Pfizer, like many other companies during the pandemic, has been quick to embrace the pivot to digital and hybrid work. Now, that remote shift could presage major changes to the drug giant’s workforce in India.
As Pfizer revamps its workforce in India, the company has rolled out a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for field staffers there, the company said in a regulatory filing Thursday. The move comes as “digital disruptions” revolutionize the way Pfizer’s customers and patients experience products and services, the company said—a trend that’s been accelerated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In the filing, Pfizer said its portfolio of breakthrough medicines is more “specialty-oriented” than before and thus requires “newer go-to-market models." To that end, Pfizer says it’s beefing up digital capabilities and “broadening healthcare professionals’ access to our scientific and therapy-area expertise through new and enhanced platforms, tailored and enhanced content, on-demand support and real-time insights for a more personalized experience.”
As part of its digital push, Pfizer is seeking to overhaul its talent pool in India by recruiting workers who have “futuristic skills and a growth mindset,” and by training its current team members.
“We wish to reiterate that our customer-facing colleagues and relationships—whether maintained virtually, in-person or hybrid—will continue to play a pivotal role as we advance our new ways of working,” Pfizer added.
In India, Pfizer boasts a portfolio of more than 150 products across 15 therapeutic areas, the company says. Some of its core products there include Prevnar, Lyrica and Enbrel. Pfizer employs around 2,631 people in India.
Financial details on the voluntary retirement scheme—which doesn’t extend to employees at Pfizer’s Upjohn established medicines division—were slim. The scheme’s business impact “shall be communicated separately upon acceptance of the scheme by the eligible employees,” the company said in its filing.
While Pfizer stopped short of announcing layoffs in India, it’s one of many Big Pharmas eyeing ways to slim down as the COVID-19 pandemic hastens an industrywide shift to digital and remote-hybrid operations.
For its part, Swiss pharma juggernaut Novartis in February said it was teaming up with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in a move designed to fuse Novartis India’s manufacturing and development know-how with Dr. Reddy’s sales and distribution muscle. At the time, Novartis India said it planned to cut 400 jobs with the move.
Meanwhile, Amgen last year said it was cutting 500 jobs, mainly among its U.S. salesforce, as it adopted pandemic-era digital marketing tools for the long run.
"We made these changes to better enable Amgen to make additional investments we believe are needed to take advantage of patient-focused opportunities, including launching new products, and investing in R&D," the company told Fierce Pharma in an emailed statement last year.