Well at least Joe tells the truth! Layoffs

[Anonymous]

Novartis (NVS) CEO Joe Jimenez gave a presentation to investors in London today that contained plenty of management cliches such as “synergy,” “strategic,” “leverage” and “productivity,” but precious little straight talk about what all of that means: thousands of job losses for Novartis staff.



We know that Novartis is in the process of laying off thousands of staff because news of 2,000 job cuts has leaked out in dribs and drabs, often months after entire sites have been closed down. (UPDATE: Jimenez gave another hint he was preparing layoffs to Dow Jones.) Jimenez’s communications strategy is markedly different to that of Sanofi (SNY) CEO Chris Viehbacher, who at least has the cojones to say ahead of time how many people expects to ditch.

Both companies are in a similar situation — Novartis says it wants to wring more than $1.9 billion in savings from its operations in 2011; Sanofi is aiming for €2 billion. And both companies’ communications to Wall Street feature similar looking charts that with declining costs and budget lines to do with staffing.

What follows is a translation into plain English of Jimenez’s slideshow as it relates to job cuts at Novartis.

Begin: Novartis’ Pink Slip Slideshow

Related:

Secret Scythe: Novartis Neglects to Mention 2,000 Layoffs
At Novartis, Pensions Are Out and Cash-Grabbing Is In
Novartis Flip Flop: Cuts 1,400 Jobs Only Days After Denying Layoffs
Novartis CEO Denies Layoff Rumors, Staff Still Worried

 

[Anonymous]

The strategy is to get you clowns looking for another job outside Novartis to avoid all the package outlays. It's a risk you take, but if your decent at what you do, then don't worry about it and continue to work here.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, now we know. There WILL be lay-offs and the subtle, yet quite moves in the northeast are just the beginning. No more contract reps as of Oct and some big names are being shifted. Not all openings are being posted and some reps are being switched around without choices.
3 to a pod, no more hospital reps, pysch reps out the door and all the new positions canned. How many will be gone in December? Does anybody know? what happens to all the managers? 1's from 2010 and still in bottom 10% will be gone? No clear idea of who stays especially with all of our legal issues. Anyone know any more info about layoffs? except that they will defintiely happen.

 

[Anonymous]

The strategy is to get you clowns looking for another job outside Novartis to avoid all the package outlays. It's a risk you take, but if your decent at what you do, then don't worry about it and continue to work here.

I wish this were true, but the last time they did layoff's and realignments they didn't have anything to do with your numbers or abilities. This was true for people who got a one in the previous year, but in our territory the two reps with the best numbers were moved to territories over 100 miles from their homes and one top rep was let go and had to keep looking at Novartis postings for a new job. She finally found another territory near by, but it made no sense. She lived in our territory, and one rep who stayed lived in the territory she ended up getting rehired in. They tried to switch and the company wouldn't let them. She was a president's club winner and moved to a territory with no access and they put her on a PIP in just nine months, because of her numbers. These layoff's and realignments never make sense. I agree with you about them trying to get reps to look for new jobs, but there are no good jobs out there. Unfortunately, with the sunshine act, every company is going to start laying off, because docs are scared to have the amount of money we spend on them put out in the public incase of lawsuits in the future. A lot of my offices that you could only see at lunches have stopped lunches or are stopping them soon. This means that every territory is going to have way to many reps. Look at CV. Once we lose Diovan and Exforge, what are we going to sell? There are no drugs for us. How many people can sell Tekturna? It is a dog and we have nothing new getting approved that is worth while. Also look at our Psych unit. They are losing money everyday and there new drug is a me too at best.