Italian companies in the pharmaceutical sector react to the crisis, starting corporate reorganization programs. This is what emerges from the sector survey carried out by Watson Wyatt, a consultancy company operating in the human resources sector. The survey, whose objective was to identify the main actions taken by Italian pharmaceutical companies in the first half of the current year, was carried out last June on a sample of 22 companies with an average workforce of 1,000 employees. From the analysis of the results it emerged that the 90% of the companies intervened on the increases linked to merit; over 50% increased the variable component of remuneration; almost 50% started a reorganization process with a reduction of the workforce.
On the interventions in progress, Enrico Giorgetti, general manager of Farmindustria, comments: “In recent months, pharmaceutical companies have accumulated two crises, the macroeconomic one and the sectoral one, which are of a different nature. The restructuring in the pharmaceutical industry began before the economic crisis (in Italy pharmaceutical employment started to fall from the end of 2006, while the GDP has been negative since the second half of 2008) and is largely independent of it, but the difficult economic climate however, it makes it more complex. Companies must adapt their organization to the new scenario with a broader vision of the economic response, cSelecting strategic elements for future development, such as investment and training in the Human Resources area”. Gianni Vivi of Watson Wyatt turns his gaze to the international context: “The current trend reflects what is happening in the United States, which constitutes the largest pharmaceutical market in the world. In the United States, the confidence of companies in the sector is growing and no further layoffs, hiring freezes or restructuring actions are expected.”
Salute 24 (Il Sole 24 Ore) 16.7.2009
