Well I have had someone ride with me all week, they finish up tomorrow. My ride along has been with a person who I can't talk too but take notes all day long. This is true, I also understand that I am not the only one with these “CIA type” robots following me like I’m a criminal. It seems as though close to 130 reps in various divisions are having this same week long observation of field times, call, and activities as well as asking for our evening work times and loads. Who and why are they checking us on this ride alongs????? Please let me know what you think as they can't even “small talk” while driving from call to call and I am very uncomfortable. Thanks.
5 DAY RIDE ALONGS?????
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I have someone close to me I know in my district as well and they are told it is an outside company from CA doing this observation with or against Forest???.
What is this about? 5 day ride alongs with a "consultant"? they take notes on you all day and you are not allowed to ask them what information they are collecting?? Do you think this is related to the overtime suit? seeing how many hrs typical rep works? I don't trust Forest...
Contact your lawyer. This has red flags written all over. Protect yourself in case they target you.
I'm going through the same thing this week!!! It's been the most miserable week ever. Their using I Pads to document how long I wait in waiting rooms, how long I spend talking to doctors, how long it takes Me to get from office to office, how many bathroom breaks I've had
Oh, and did I mention I'm pregnant, and due next week!!! Thanks for randomly picking me Forest. This company sucks ASS!!! Oh by the way I heard by guy say on the phone he is going to Fort Lauderdale next….HAVE FUN!!
Oh, and did I mention I'm pregnant, and due next week!!! Thanks for randomly picking me Forest. This company sucks ASS!!! Oh by the way I heard by guy say on the phone he is going to Fort Lauderdale next….HAVE FUN!!
Several different companies are doing this in one way or another. The purpose is to document that the conversations that are being held in offices and institutions about the company's drugs are on-label conversations, in case the FDA or DOJ ever come knocking on the door. Forest can say: "Hey, lookie here.... in 500 (or 1000 sales calls), every single one of them was on-label and by the book".
Some companies are taking district managers, giving them some training about documentation and what is allowed and expected and what is out of bounds, handing them new business cards and sending them across regions. Other companies are bringing in outside observers to do it, like many companies do for sample checks.
You are not being singled out. Take a pill and relax.
Some companies are taking district managers, giving them some training about documentation and what is allowed and expected and what is out of bounds, handing them new business cards and sending them across regions. Other companies are bringing in outside observers to do it, like many companies do for sample checks.
You are not being singled out. Take a pill and relax.
i heard some of these ride alongs offered free oral in the car!
I finished my week long ride-along last week. My best friend is my RD. He tells me everything (I think) and even he is somewhat in the dark. He called me and was apologetic bc he had received a 12 page report from my ride-along which included among other things fucking sound bites from my fucking conversations with doctors. I guess he recorded with his I pad. Anyway every call was broken down into sentences and then each one had a category. For example by call with Dr. Smith was 94 sentences long, 2 sentences were off-lable, 4 were questionable, 31 where status-quo and medically related, 50 were non medically related, etc. The two sentences (off label) were attached as a sound bite, 3 of the 4 questionable ones were there as well, I guess 1 of them was inaudible. It was broken down by the percentage I spent on each drug, how many probing questions (I guess you can't get away with being safe and generic with these guys). There was a category on what I opened with, what I closed with, did it match, etc. Did I use "absolutes", did the PI's left match the number of sample left. Anyway hopefully you get the point.
He told me the off label (they were BARELY) and/or the questionable sentences were turned into compliance. He had told me that the he had heard a rumor (only a rumor) that the cost ratios were to high with Forest salaries, the company doesn't want to have layoffs (looks bad to the market and internal moral), but can do a good amount of purging by catching reps on just about anything possible. They want to get rid of 25% then rehire reps that are young with little experience (can be molded) and will accept lower salaries. You can save 20-40k per rep and when you add up 25% of the sales force you can save a pretty penny. This is all being done by an outside company that is hired for various profit strategies. With pharma companies this is one of the ways they do it since reps can easily screw up in 1000 different ways on any given call. Well I guess I just spilled the beans. Oh well, I wish you can see the care on my face.
He told me the off label (they were BARELY) and/or the questionable sentences were turned into compliance. He had told me that the he had heard a rumor (only a rumor) that the cost ratios were to high with Forest salaries, the company doesn't want to have layoffs (looks bad to the market and internal moral), but can do a good amount of purging by catching reps on just about anything possible. They want to get rid of 25% then rehire reps that are young with little experience (can be molded) and will accept lower salaries. You can save 20-40k per rep and when you add up 25% of the sales force you can save a pretty penny. This is all being done by an outside company that is hired for various profit strategies. With pharma companies this is one of the ways they do it since reps can easily screw up in 1000 different ways on any given call. Well I guess I just spilled the beans. Oh well, I wish you can see the care on my face.
Jesus christ! What the hell is your company doing? I can't imagine how miserable 5 days of that would be. So essentially if you draw the short straw, you're out. Either lay people off or don't but this kind of shit is unbelievable. You have my sympathies. If my company tries this crap, I may just say no. Let them fire me for saying no. 
Jesus christ! What the hell is your company doing? I can't imagine how miserable 5 days of that would be. So essentially if you draw the short straw, you're out. Either lay people off or don't but this kind of shit is unbelievable. You have my sympathies. If my company tries this crap, I may just say no. Let them fire me for saying no.
Come on lets be real hear kids, if you are selected for a 5 day ride along, get that fucking resume out immediately. No dope is stupid enough to believe that this type of tactic is "random" nothing is random in this industry and especially at all places FOREST!
Even the most naive schmuck understands that 99% of all ride alongs are set ups and pure documentation purposes only to ride your ass OUT! If I got a call like this, I would tell them where they can stick their random ride alongs......what a joke this company is. Typical Forest, and NO NOT every pharma does this, just the one's who are going to be laying off, or want to "circle" a rep population for "a second unbiased look", also as a reminder these 5 dayer are also a great opportunity for the rep to bury the shit out of the DM and RD, cover your ass people, they obviously chose you from info they got from the DM and RD, NOTHING AT THIS COMPANY IS RANDOM OR KOSHER. I WOULD GET A GOOD LABOR ATTNY ASAP....
obviously---who ever rode with you for 5 days is a very poor manager...but it is forest what else do you expect
Totally agree, if this is true that 120 reps are randomly being accosted by 5 day ride alongs I would bet a million that at least 85% of these same misfit reps are gonzo in T-30 days.....a 5 day ride along at Forest, that has to be some kind of bad joke. I would resign on the spot if this mickey mouse shit was pulled on me, and so would just about every single sane rep I know.
I had one of those ride with me. She was hot and I banged her. She recorded the noises!!! (but i will not type an email about it)
This is so silly. This company is going down the crapper!!! Get out of pharma now!!! If you cant, start stockpiling for the rainy day that is coming.
This is so silly. This company is going down the crapper!!! Get out of pharma now!!! If you cant, start stockpiling for the rainy day that is coming.
Wow! Probably not a job security issue; just Forest CYA but, holy shit, what a pain in the ass. This is what happens when a company gets in constant trouble with the OIG. As long as Forest continues to treat their employees the way they do, it will never stop cuz their employees will continue to be motivated to rat out on them.
Good job Forest and another fine example of brilliant management!
Not sure when this all started but I'm guessing this has something to do with Carl Ichon (sp?) coming in trying to get 4 seats on the board which if he succeeds his main goal will be to get Forest sold to a bigger company. A friend which knows a great deal about that industry said it's bad news for us if he gets those seats on the board. He said that although the stock is doing well and pipeline looks decent that comparing Forest to other companies it's COST RATIOS WERE VERY HIGH... that's exactly what the above post heard from the RD. He said he's not sure exactly why that would be which makes you wonder if something fishy is going on because we by no means have the heftiest salaries in the industry. I'm sure that other things come into play but I know we've all been witness to Forest finding reasons to take out tenured reps for close to falsified reasons. The fact that Carl Ichon made his power play move about a week ago and this is all going down suddenly just seems too coincidental
I don't know if all the reasons given for all these ride alongs are 'bullshit' but I have a 5-day scheduled starting Monday. Great! I'm going to embarrass this guy in front of every doctor. I'll let every doctor know that he is evaluating every sentence I say so let me go over a couple of things with you so I don't get in trouble. Screw this guy. In fact I'll record my own conversations with my own recorder. I'll tell the guy I just want to make sure he accurately records what I do. Bitch!!
We may not have the highest salaries in the industry but we are one of the few, if not the only, companies that still has PODs. Icahn could show that other companies do as much sales with less people. This is where the cost ratios could come in. Don't forget less than a year til Lexapro revenue is all but gone.
I would disagree strongly that we're one of, it not the only company still doing pods