Is anyone leading the POC/POL division?

The RBMs and Account Managers are keeping this place together. Without them business would be in the toilet. Now you are laying off a bunch and adding more responsibilities. I hope it works. Happy feelings and a new vision don't carry much water.

 

I think the head count reduction boils down to poor management, even poorer marketing, and a pathetically mismanaged product pipeline. They are looking at nothing new until late 2015 and no way to support the head count until then. The environment in this division is a reflection of an attitude shift at the highest levels at Roche which sadly rolls downhill until it hits customer facing positions. The part that is most disappointing for longer term employees is to see how much Roche has lost sight of what it is really supposed do be doing, improving the lives of patients - poorly made products with quality issues that are slow to be addressed seem to shout negligence. The patents suffer, field reps suffer and management ...oh that's right - they all have a job, no suffering there. Is this really the same company who said they want to attract and retain top talent and be "the best place to work," ? Not any more....losing our jobs just might be the best thing that happens to any of us at this point.

 

Why add another layer of management? Is this so our VP doesn't have to make decisions? Or so he can distance himself from the pain he is about to inflict?

So, bring in a leader who doesn't understand the business. Make cuts. Then what? How do you restructure internal support to help the field be more efficient? Because they will need to be freed from being customer support in order to focus on selling.

 

Ok people wake up, large companies know exactly what they are doing , Roche is a huge company with decisions made deliberately, if they want a division to crumble it will.
Sooo grow up and understand this is big business, Roche tried to get rid of staff by increasing goals, not paying out bonus, putting a lot of stress on workers by deliberately increasing work responsibilities...don't you think they we rep trying to get out of paying severance and unemployment ?
And having employees opt for early severance is a way to get out of paying for unemployment.
Roche is no different than other companies and closing now to lay off employes before having to pay for re enrollment in insurance in November is yet another reason to do this now.
This is no different than any other large company.
I know it's hard not to take it personal but don't it's not you it's corporate America.
If you believe the hype on customer first then shame on you.

 

Looks like the extra layer of management is gone. Now let's see who is still around next week.

 

Kultur of Accountability 101: time to hold the lower rung of the ladder accountable. So much for the inverted pyramid and customer first. All to keep Severance Schwann in sailor suits.

 

It had to happen. Glucose and coag markets declining into the future. Sales forces too big. Blood gas probably not profitable.

The questions are... What will the combined sales force look like? Will the problems with the Inform 2 be resolved quickly or will it be recalled? How will our customers respond to new account managers with no experience handling Inform 2 issues? Will market share take a hit as we work out the kinks?

 

Even though the sales forces were too big the downfall of a layoff this big is going to be poor morale. Combining two different sales forces with different customers is going to take a while to be productive, especially with all the problems the Inform 2 is currently having. And the customers will suffer. So will sales for many reasons.

This may have been necessary but it sure is heavy handed. At least the goals don't matter anymore because there won't be anyone who really cares.

 

Hold on Reg, this flaming death spiral is about to get tighter. You might think you came up with a solution but having consultants do the work means there was no thought put into it. Good job, congrats for you and Ron.

 

Where does one start with this ill conceived reorganization? Ron and Reg, do you honestly think you can gut two sales forces with very different call points and expect to make goal? Really?

So now you dump all duties on who is left. Those people are realizing that they need to leave too. No real sales tracking. Marketing is worse than before, these new people have no clue.

Management 101 should have prepared you for what is to come. You destroy two sales forces, and have no clear plan of action how you will proceed except to dump it all on the ravaged account managers that remain. Good plan. For failure. It looks like what happened in Iraq after we kicked ass and had no plan moving forward. Ron, Reg, you appear to be smart but did you rely a little too much on your consultants?

Jumping up and down won't help.

 

Ron, thanks for the dinner out in Indy for those of us who self selected. I'm glad you are excited about moving forward with the new division but there is one thing you forgot to do. You forgot to thank everyone who worked for many years to make POC and POL divisions successful.

We are leaving, many of us because we don't share your optimism for the future. The way you merged the POC and POL divisions was poorly designed and executed. You really don't know what you are doing. Hope and excitement aren't good strategies. You and Reg need to listen to advice from those with experience. Your neglect to do so thus far is going to cause you problems starting this year.

What's sad is that many of those who remain regret not having self selected as well.

 

Performance appraisals? How innovative and timely.

Right after a devastating merger that has destroyed morale you really want to do performance appraisals? Based on what?

You don't have accurate numbers. Heck, you're not even close.

Sales efforts have been stymied by continuous fire drills and spread sheets.

Miller-Heiman? Really? What a waste of time. I know Jack likes the process but no one else does, and it doesn't help sales. Nevertheless, if you want us to produce a bunch of blue and green sheets we certainly can. When is there time to sell?

How about a 360 review of your performance? More coming.

 

Ron, you can't dissolve the blood gas specialty sales force and hope to increase sales of the difficult to sell b221. And, with all the disruption this year and huge downsizing to expect to rate people on sales of the old dinosaur is nuts.

Half of the sales force, the POL reps, don't know squat about selling a blood gas analyzer.

You and Reg can jump up and down all you like, say "get it done", and ignore any feedback but do you really think this will work?

Don't hold your breath too long.

 

Machiavelli: "There is nothing more difficult, nor more fraught with danger, nor less likely to succeed, than bringing about a new order of things."

 

Lying about how many people you are going to cut was the first mistake. There are many others.

Next year should be an experience best avoided. Any more self select spots available?

 

How long will this division last? No competitive blood gas portfolio, issues with glucose meter use in hospitals. Ouch.

 

How long...not long. Jack and Wayne will scratch their heads over "what happened..." and need not look any further than hatchet master Ron Price. I used to be proud to work for Roche; those days are over.

 

Lots of bad decisions will be bad for business this year. You got rid of a lot of talent for what reason?

No one in Indy is taking ownership. The field is full of newbies who don't know what they are doing. Customer service is crap.

Bad timing on the reorganization and a bad plan. I can't wait to see heads roll at the top where the decisions were made.

 

This mess is textbook worthy for MBA students interested in how NOT to run a business. Poor decisions made by uninformed and uninterested "leaders" spell disaster for this business...what a crying shame.

 

Uniformed and uninterested leaders who let consultants tell them how to perform the reorganization. ZS associates? They haven't got a clue what they did and neither do you. Ron, Reg, are you ready to move on to your next assignment after screwing things up here? You might find a way to spin it as a success. Better leave soon.