Contract 7048

[Anonymous]

It's amazing, isn't it? J&J and Quintiles management keep saying that there will be a place for everyone. What they aren't saying is that the place for the contract reps is in the unemployment line (or on the website, depending on your state).

Anyone know of any Quintiles reps that have even interviewed for a retail position? How about the CV sales force?

Any chance for us beyond July 1st?

My favorite part is, "Go ahead and do the thrombo training" as though contractors will be selling that product.

The lengths both companies go to maintain the illusion merits an Oscar.

Three weeks from today (Tues 6/14) no territory assignments in the Pricara system exist for us, yet "there's a place for everyone." How can human beings maintain a straight face in light of this?

 

[Anonymous]

Something's up. Stay tuned.

 

[Anonymous]

My favorite part is, "Go ahead and do the thrombo training" as though contractors will be selling that product.

The lengths both companies go to maintain the illusion merits an Oscar.

Three weeks from today (Tues 6/14) no territory assignments in the Pricara system exist for us, yet "there's a place for everyone." How can human beings maintain a straight face in light of this?

Urinal & Gigler must be involved.

 

[Anonymous]

Something's up. Stay tuned.

I want to be optimistic and hopeful.

Remember, however, that probably 80%-90% of the people on this contract were laid off by Merck, Pfizer, Eisai, BI, Novartis, GSK, etc., etc., and have all heard it all before.

Quintiles got senior people for beginners' wages. Good for Quintiles. The trade-off is that such experience comes with a healthy dose of cynicism.

That's the breaks.

All this looks to me like they're just running out the clock.

 

[Anonymous]

You have to hand it to them (Quintiles' management), they've successfully waited until the very last moment to tell their field employees anything.

Ignorance as a company strategy; now there's a business plan for you.

Contract sales: hiring educated (and often experienced), desperate & hopeful people, treating them like "undocumented" day laborers, alluding to unnamed long-term benefits and/or employment, and ultimately putting literal meaning to the term "resources" as in "Human Resources."

"Be a good employee and work like there's a tomorrow, even if that's just a mirage."

As far as Janssen is concerned, we contractors might as well be ghosts. We're on the voicemail and email systems but nothing discussed on either pertains to us at all.

Yet somehow it's okay on Quintiles' part to leave us in this limbo. What bullshit.

 

[Anonymous]

My PriCara manager assured me and another Quintiles rep in the district that we would become J&J employees under the new alignment. But I'm not scheduled to receive a call about the realignment on Thursday.

You should have recorded that conversation, maybe it would have been grounds to sue for breach of promise.

This whole contract has been one sham after another, with tantalizing tidbits of allusion and "wink-wink" about the contract becoming a path to direct J&J employment.

Instead, it terminates almost a year early and so far there's not been a peep out of Quintiles management to counter the expectation that reps who took a two year contract in good faith are S out of L. I really feel sorry for those who passed up other jobs in the last 15 months because they took all that innuendo (or, in the case of the DM quoted above, or the DM I've worked "for" who basically said the same thing, literally) at face value.

Happy talk, happy talk, tell the "help" what they want to hear and they'll be less likely to jump ship. Imply that they are just in an extended "trial" period after which those who performed well will be picked up by J&J. Maybe we can fool them into busting their asses while we flog them at least as hard as our own reps who make twice as much money.

I guess that's what passes for "good management" these days. I won't write what I actually think of all the people involved in this.

 

[Anonymous]

So assuming that the contract ends early, possbily within the next week or two, what can we expect? If there is no other contract for us to move onto and we are separated, will we receive a severance? Anyone know how long that would be for, if at all? What about medical benefits? End right away or continued for some time? Has anyone experienced this situation with Quintiles in the past that might be able to answer these questions?

 

[Anonymous]

So assuming that the contract ends early, possbily within the next week or two, what can we expect? If there is no other contract for us to move onto and we are separated, will we receive a severance? Anyone know how long that would be for, if at all? What about medical benefits? End right away or continued for some time? Has anyone experienced this situation with Quintiles in the past that might be able to answer these questions?

I'm a Q rep. - 5 yrs. on 8822 and now on 6581 (contract just downsized 50% of saleforce) - There is NO severence for contract work. When it's over, its over and you are done and Cobra is available. End of story. They will tell you they will try to place you on another contract but you have NO advantage going into interviews with other outside reps. - fair game - best person wins.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm a Q rep. - 5 yrs. on 8822 and now on 6581 (contract just downsized 50% of saleforce) - There is NO severence for contract work. When it's over, its over and you are done and Cobra is available. End of story. They will tell you they will try to place you on another contract but you have NO advantage going into interviews with other outside reps. - fair game - best person wins.

NO severance when the contract terminates prematurely?

If that's the case, then adios for sure.

It does not surprise me at all about getting on a new contract. This whole thing sucks, completely sucks. Contract work used to be a way into a permanent job. Now it's pretty much like hanging around a street corner, hoping a John will come by to keep you busy for a little while.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, the final tally is in.

Some were laid off [Not Quintiles' fault, it was J&J/Janssen management who couldn't seem to plan ahead and honor a two year contract] and some retained.

It remains to be seen which of these groups contained the lucky ones.

Those prematurely separating are being treated very well, all things considered.

Thank you, Quintiles managers.

The long delay in informing us was undoubtedly Janssen's managers' fault. Instead of treating people like adults, they apparently thought it better to hope none of us could figure out the obvious for ourselves so they almost certainly told Quintiles to keep mum.

The reality is, it's still a dying industry and those who remain employed are faced with a SISYPHEAN task, trying to push branded products in a generic world where customers (physicians) rarely consider reps worth seeing. The future at Janssen is rotten, given the toxic corporate culture and the portfolio of drugs in the bag (and promised).

Quintiles did well, as an organization of people, better than I expected. If I cannot escape the gravity well of pharma, I might come back to the Big Q if that was where the jobs are. I sincerely hope, however, greener pastures await. I've sold enough drugs for one life.

Over and out.