Zentiva: drug producers left without pharmacists

“Good performance in this business requires significant experience. There is much study and a great deal of knowledge to be acquired,” said Alice Varlan, HR Manager Zentiva operational division.

Pharmacists choose sales due to better wages and bonuses, such as cell phones, laptops and company cars. Hiring chemistry graduates could be a solution to this problem, since they can only work in production.

Zentiva is one of the first companies to introduce optional pensions as a benefit for the employees. “Romanians appreciate benefits like cars and cell phones, but mentalities start to change and long-term benefits like optional pensiosn become more important,” Varlan says.

Zentiva offers internships for students and recruits personnel from among college graduates. It plans to hire people in 2008 only to fill vacancies.

The Czech group, which took over local Sicomed Bucurest in in 2005, has over 6,400 employees, and has production units in the Czech Republic, Turkey, Romania and Slovakia, 800 of which are in Romania.

Zentiva’s local competitors include Terapia Ranbaxy, Antibiotice Iasi, and Labormed Pharma.