How were WE chosen to be laid off?

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Anonymous said:
Only 32% of sales in Q2 2011 were from molecules Amgen acquired from outside (Enbrel, Vectibix, Sensipar). But yeah, the other 68% of sales are of bad molecules developed in house. No wonder you're in sales, dumbass.
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and if RP hadn't destroyed the ESA franchise those numbers wouldn't even be close.
 






Anonymous said:
Based on popularity(not); ethnicity; age; tenure; wage; level;gender and your last 3 MAP ratings!
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As far as RIFs in Seattle were concerned, age and tenure certainly seemed to be a major factor. Funny how so many of the remaining old Immunex folks went, especially those who spoke up and actually voiced opinions in public. Quite a number of 50+ year old snr scientists went, that's sure going to improve the knowledge base! Unfortunately for each of these there was a younger employee RIFfed as collateral damage to ensure that the mean age of RIFees was not too high, don't want to be accused of ageism! MAP rating definitely had nothing to do with it, many of the best scientists were kicked out.
 






Anonymous said:
As far as RIFs in Seattle were concerned, age and tenure certainly seemed to be a major factor. Funny how so many of the remaining old Immunex folks went, especially those who spoke up and actually voiced opinions in public. Quite a number of 50+ year old snr scientists went, that's sure going to improve the knowledge base! Unfortunately for each of these there was a younger employee RIFfed as collateral damage to ensure that the mean age of RIFees was not too high, don't want to be accused of ageism! MAP rating definitely had nothing to do with it, many of the best scientists were kicked out.
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You are 100% spot-on.....targeted to long-tenured (lots of knowledge/experience) but legally balanced with some unfortunate young-uns. You can be sure that the cadre of lawyers were like Santa Claus checking the List Twice to make sure the numbers passed the protected class rules.
 






How obvious! Balancing age groups should be an indicator of what is going on. Firing those who are 50 + is going on at AML in Puerto Rico as well. Go ahead, get rid of all those crotchety old timers! Amgen does not have use for those who are workaholics, have too much knowledge, experience, loyalty and commitment to the company and, especially, the patients' wellbeing. Those employees have too much integrity and values, which is not aligned with today's reality at Amgen.
 






Anonymous said:
and if RP hadn't destroyed the ESA franchise those numbers wouldn't even be close.
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RP is many bad things but he was not primarily responsible for the destruction of the ESA franchise. That's like saying SE was responsible because he invented Aranesp. The destruction was mainly done by GM and competition between Amgen and JNJ. Amgen had to scramble to increase revenues when the purchase of Enbrel turned out to be such a dog due to the manufacturing incompetency at Immunex. But what they did by encouraging overprescription of Aranesp was reprehensible.
 






How obvious! Balancing age groups should be an indicator of what is going on. Firing those who are 50 + is going on at AML in Puerto Rico as well. Go ahead, get rid of all those crotchety old timers! Amgen does not have use for those who are workaholics, have too much knowledge, experience, loyalty and commitment to the company and, especially, the patients' wellbeing. Those employees have too much integrity and values, which is not aligned with today's reality at Amgen.
 






Anonymous said:
RP is many bad things but he was not primarily responsible for the destruction of the ESA franchise. That's like saying SE was responsible because he invented Aranesp. The destruction was mainly done by GM and competition between Amgen and JNJ. Amgen had to scramble to increase revenues when the purchase of Enbrel turned out to be such a dog due to the manufacturing incompetency at Immunex. But what they did by encouraging overprescription of Aranesp was reprehensible.
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sleazy overprescription is one thing, overseeing half baked clinical trials that had the sole purpose of wringing a few hundred million more out of Aranesp is inexcusable. you have to protect what you have and RP took unacceptable risks.
 






Anonymous said:
sleazy overprescription is one thing, overseeing half baked clinical trials that had the sole purpose of wringing a few hundred million more out of Aranesp is inexcusable. you have to protect what you have and RP took unacceptable risks.
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You obviously are missing the point that those "clinical trials" were in reality forced on development by marketing. RP was complicit but GM was responsible.
 
























Shame on you Amgen. Less than 2 weeks after you let 380 people go you send out announcements for promotions. One which happened to be for the job I was forced to vacate. Amgen values are long gone and the only way to survive there now is to kiss ass. Good luck to all the good people I met there through the years. Pucker up!
 






Anonymous said:
Shame on you Amgen. Less than 2 weeks after you let 380 people go you send out announcements for promotions. One which happened to be for the job I was forced to vacate. Amgen values are long gone and the only way to survive there now is to kiss ass. Good luck to all the good people I met there through the years. Pucker up!
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Promotions in which department.
 


















Anonymous said:
Sales is much better than marketing or R&D, we buy all the good molecules anyway - marketing does a bad job branding them, but sales safes the day every day.
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Yes, you must be referring to the $780 million write off for unethical sales practices, and you still got your bonuses for being crooks. Don't forget to plead the fifth, settle out of court and sweep it all under the rug. If only the truth could be told.
 












It is even more obvious now that the RIF was random. Seeing people scramble as they try to fill the gaps left while they have to wait while "management" holds meetings to say that they are still working on a reorganization. Unfortunately any reorganization is just going to be an agenda of taking away more chairs in this dumb game of musical chairs. You know the probable winner in a game of musical chairs (apart from the smart ass playing the music) is usually the biggest ass, both literally and metaphorically. Every current staff meeting shows a disturbing lack of ability to make a decision and just confirms a total lack of vision. All that is missing is a flight jump suit and a mission accomplished banner in the background.
 






Anonymous said:
It is even more obvious now that the RIF was random. Seeing people scramble as they try to fill the gaps left while they have to wait while "management" holds meetings to say that they are still working on a reorganization. Unfortunately any reorganization is just going to be an agenda of taking away more chairs in this dumb game of musical chairs. You know the probable winner in a game of musical chairs (apart from the smart ass playing the music) is usually the biggest ass, both literally and metaphorically. Every current staff meeting shows a disturbing lack of ability to make a decision and just confirms a total lack of vision. All that is missing is a flight jump suit and a mission accomplished banner in the background.
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Agreed that there were plenty of those chosen who did not make any sense to get rid of, it certainly wasn't merit based as with the RIFs in 2007, but I don't think it was completely random. Look around you at who has gone; senior scientists with decades of experience who expressed opinions and pushed the envelope. These are the ones who had the balls to question RP, SK and other "leaders" and that's something they cannot tolerate. It's because of innovative questioning folks like these that companies like Amgen succeeded in the first place! One the flip side to these folks are the poor younger bastards who were the collateral damage in Amgen's attempts not to appear ageist, got to keep the mean age down of those who were RIFFed. Finally, entire groups were dismissed regardless of individual abilities because they do not fit in to Roger's and Sash'a plans for the future, whatever they may be, they haven't told anyone yet. Perhaps they don't know themselves.
In conclusion a very sorry state of affairs for a once great and respected company. These Discovery-targeted RIFS together with the obscene levels of compensation that the executive directors are more than happy to take have made Amgen the laughing stock of the biotech/pharma community.
 






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