Fierce Pharma Marketing | Emily Wasserman
Job satisfaction can be elusive, as pharma sales reps
know all too well. A new report from MedReps.com, a job board for medical sales
reps, shows that while pharma reps and their biotech rep peers are mostly
content with their jobs, they're still hankering for a change.
MedReps surveyed more than 1,400 medical sales reps
about the best places to work in the industry, tallied results for all the
respondents and also broke down the numbers by field. While exactly half of
pharma reps said that they are satisfied or somewhat satisfied in their jobs,
more than three-quarters, or 76%, of reps said that they are somewhat likely or
very likely to leave their jobs in the next year.
Biotech reps had similar qualms. More than half of
reps said that they were satisfied or at least somewhat satisfied with their
jobs. But a little more than three quarters of biotech reps also said that they
would probably leave their job this year. Neither biotech nor pharma reps
spelled out exactly why they wanted to leave their current position, though.
Nor did they say where they would go once they left.
Widespread industry changes could be fueling the job
turnover. As the report points out, pharma and biotech is constantly in flux,
with M&A, R&D and drug pricing debates opening some doors and closing
others. Reps could be responding to those trends as they decide their job
trajectory. The numbers "show the uncertainties" employees have, and
also suggest that "some companies are doing a better job than others"
at responding to concerns, MedReps communication manager Robyn Melhuish told FiercePharmaMarketing.
When pharma reps do submit their applications, it's
most likely at Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), Allergan ($AGN) and Eli Lilly
($LLY). Reps rated
the companies as the best places to work, even though three-quarters of pharma
reps said that they would prefer to work for a small- or medium-sized company
with fewer than 10,000 employees.
Biotech reps rated Gilead Sciences ($GILD), Amgen ($AMGN) and Biogen ($BIIB) as the top
three places to work. But like their pharma peers, a majority, or 83%, of
biotech reps said that they would rather work for a smaller company.
A good work-life balance and competitive wages are
what keeps pharma and biotech reps happy at their jobs, according to the
report. And work-life balance is starting to take precedence over compensation
among pharma reps, Melhuish said, with 63% of reps rating work-life balance as
one of the two most important factors in job satisfaction.
"Employers are realizing that people have lives
outside of work," Melhuish said. "People want to work and make a lot
of money, but they also want to be able to take their kids to the orthodontist.
That trend is reflective in what employees are looking for."