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There is no question that losing a job or facing the prospect of long term unemployment can have severe emotional and psychological consequences. Sadly, I came across a post today on PharmaLive’s Daily Advantage that describes how an ex-Pfizer employee stabbed his wife two times in the chest November, 2009, 10 months after he lost his job as a research biochemist.

The employee had worked as a biochemist at Pfizer Inc. for 11 years, first in Ann Arbor, Mich., and more recently in Groton. He became increasingly ill, suffering from major depression with psychotic features and obsessive compulsive disorder after he was laid off from his position in January 2009. At his trial he found not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed to Connecticut psychiatric facility for a period not to exceed 10 years.

While this may be an extreme case, the emotional and psychological effects of unemployment can be devastating to even seemingly emotionally-well equipped persons. If you happened to be unemployed, and are feeling “out of sorts” I highly recommend that you seek out friends, clergy or mental health professionals who you can talk to! Your mental health is just as important as your physical health when it comes to job searching or life!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting

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Johnson & Johnson announced today it would eliminate as many as 8,200 jobs, or 7% of its work force, to help the company cope with what it expects will be a slow economic recovery amid damped demand for drugs, medical devices and consumer products. J&J employs about 117, 000 workers globally. While the job cuts will be global, many losing their jobs will be outside of the US. 

J & J joins a growing list of pharmaceutical and life sciences companies that have announced new layoffs. Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, plans to fire 19,000 workers following its acquisition of Wyeth and had already cut 10,000 positions since 2007. J&J began firing as many as 4,400 employees from its pharmaceutical and stent divisions in late 2007. Finally, Merck recently announced that it will be eliminating 16,000 workers after its merger with Schering Plough closes later this year.

J&J’s announcement is more bad news for New Jersey which is still reeling from the earlier loss of tens of thousands of pharmaceutical and life sciences jobs.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (forget New Jersey)

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Reuters reports that French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis (S-A) beat analysts second-quarter earning forecasts and that next year’s earnings will likely benefit from increased demand for its new H1NI swine flu vaccine. The company is the largest flu vaccine manufacturer in the world. Yet, despite surging profits, S-A continues to restructure and cut jobs in an effort maintain its stock share price. —and an “impeccable source”— that US managers are in France discussing cuts to American operations. The cuts are expected to be announced during the first week of August. More bad news for the US economy and  tens of thousands of American pharmaceutical employees who have already lost their jobs.

Until next time

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting????????

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While I have never been layed off, I understand how awful and painful it must be. After all, unlike people who were fired for cause or otherwise, most people who are layed off are performing well but they simply became too expensive or expendable to remain with a company facing financial exigency.

Most of us feel for employees who have been layed off—anyone who has experienced a layoff will tell you that it can be a life altering or changing event. But, what about the people who are charged with delivering the bad news to the employees who will be layed off? How do you think they feel and what impact does it have on their lives? 

There was a poignant and heartfelt piece in this past Sunday’s New York Times that was written by a company executive who made the decision to layoff workers and then delivered the news to them himself. While his plight doesn’t compare with that of the employees who lost their jobs, it shows how difficult and disruptive layoffs can for companies that are forced to downsize.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

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Astra Zeneca announced today that it would cut 1400 jobs and close several manufacturing facilities worldwide. According to a post on the Pharmalot blog “about 600 full-time jobs will be lost in Sweden as packaging operations are expanded in Wuxi, China. The cuts will come on top of the 7,600 positions the drugmaker plans to eliminate by 2010. The plant closings will occur in Spain, Belgium and Sweden by 2013. Manufacturing jobs will also be trimmed in Sweden and the UK as production is shifted to lower-cost countries in emerging markets.”

On Tuesday Wyeth disclosed that it was eliminating 70 positions at its Pearl River, New York, facility (which employs 3,200 workers, 118 employees at its Rouses Point facility in upstate New York that employs 725 people work, and 124 jobs at its Sanford, North Carolina manufacturing facility. Ironically, as more and more US workers are laid off, many big pharma companies like Merck, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline are expanding operations at their research facilities in India. In fact, Merck is doubling its headcount from 800 to 1,600 employees at its research facility in India that was opened a little over a year ago.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Keep on Looking!!!!

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Astellas, a company formed in 2005 following the merger of Japanese-based pharmaceutical giants, Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, announced that it is hoping that 200 pharmaceutical workers in its production facility in Norman, OK will take early retirement to cut labor costs. The downsizing is in response to impending patent expiry of the company’s blockbuster urology product Flomax.

A company spokesperson said “The early retirement program seeks to reduce the workforce by about 30 percent, which would leave about 140 people at the Norman plant.” The loss of these jobs is likely to have a substantial economic impact on the small Oklahoma town many of whose residents have worked at the plant for over 20 years.

Astellas employees around 17,000 workers worldwide. When pharmaceutical jobs are cut in OK, you know the industry is in bad shape.

Hat tip to Ed at Pharmalot

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

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