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In Burgess Hill, Britain, on October 7, 2020, a sign for Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is displayed at a diagnostics laboratory. Peter Nicholls/REUTERS (Reuters) – ZURICH, July 1 (Reuters) – During a taped video chat with staff acquired by Swiss tabloid Blick, Roche (ROG.S) leaders, including Chief Medical Officer Levi Garraway, stated the company planned to reduce 300-400 jobs this year at product development (PD) sites. On the call, Garraway said, “We’ve made the difficult decision to cut our headcount in PD by roughly 5-7 percent by the end of the year.” “And it translates to somewhere between 300 and 400 jobs being affected internationally.” Roche has a global workforce of 101,000 workers. The Basel-based corporation confirmed the video conversation and stated in a statement that it will work with all employees to assist them cope with the loss of their jobs. It includes product development sites in Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Canada, among other places, where personnel’ responsibilities include clinical investigations for potential pharmaceuticals that have developed from research programs. Project management, project delivery, learning and development, business management, coaching, and administrative support are among the jobs affected, according to Roche executives on a video chat. From August through October, staff who are about to lose their employment will be notified, with British employees being notified first, followed by employees in other places. In the video, a human resources manager stated that their work would end in early November. On the video obtained by the newspaper, Felix Arellano, head of worldwide drug safety, said, “This is the hardest thing I’ve had to do since I’ve been in Roche.” “Obviously, this is something we’re taking extremely seriously.” In 2020, Roche reported a net profit of 15.1 billion Swiss francs ($16.3 billion), boosted by pandemic diagnostics that helped offset decreased medicine sales. According to the company’s statement, adapting its operations to developments necessitated “work re-prioritization,” which “may result in the tragic termination of employees.” (1 Swiss franc = 0.9254 Swiss francs) John Miller contributed to this report.
Mark Potter did the editing.
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