Gina’s Oncology Restructuring

Dear GC, the writing is on the wall. You know it. I know. Our customers know it. Our competitors know it. Why take us through the misery of, quite literally, death by a thousand cuts? Why go on “stage” and tell us everything is fine only to blindside us in 6 months? Why fill our and your mind with wishful thinking that will never come to fruition? Hope isn’t a strategy. If you take decisive and swift action today, we can save Oncology. If someone has to “knock on your door” in 6 months, to tell you what you need to do, it won’t be fun for anyone. You won’t have any credibly left as a leader At Genentech. I guess if your plan is to retire or become ceo or coo of smallco biotech, then that could make sense, for you. If you care about Genentech, our people and plan to stay, get your head out of your a** and do what you need to. Sometimes to save the body, one needs to amputate. There isn’t much time. Act!

 

Don't be naive. This is not how Genentech operates anymore. They are making decisions based on the external environment, not people. They also know that they need to keep the people until the very last minute before they dismiss them. Any hints of layoff before they want to kick you out would cause disruption for them. Just look at what they told the RA team last year. They promised them as late as Oct 2019 that they had the right number of people and perfect skills for the new ecosystems. Well, look what happened to them. Do you see the pattern? The Genentech leaders cannot be trusted these days.

 

Update: Gina doesn’t want to take an across the board cuts. She is reviewing all major cost drivers now and in the coming weeks will have some sense of the magnitude of cuts. She will be taking a more surgical approach with some areas seeing no impact and other areas will see very large impacts. Do not conflate surgical with small. The cuts in total will be quite meaningful given that he deteriorating topline outlook and need to show margin expansion to Basel.

Also, she isn’t too happy that word got about the coming cuts, and while share understands the sentiment out there, she feels like it makes her job harder dealing with speculation when in fact no decisions have yet been made.

 

That just shows how out of touch these people are in SSF. Gina isn't happy because the chatter about the job cuts makes her job harder? You must be kidding! At least she is going to have a job! We are practically in the middle of a pandemic and weeks away from the holidays. She is upset that people are concerned about their future? She is trying to maximize the profits of a multi $billion corporation by cutting cost at the expense of its employees during the worst time of the recent human history. Yet they are spending $millions on consultant fees on how to bring the cult to this place. And she is upset that people are talking about it. That tells you everything you need to know about this place!

 

This is infuriating! Gina is turning out to be the most spineless, yes-leader we’ve had yet. Who thought we’d be sitting at home, looking back at the Troy and Christy eras with nostalgia? It’s no wonder they call Gina “the closer” behind closed doors. She sunset AHR and that’s the New Oncology Strategy! Gina was brought in to watch the sunset on the 30 year reign genentech has had on Oncology and conduct last rites. RIP Genentech Oncology! Genentech Can’t Be Great Again! GCBGA!

 

This is also what I am hearing. She is pressuring her directs to clean up shop and be "enterprise" stewards. 2021 looks like a DISASTER and the only way to save it: sacrifice your head!

 

why are there so many leaks?! why doesn't she just tell us directly instead of us finding out on cafepharma. This is BS!

 

In case you are wondering, leadership no longer considers transparency as a good thing. Because almost all the decisions lead to headcount reduction. Any transparency of the process or leak is not good for the leadership team. As a manager, I am asked on every call that we have to keep our information confidential. It is making me sick in my stomach knowing what I know. This is a 180-degree shift from our past. I am no longer loyal to this organization for what it is trying to do. I will leave as soon as I get my offer. This is no longer a viable place to work. The dried up pipeline doesn't concern me as much as the lack of integrity among the leadership team. I have been asking myself how this company got here and how these dishonest people get these positions. Good luck to you all.

 

In case you are wondering, leadership no longer considers transparency as a good thing. Because almost all the decisions lead to headcount reduction. Any transparency of the process or leak is not good for the leadership team. As a manager, I am asked on every call that we have to keep our information confidential. It is making me sick in my stomach knowing what I know. This is a 180-degree shift from our past. I am no longer loyal to this organization for what it is trying to do. I will leave as soon as I get my offer. This is no longer a viable place to work. The dried up pipeline doesn't concern me as much as the lack of integrity among the leadership team. I have been asking myself how this company got here and how these dishonest people get these positions. Good luck to you all.

 

I commend you for doing the right thing. I know there are many others like yourself that feel the same way. Hang in there. I am also leaving in a couple of weeks. I don't want to start 2021 with this company. In fact, in this decade I believe Genentech is its last throes. Be well everyone. Please, wear Red in opposition to the management team.

 

Proud Genentechers on stand by? Looks like we have our mole!

 

I love this. WEAR RED! Think of it as your silent cry for help and your way of saying this is not ok. You don’t have to say a thing. Sometimes actions can be louder than words. Wear RED!

 

Thank you. I have also been asked not to share any details and keep my people in the dark. Leadership’s decision to pullback aggressively on transparency is surprising. It’s like we have become a top-down, profit-driven, militaristic pharmaceutical company over night! How did this happen?!!

 

With the current management, I believe we have come to a point of no return. I don't think we have the talent or intention to turn this company around. They insist that everyone else is wrong if they dare to disagree. So I don't even bother speaking up anymore. I am not sure what happened to the speak up culture we celebrated so much a few years ago. I have also been asked since 6 months ago to keep everything confidential and leaks are forbidden. Someone actually once said that she could track the leak if it happened. I almost took it as a warning. It truly feels like a cult or secret society. This is my first management job so I did not know if we operated differently in the past. I initially thought it was a blessing landing a management role. Now I sense that no one wants to be here. The morale is on the floor. I feel absolutely miserable every time I get on the leadership call. There are no directions or purpose. This place has seen its glory. I am looking for another opportunity elsewhere and hope to get out soon.

 

GC is talking to folks indirectly about headcount on their teams under different scenarios. She thinks by cutting superfluous spending on consultants, travel, brochures, gifts, conferences, agencies etc etc that she will be able to find the nickel and dimes. But with biosimilars hitting the Oncology business hard, she is up against the wall and her only way out is to cut headcount. Everyone on AH’s level gets it. The key remaining question is timing: can GC convince AH to hold off making this decision until q1 or q2 of next year when she will have a better sense of how the business is looking and the biosimilar impact? 50 / 50 that AH buys into the logic.

AH hates the idea that the news of restructuring has leaked. He may just not do it in 2020 to prove everyone wrong. And then hit us over the head with it in 2021. That’s the best this leadership can do for us! Call me a cynical optimist!

 

With the current management, I believe we have come to a point of no return. I don't think we have the talent or intention to turn this company around. They insist that everyone else is wrong if they dare to disagree. So I don't even bother speaking up anymore. I am not sure what happened to the speak up culture we celebrated so much a few years ago. I have also been asked since 6 months ago to keep everything confidential and leaks are forbidden. Someone actually once said that she could track the leak if it happened. I almost took it as a warning. It truly feels like a cult or secret society. This is my first management job so I did not know if we operated differently in the past. I initially thought it was a blessing landing a management role. Now I sense that no one wants to be here. The morale is on the floor. I feel absolutely miserable every time I get on the leadership call. There are no directions or purpose. This place has seen its glory. I am looking for another opportunity elsewhere and hope to get out soon.

 

It is amazing that these people act as if the biosimilar thing is a surprise. Everyone in the field knew years ago what the payers and networks would do to us because of what we did to them for years. These people in SSF are idiots. The fell asleep on this for years and now everyone is paying for their incompetence. What do we pay them for?

 

You have it backwards. Basel is a bunch of finance people and paid Bill Anderson 6+ million in 2019 to milk Genentech. They will pay him even more this year to continue milking it. Milking it means cutting your headcount!

page 143/144. https://www.roche.com/dam/jcr:a3545548-a7f9-40f4-a70e-7266a363f856/en/ar19e.pdf

 

This is the price you're all paying now for all the wasteful and uncontrolled spending and spoiling of the last 20 years. Sooner or later major cuts were bound to happen...just surprised they didn't come a lot sooner. I was there during the "good times" and my! they were plentiful.