The rate of CRA turnover at U.S. CROs hit a new six-year low in November, declining to more than 21 percent, according to a newly released poll of 15 CROs.

CRA turnover fell by more than 5 percentage points to 24.3 percent in 2019, down from 29.4 percent in 2018, while foreign CROs saw an increase in turnover rate to 20.3 percent in 2019, continuing a three-year upward trend.

Both the poll and the turnover rates are included in consulting firm BDO USA’s 2020/2021 CRO Insights Report, a summary of the firm’s annual compensation survey that collects workforce data for 268 positions in the U.S. and 55 foreign countries.

Despite the improvement in the U.S. turnover rate, BDO said it was still a surprise and higher than expected because many believed the pandemic, and its effect on the job market, would result in more employees staying put. “However, this has not been the case,” the firm said, describing CROs’ human resources and management as “incredulous at the level of turnover.”

CROs have been unsuccessful in increasing compensation for jobs with the highest turnover and have not changed their compensation levels in a meaningful way for the past decade, BDO says. The firm found clinical monitoring managers saw a 1.8 percent annual increase in base salary between 2010 and 2020, and a 2.1 increase in total cash compensation. Clinical monitoring leads or specialists received a 2.4 percent increase in salary and a 2.2 percent increase in compensation over the same time frame. Level I, II and III CRA professionals received salary increases of 2.1, 1.7 and 2.2 percent, respectively, and compensation increases of 2.0, 1.6 and 2.1 percent, respectively, between 2010 and 2020.

Read the report here: https://bit.ly/3r5Xfic.