Feedback on internal vs. field roles

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anonymous

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Current rep here, considering going internal and making the move to Indy. Besides moving to Indy what are the downsides of working at home office? Is it really worth leaving the field to climb the ladder?
 












I think it is actually Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who famously stated he hated Fargo, ND. When Gene Okerlund replied, "Some people like Fargo", Heenan fired back, "Yeah, some people like burnt toast too!"

Great childhood memory.
 






anonymous said:
Current rep here, considering going internal and making the move to Indy. Besides moving to Indy what are the downsides of working at home office? Is it really worth leaving the field to climb the ladder?
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No real downsides to physically working at home office, IF your role requires you to actually go there. Many roles are still remote or hybrid and, due to Covid, most supervisors aren’t requiring physical attendance. If you do go to home office a few days a week, it’s a nice place to be. You will “grow” in almost any internal role and learn about how Lilly really works. Additionally, the skills you develop are transferable to other companies which typically pay more.

That leads me to the downsides of an internal role and they are numerous. The pay scale is subpar (P3,P4 roles in particular). You’re going to lose your sales bonus and car as well so expect to potentially lose money initially even with TAPS and corporate bonus. Internally, you are really required to have DSM experience if you want to be competitive for a P5 or Advisor level opportunity, especially in the DBU, so career/pay progression is non existent otherwise. Be prepared for one P4 role after another with no pay increase. After successfully completing 1-2 P3/P4 roles, you “may” be ready to be a DSM (lol). At that point, if you’re willing, you can move to some non desirable geography covering 1-2 states and become a coveted DSM. Once there, you’re stuck in this non desirable location unless you compete to get another internal role as a Director or Advisor(P5). After successfully completing 2-3 of these P5 roles and networking, you’re now qualified to become a DOS. Then you “wait” until one of those positions becomes available, which could be years, and compete with all the other people who have the exact same career aspiration.
 






anonymous said:
No real downsides to physically working at home office, IF your role requires you to actually go there. Many roles are still remote or hybrid and, due to Covid, most supervisors aren’t requiring physical attendance. If you do go to home office a few days a week, it’s a nice place to be. You will “grow” in almost any internal role and learn about how Lilly really works. Additionally, the skills you develop are transferable to other companies which typically pay more.

That leads me to the downsides of an internal role and they are numerous. The pay scale is subpar (P3,P4 roles in particular). You’re going to lose your sales bonus and car as well so expect to potentially lose money initially even with TAPS and corporate bonus. Internally, you are really required to have DSM experience if you want to be competitive for a P5 or Advisor level opportunity, especially in the DBU, so career/pay progression is non existent otherwise. Be prepared for one P4 role after another with no pay increase. After successfully completing 1-2 P3/P4 roles, you “may” be ready to be a DSM (lol). At that point, if you’re willing, you can move to some non desirable geography covering 1-2 states and become a coveted DSM. Once there, you’re stuck in this non desirable location unless you compete to get another internal role as a Director or Advisor(P5). After successfully completing 2-3 of these P5 roles and networking, you’re now qualified to become a DOS. Then you “wait” until one of those positions becomes available, which could be years, and compete with all the other people who have the exact same career aspiration.
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100% on the money.
Even in field roles there’s no financial incentive to be promoted to any specialty position
 






The internal roles are all a game.

There are people who work and people who network (politic). The culture is toxic in so many of the functional areas-run by old school people who are way past their primes an don't understand the external environment.

Go elsewhere.
 






anonymous said:
The internal roles are all a game.

There are people who work and people who network (politic). The culture is toxic in so many of the functional areas-run by old school people who are way past their primes an don't understand the external environment.

Go elsewhere.
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“There are people who work and people who network”…this is a true statement. However, the people who seem to move up the fastest are those who do both. Unfortunately, in the internal environment, you can do exceptional work but be passed over for someone who is doing marginal work but is “sponsored”.
 


















This post is spot on. The jobs never go to the ones who work hard or produce. The jobs go to those with “potential” even if it’s unrealized. I’ve done both, internal vs field. I learned a ton on the inside but pretty sure I have ptsd. Never again. Enjoy the good life out in the field.
 






anonymous said:
This post is spot on. The jobs never go to the ones who work hard or produce. The jobs go to those with “potential” even if it’s unrealized. I’ve done both, internal vs field. I learned a ton on the inside but pretty sure I have ptsd. Never again. Enjoy the good life out in the field.
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I agree with the “potential” comment 100%. Lilly identifies “talent” and typically moves them into new roles after 9-18mths. Exceptional work is not required to move, only leadership support and sometimes competence. Unfortunately and oftentimes, identified “talent” is promoted into a leadership role. Remember, this person is marginally competent at many things, but an expert at nothing. (Think about it, can you really demonstrate exceptional merit based performance and competence within 9-12 months in a role? Please review the CV of some of our leaders and the times they spent in various roles and ask about how they actually performed in those roles. Some of them performed terribly, but they have the experience and support of leadership). So this marginally competent leader is now in charge of a team and they are looking for someone who actually knows what they’re doing to assist them in actually getting exceptional work done. The leader typically struggles in this endeavor because many people/reps see “home office” roles as a “means to an end” (DSM) but not the ultimate goal (They just want to do their “time”). This all results in a revolving door of “talent with potential” being promoted and an inability for the organization to really “accelerate, innovate and deliver” exceptional customer experiences because no one is an expert at anything.
 






anonymous said:
I agree with the “potential” comment 100%. Lilly identifies “talent” and typically moves them into new roles after 9-18mths. Exceptional work is not required to move, only leadership support and sometimes competence. Unfortunately and oftentimes, identified “talent” is promoted into a leadership role. Remember, this person is marginally competent at many things, but an expert at nothing. (Think about it, can you really demonstrate exceptional merit based performance and competence within 9-12 months in a role? Please review the CV of some of our leaders and the times they spent in various roles and ask about how they actually performed in those roles. Some of them performed terribly, but they have the experience and support of leadership). So this marginally competent leader is now in charge of a team and they are looking for someone who actually knows what they’re doing to assist them in actually getting exceptional work done. The leader typically struggles in this endeavor because many people/reps see “home office” roles as a “means to an end” (DSM) but not the ultimate goal (They just want to do their “time”). This all results in a revolving door of “talent with potential” being promoted and an inability for the organization to really “accelerate, innovate and deliver” exceptional customer experiences because no one is an expert at anything.
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Well said. Lilly has gotten away with this because the "home office " people who know what they're doing usually suck it up and prop up the leader. They've had no choice unless they were willing to move somewhere with a much higher cost of living. But the pandemic has changed all of that, probably forever. And over time the pension has become diluted to the point where it is no longer an incentive to stay, especially if you are in your late 30's to mid 40's when you are at prime marketability. Hope HR is ready to deal with a different kind of revolving door, because it's coming.
 






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