Coronavirus Layoffs

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My HR connection tells me that salesforce furloughs will begin in a couple of weeks. At that point all paychecks will cease and we’ll all be retained as inactive employees. That’s when determinations will be made as to the value and contribution of each individual territory. Except a 30-40% headcount reduction by the end of Q2.
 






anonymous said:
My HR connection tells me that salesforce furloughs will begin in a couple of weeks. At that point all paychecks will cease and we’ll all be retained as inactive employees. That’s when determinations will be made as to the value and contribution of each individual territory. Except a 30-40% headcount reduction by the end of Q2.
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The contract reps will be the first to go.
 


















anonymous said:
My HR connection tells me that salesforce furloughs will begin in a couple of weeks. At that point all paychecks will cease and we’ll all be retained as inactive employees. That’s when determinations will be made as to the value and contribution of each individual territory. Except a 30-40% headcount reduction by the end of Q2.
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Any idea how much advance notice to be given before furloughs start? Will med benefits continue during furlough?
 












anonymous said:
The Town Hall Meeting, conducted by Alex, said we would all be Safe. Quit spreading gossip.
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Are you a DM who has actually forced yourself to believe that? I’m not for spreading fear, but I agree and believe it is illogical to pay people to stay home for very long, nor is it ethical to increase non-essential foot traffic in an office any time soon. When Alex talks to J&J employees he doesn’t mean reps, who get zero respect at the company. Different set of rules apply to field sales and even you know that.
 






I no longer work here, but the person that posted HR contact said layoffs coming, posted it under many company threads. Just a troll getting a rise. Could it happen? Yes, across all companies. But I am in house now at another company and that has not even been discussed. Could it change after companies look back at sales data to see the impact by territory of covid-19, absolutely. And that has been discussed.
 






anonymous said:
I no longer work here, but the person that posted HR contact said layoffs coming, posted it under many company threads. Just a troll getting a rise. Could it happen? Yes, across all companies. But I am in house now at another company and that has not even been discussed. Could it change after companies look back at sales data to see the impact by territory of covid-19, absolutely. And that has been discussed.
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Thanks, so you’re saying that layoffs have not been discussed, but they have been discussed? And you would know these things because you now work in-house? Look, the bottom line is this: just watch your spending and prepare for anything. It’s not like anyone is going to start floating their resume to be in a better, more secure pharma job (or any job).
 






So i would say that since i am in house, we have higher levels of discussions of where the organizations are. First we discussed which channel do we reach the MDs by, i.e., rep, digital, email, non personal promotion. What internal will look at is weekly sales trends. If a territory after having no rep, has the sames sales trends as prior, you may be in trouble. If another territory drops off, then the company realizes they need a rep. Also, samples are being looked at. Mail order vs rep delivery, what is most efficient. After we get through this it will be different for sales and in house. I support many departments, and in house positions won't be immune, regardless of what people say.
 






anonymous said:
So i would say that since i am in house, we have higher levels of discussions of where the organizations are. First we discussed which channel do we reach the MDs by, i.e., rep, digital, email, non personal promotion. What internal will look at is weekly sales trends. If a territory after having no rep, has the sames sales trends as prior, you may be in trouble. If another territory drops off, then the company realizes they need a rep. Also, samples are being looked at. Mail order vs rep delivery, what is most efficient. After we get through this it will be different for sales and in house. I support many departments, and in house positions won't be immune, regardless of what people say.
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anonymous said:
So i would say that since i am in house, we have higher levels of discussions of where the organizations are. First we discussed which channel do we reach the MDs by, i.e., rep, digital, email, non personal promotion. What internal will look at is weekly sales trends. If a territory after having no rep, has the sames sales trends as prior, you may be in trouble. If another territory drops off, then the company realizes they need a rep. Also, samples are being looked at. Mail order vs rep delivery, what is most efficient. After we get through this it will be different for sales and in house. I support many departments, and in house positions won't be immune, regardless of what people say.
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But the type of territory analysis you're describing about the "value" a rep brings to a territory when they're present or not , managed care or not etc. has been going on for years. Nothing new here. They'll use this pandemic to get rid of a bunch of people they would have had trouble getting rid of otherwise.
 












Good luck to all. We have already started doing budgets with reps being out until January and the impact on revenue. We have also been looking at other sales channels and the impact on that revenue.
 












New indications, label updates, formulary changes, growth phase in life-cycle....all need rep promotion. No rep activity...at least initially...usually see a slight uptick in Rx’s due to limited samples. But in the long term sales get adversely affected with no rep promotion. So if there is a lay-off then there is severance which hasn’t been budgeted. Then turn around to rehire....which costs more money.....sign-on bonuses and training. It doesn’t make fiscal sense to lay-off from a short term market disruption unless products are due to lose patent soon.

I work in-house for a different company as well. There have been some companies lay off. See Sage Therapeutics. But that was going to happen irregardless of COVID-19.
 






Of course ROI, expenses, etc. will be looked at and decided if can be lowered. Perhaps buyouts and a thinning out somewhat of the sales forces. If you think full time pay for too much time more I think not. These companies are for profit and not charities.
 






anonymous said:
New indications, label updates, formulary changes, growth phase in life-cycle....all need rep promotion. No rep activity...at least initially...usually see a slight uptick in Rx’s due to limited samples. But in the long term sales get adversely affected with no rep promotion. So if there is a lay-off then there is severance which hasn’t been budgeted. Then turn around to rehire....which costs more money.....sign-on bonuses and training. It doesn’t make fiscal sense to lay-off from a short term market disruption unless products are due to lose patent soon.

I work in-house for a different company as well. There have been some companies lay off. See Sage Therapeutics. But that was going to happen irregardless of COVID-19.
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Clearly written by a rep who has personalized this. The cost analysis is IMPERSONAL.

Yes, you have the variables, but the analytics look at the likely decline over time of sales, vs the anticipated growth, and factors in the costs--IF there are any. Severance falls below the line so it's a different tax factor. IF hiring is done, Sign on bonuses are going to be a non issue. Reps will be a dime a dozen so no need to pay bonuses.

Your assumption is re-hire. Samples can be delivered via UPS. You don't need a $135k plus (fully loaded cost) delivery person. What all companies are seeing right now is that sales are NOT being impacted to a degree that the high costs of reps are warranted. There will be a HUGE redistribution of reps after this is over.

Some sectors of JNJ are already talking about a 25-40% reduction in customer facing field forces. The redundancies in roles have been exposed so folks are going to be asked and trained to do more and some of the compliance issues are being considered and addressed. The savings will be enormous.
 






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