Respiratory Managers Meeting

stay for the package if u have 10 or more years or are about ready to retire otherwise get out. Primary care is a thing of the past. Gsk has to many reps in small territories. It is completely ridiculous and won’t last.

 

Syneos just had a HUGE layoff

 

Can't you all see what is happening? So blind. Or is it you choose to stick your head in the sand? Look, primary care sales will eventually, within the next five years, become history as we know it. You will see contract companies filling these roles. Specialty sales is where everything will be. Generics and lack of profitability are what has caused this. Even those of us who promote Trelegy will be gone. Yes, including FLLs. This is happening right in front of your eyes! It's happening! I could care less about what you think or what you are doing about this issue. I am trying as hard as hell to get out of here!

 

I wish I could argue against the last. Unfortunately, I can't. I'm anxious about my future here. Been with GSK for over nineteen years and have a family to support. This company and our leadership treat our jobs like a game. They forget the stress they place on their own employees and their families. I understand that businesses need to make a profit, that wall street and shareholders have expectations. I get it. But our leaders continued to hire people for the the sake of Share of Voice. Couldn't care less about access to customers and how that's impacted our jobs. They just kept hiring and filling open positions. Putting everyone at risk. I have been reading other threads on the GSK site and it's the same across all divisions. It really does appear to be a problem with our upper leadership within GSK. They just refuse to listen! Unless it is from a consulting agency. A consulting agency who has placed us in the position we are in. How is this sane? How can they continue to manage this way? When will individuals from an RSD level up be held accountable? From what I have seen, most have sold their souls. They bleed orange cool aid and it is all completely repulsive. Gods speed to all of my fellow sales representatives. You and I have dealt with a lot of garbage that no one should have to deal with.

 

Well....we should all be aware that the days of GSK having a GEN PHARMA division are numbered. One year? 3? 5? Who knows how long it will take but it’s coming.

That said, there are tons of former GSK people who have moved on...either willingly or after a re-.org that are doing very well at biotech companies despite the whole Patient First ordeal. That isn’t the barrier many on this board seem to think it is. So reach out to them and get your search going.

Don’t think primary care v specialty. Think chemically based compounds v specialty meds like Biologics (some are sold to primary care). Amgen, Biogen, Regeneron, Sanofi/Genzyme, UCB, all these moab’s at AZ, Pfizer, GSK, Lilly, Novartis, etc.....that’s where it’s been headed for awhile. Unfortunately there aren’t enough seats at the table at GSK.

As for myself, after 20+ yrs with GSK I am saying goodbye. Landed a great gig. While I feel blessed, I do worry about everyone else at GSK. Tons of great reps out there who are great people too. Wish you all the best

 

To the last post, very well said. There is life outside of this company and all you have to do is look to those who have been let go in the past. most if not all found work. Everyone, and I mean everyone, I have talked to say that leaving GSK was a blessing. GSK has a systemic problem with their culture and it comes from upper management. Unrealistic sales goals that are completely unattainable. A micro-manged knee jerk approach that only adds to the stress. If I ask you to to accomplish something that is unattainable...like taking a trip to the moon. Sure if you make a deal with NASA or Elon Musk you might..might have a chance. Then when you don't achieve the goal I set for you I threaten you with unemployment, how is that remotely motivating? That's how GSK operates. I'm hanging on until I can land another gig. Interviewing currently. Best of luck to all.

 

I am interviewing too. Currently one of three reps in a POD selling HIV drugs barely being used. It’s unsustainable. I want out before 3 goes to 1.5 reps.

 

Isn’t there an injectible about to launch?

 

From what I'm hearing from the ViiV reps. Their business is doing well. The problem is that new management ie GSK has now entered the picture. What was once a very harmonious, happy and motivated division is slowly being affected by the GSK culture. Yes, there is an injectable being launched. It should do well. However, when was the last time well was good enough for GSK. People are being let go at VIIV. Typically it's been older reps who have lost their zest for the job. They are calling it "forced retirement" unofficially. The word is that their will be a re-org mid to late 2020. No one knows what that will look like. Smaller territories? Layoffs? cross-over promotions with oral and injectable? Like I said, its GSK. Respiratory is no better. In fact as we know, it's worse. So there is nowhere left to go for any sense of sanity or stability. Thanks GSK!

 

Word on the street is...Benlysta & Nucala to have re-org in 2020. Word is, superior competition putting a lot of pressure on expanding our share presence. Be on the look out for extreme calibration ratings in order to force rank. That's the word from philly.

 

Maybe just a rumor, but it’s certainly happened before...

 

Just a bit of speculation on my part, but it does seem as if something is brewing. It's just that feeling you get. It comes from years of uncertainty that GSK has perpetuated. Years of recognizing the wrong behaviors and not recognizing the true talent right in front of them. Been here for twenty-two years. I'm getting that feeling again. Let's face it, Nucala faces serious challenges. Benlysta as well. Enjoy the holidays. 2020 brings more uncertainty.

 

Really sorry for all of you experiencing all this stress. Going back to this site and readingbof your experiences have to tell you that I took package last year and have landed firmly on my feet. Was beyond stressed at GSK. Had neck spasms and went to therapist for stress. Could not take it any more and asked for the package and got it. I am now tons happier and have found a job I enjoy doing with so much less stress. GSK was a toxic mess and feel really sorry for many of you who are hanging on. This company and the people you work with are not your family or friends. Get out if u can. Many opportunities right now

 

The spirit of Bob Ingram is dead at GSK

 

That's right. The new question to management is "How have you tortured and demoralized your reps today?" Quite the opposite of Bob Ingram.

 

Time to give thanks. I am thankful to be employed. GSK has given me the opportunity to pay for the things my family needs. Food, shelter, a car. Very grateful. But my thanks comes with a price. A price that most of my family and friends do not understand. It's the price of constant uncertainty. Will there be a layoff this year? Next year? Or the next? All very possible. Will managers begin nitpicking my every word.."you never used the word convince". Will GSK continue to focus on weekly performance. A hero one week and pariah the next. Will undeserving colleagues who have high volume territories continue to be praised with accolades even though they offer very little and in most cases less than other co-workers who are masterful at the job. Pharmaceutical sales is a great job and I am thankful to be employed. However, I think the new year will be the year that I attempt to leave this company. I have given them twenty-two years of hard work. To be fair, the company has given me a paycheck every two weeks. But it's time to get off of this this train. I wish you all a blessed holiday and hope we all can either fix our horrific corporate culture or get away from it. Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Two years ago, I went through what you described here. Myself and others were wondering,”what the heck is going on” with the sudden nitpicking, metrics, over the top coaching, etc. After 3 years of it, 1800 of us were let go. When the layoffs are coming, this is what happens. It is a tough existence because even though you are making great money, you always know that layoffs are possibly looming. It is a horrible culture that exists within the industry.

 

But it doesn't have to be this way! It's leadership. They hire and re-fill open geographies knowing full well that there will be layoffs. This puts everyone at risk of losing their jobs. Look at Cheryl Mcdarmid. She has zero sales experience. None! She ran the respiratory sales division into the ground. Now she managed to find a role in the HIV division. She decimated an entire division. People lost their jobs and dignity. Meanwhile, she is rewarded with a new role. How is this possible? These are the type of things that need to be communicated. There are many channels in which to do this. Cafe Pharma is the weakest. There is social media via Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube. There are reporters and attorneys. Put the pressure on leadership. To date they have had very little placed on them. Just look at the Horncastle idiot! The redundancy in their roles is so obvious. Comment on this in any survey the company puts out. Let them know that we know. Let them know that long gone are the days of sweeping these type of issues under the rug. The internet offers transparency and give the people ie employees more power to expose the truth.

 

It's GSK. Just look at what they have done. By my count there have been 3 layoffs in the last 10 years. That is not reassuring in the least. From what I've heard from our colleagues in the HIV division, GSK has permeated and latched on there as well. Guess what? They may have layoffs next year. Guess what, they recently added an additional sales team. Guess what? History will repeat itself. Good people will lose their jobs while myopic micromanaging spreadsheet managers will remain. It's really out of control. Also heard that vaccines and biologics will be shrinking their headcount. Is any of this surprising? Talk about stress. And to the person who said your friends and family don't understand..so true! How many of you have heard this line? " Oh not you. You're safe. You've been with them for 18 years. They know how hard you work. They wand to keep people like you". No other industry or company behaves this way on such a routine basis. The worst part about it, is that if you survive a layoff, they just whip you even harder. Blow smoke up your rear-end telling you how you're the cream of the crop. Then you have two sub-par weeks and they have you writing up a business improvement plan. It is truly insane! Someone needs to make of movie of this. Plenty of factual material. Enjoy the holiday.