Director/Managers Warning

I have a friend and high performing manager that was fired this month for COT scores not aligned to their reps simulation/assessments. This is a fantastic manager and "company man" that is now embarrassed and ashamed. Sad part is he either had to lie and score them lower then they were or tell them to cheat on the test. Damned either way.

How can GSK continue this process? Since these tests affect all of our pay and jobs why not bring us to one place to take the test at the same time.... or better yet, speak to our customers to evaluate our performance.

I hope some people have the guts and ability to take legal action.

 

" get a lawyer " lawyer - up = " gimme generation " again.........just quit and get a job you like......your type will probably never find a job they like , but try !

 

I think we need a national day of protest. How about a national sick out day? Management will most likely make us start doing sick day e-learning module.

 

Great question. One of my colleagues has dyslexia. He is not very fast thinking on his feet but customers love him, he works hard and gives solid presentations. He is a minority and he is struggling with his scores and there are no extra tools or support allowed for him.
The other complaint I hear is that if someone is a poor at typing then that is an unfair disadvantage with the open text answers and time limits on assessments.

 

HR and legal run glaxo, you are kidding yourself if you think different. If your superior gives you a bad evaluation, go straight to HR. Tell them anything, your boss will then be under the gun. In the early 90's, it was in style to send unsigned letters to executives.complaining about people in the company. Saved a lot of incompetent and lazy people their jobs.

 

Is it true that some of these people have resigned and will be doing a news story about this?

 

look what the National Enquirer pays !

 

Appraisals are completed. Bell shaped curve is done. Now I want to go cry at what I had to do to ensure I did what GSK wants me to do to get paid. I'm truly ashamed of myself. I also understand that my RVP did the same thing with me and my peers. Wake up everyone. You are screwed if you are part of a good district. There's gotta be a curve meaning someone is not proficient. We get dinged if we do not have the curve. This is exactly what is wrong and why we are so under performing. Not to mention once again we've got to study for tests that we'll never know how we did. Please someone help. I've always enjoyed my job and worked my ... off. Now I'm working on stuff that doesn't impact GSK's bottom line. I'm doing BS and spending all my time on an irrelevant IC program. I'm appalled by all of this.

 

Thanks for sharing. It tells me to get the hell out of GSK! It is good there are still a small group of managers like you that realize how wrong this all is - sadly you are becoming part of a smaller group as well. The really great FLLs have left and those that remain will either buy in or will be moved out.

 

For a longtime, women and minorities have been held to a different standard. It is and has been reverse discrimination for years. Damn right it causes problems with the rest of the sales force.

 

You are so right. There is some guy who sold this program to GSK who has stated statistically there has to be a bell shaped curve. Beware everyone it's not if you demonstrated a behavior. We've been told by Steve Sons that its about who demonstrates the behavior best. I did the right thing and gave my team credit for the behaviors they demonstrated and I was put on a performance plan. Most major companies have moved away from the bell shaped curve system due to issues such as what has been discussed here. I spent hours trying to make sure that my team's competencies were within the appropriate scale. I know for a fact that my FVP doesn't agree with this either. Everyone is too afraid to admit it. This is a crock and will be the downfall of GSK.

 

Prediction: PF winds up costing GSK $$$$$£££££€€€€€€

 

It already has cost us millions...the last time I checked we were $ 400 million behind plan in Q1. The losses are mounting but leadership blames everything but patient first.

 

It seems to me that the bell-shaped curve concept is valid only with populations of a certain size, ie. the larger the better. I am by no means an expert here, just a simple fed-up veteran field rep, but each district is an n=8 (sometimes even as low as 6) and that has to skew the validity of this concept.
Cases in point are if the district as a whole is mostly comprised of good performers (or under performers), people who are similar in abilities, so consider this: we use weighted mean FEV1 as an endpoint in our sales aids, not giving the same value to each data point because the time intervals are different. Is the Patient First bell-shaped curve weighted to accurately assess each individual's talent (or lack thereof), or simply ranked top to bottom with the district? Methinks the latter, which is not a valid way of making these important distinctions.
Are we REALLY going to roll this trainwreck of a system out to Canada, Europe, etc? Time to take a closer look at the old stock portfolio if that's the case.

 

Does the bell-shaped curve have to happen within the district level, or at the regional level? I can see it working (potentially) at the regional level. At the district level, no way. Too few people to make work statistically (already mentioned), but would also kill any level of team work. I do not work for GSK- just curious, because your model is so unique. Does anyone in the salesforce like it (or any managers)?

 

Could someone tell me how to go about getting a severence/retirement package? I have 25+ years and am in "middle management". I can't stand it anymore. Do I hire a lawyer to negotiate for me to HR? I don't have COTS or tests or simulations so I can't flunk them....hoping to be managed out. Any suggestions?

 

The bell-shaped curve has to happen within the district. You are accurate that it is too few people to make it work statistically and that it kills team work and overall morale.

If you were to poll GSK employees, the majority would say they believe and agree with the intention behind GSK's decision to no longer incentivize the sales force on script growth. However, the majority of GSK would also state that they do not agree with "how" GSK has pulled through this program. Specifically the lack of judgement to compromise their stated value of integrity and transparency so everything "appears" to match their claims to shareholders that this program reduces GSK's risk.

If shareholders knew how GSK is running this program behind the scenes, they should be very concerned about investing in GSK for two simple reasons: 1. GSK is putting themselves at risk for a major reverse discrimination class action lawsuit. 2. Based on their own values, they should not want to invest in a company that unfortunately has a long and consistent track record of poor judgment.

 

What ethnic background gets you extra cot checks that you did not exhibit? I need to think about changing my HR profile.

 

Well said. If only people outside of GSK knew ... the mess continues to spiral.

 

Any new warnings?