fill quickly.
• Burdening Your Colleagues: Your health economics colleagues, who are already busy, will be hastily asked during your last two workdays to “take over” your projects. This makes them feel overwhelmed, and chances are they will only have limited time for these, causing the projects to stall.

It’s not just about the work. It’s about preserving the effort you’ve made and ensuring that the spent resources of your company are not wasted.

Leaving with Style: How Does It Look?

Transitioning to a new role doesn’t have to mean unfinished or cancelled projects, lost momentum, or overburdened colleagues. Hiring a temporary health economist or an interim health economist ensures your work continues seamlessly and sets your team up for success. Here’s how it works:

1. Ensure Timely Handover: You can find and hire an experienced freelancer in time, allowing for a proper handover. This provides peace of mind for both you and your boss.
2. Keep Projects Moving: Freelancers step in quickly to handle tasks such as refining economic models, conducting HTA submissions, or completing cost-effectiveness analyses. The projects you started are finalised and delivered on schedule.
3. Maintain Team Collaboration: A freelancer bridges the gap in the projects with colleagues in market access, clinical affairs, or marketing. They continue the collaborations you’ve built, ensuring the multidisciplinary team operates smoothly without interruptions.
4. Avoid Overburdening Colleagues: Freelancers take over your projects, ensuring your health economics colleagues won’t be overwhelmed by additional work.
5. Take Pressure Off the Recruitment Team: By hiring a freelancer, you give the recruitment team the breathing room they need. There’s no pressure to make an urgent hire, reducing the risk of rushed decisions that could result in a poor fit for the role.
6. Ease Your Replacement’s Transition: When your permanent replacement is hired, the freelancer hands over ongoing projects, knowledge, and relationships, making it easier for your successor to get started and contribute faster.

This isn’t wishful thinking—it’s the practical benefit of hiring a freelancer to ensure continuity during your transition. With this approach, your team thrives, and your successor starts contributing effectively from day one.

How to Handover to an Interim Health Economist

At EuropeanHealthEconomics.com we have a pool of experienced health economist contractors ready to step into interim or temporary roles. Here’s how to ensure success:

1. Outline Your Needs: Consider the specifics of your ongoing work, projects, and collaborations. Identify the type of interim health economics expertise you require, including technical skills, focus on particular disease areas, relevant country expertise, and the desired seniority level.
2. Deadlines and Deliverables: Make an overview of approaching deadlines, deliverables, and important meetings or events. This helps to map and plan the expectations from the freelancer.
3. Full or Part-Time: Decide if your ongoing work requires a full-time freelancer or if part-time support, such as two days per week, would be sufficient to keep everything on track.
4. Remote or Onsite: Consider whether remote collaboration is suitable for your situation and company, or if the freelancer should work onsite or in a hybrid arrangement. An onsite handover in person can also be a good idea for a smooth transition.
5. Timeline: Think of your timeline. When you are leaving, how long is needed to make a hiring decision on the freelancer, and how much time you need for a proper handover. Get the process started on time.

Get in Touch

Tell us about your situation and the support you need. Whether you’re facing a hiring gap or need a temporary health economist, we’re here to help. We connect you with experienced interim health economists to ensure your projects continue without disruption. No pushy sales tactics, no irritating follow-up calls—just expert advice to make your transition smoother.

We can help you find a freelancer with the right expertise to keep your projects moving after your departure.