The year 2008 to be one of consolidation for pharmaceutical employees

The pharmaceutical market has some 35,000 employees: 9,000 working in distribution, 15,000 in pharmacies, and 10,000 in production.

There is an acute deficit in pharmacies, where companies are unable to hire sufficient pharmacists. Isabelle Iacob, General Manager for HelpNet, estimates that the deficit will increase to 2,000 pharmacists, and will not be covered in less than four years.

Some 1,000 pharmacists graduate every year from specialized colleges, and the country has about 4,900 pharmacies. The possibility of working in the European Union is another reason this employee deficit. There is also a trend among specialists from other areas, such as language, law and economics studies, to migrate to pharmacies. The tendency that worries producers is that pharmacists prefer sales, where wages are higher.

A new trend is relates to migration from sales to the technical area, according to Dragos Damian, Executive Manager of drug manufacturer, Terapia Ranbaxy.

In 2008 companies will focus on consolidating their staff. “We will work on career planning for middle management, who constitute the backbone of the business,” adds Damian.

Farmexim plans to expand its product portfolio and hire a further 70 employees.

To handle the employee deficit companies are developing recruiting programs with universities. Companies do not believe that an unjustified increase in wages is an efficient strategy for a competitive work force. “We prefer to invest in personnel training than to make a name in terms of highest salaries on the market,” says Brandusa Fecioru, A&D Pharma HR Manager.

Pfizer Romania spends some $5,000 every year to train each employee, while A&D Pharma spent over €1 million to train employees in 2007.