Focus Reports

1.0

30 July 2018

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

As mostly mentioned in previous reviews, the job offers the rare opportunity to personally discuss and negotiate with top international leaders in the pharma and life sciences sector (government officials, regulators, C-level executives, KOLs) Secondly, you get the chance to travel to many countries on the 5 continents, every 1/3 months during your training and then every 3-6 months (depending on how big the market is). Thirdly, the lifestyle can be very exciting (can also be considered a con though, depending on your personality): it is very similar to being an entrepreneur as you are fully responsible for making the report successful in the country: you manage the budget, you're the one making phone calls to get the meetings - with your editor and sometimes a trainee. Finally, you can gain fast track promotions: trained for up to 6 months, then becoming project coordinator for 1-2 years, to then become project director and then senior director according to performance. People who have been working for 3 years are considered veterans in this job.

Cons

1. Your status/ the type of working contract: you are not an employee, but a contractor. This means that: you are entitled to work as many hours "as necessary" to reach the results - you have no paid vacations and no bank holidays (though you can take unpaid holidays, but only between projects) - they can fire you if you are sick/pregnant/have a broken leg etc - they pay no tax and you have to take care of your retirement, no unemployment benefits Etc When you read the contract, it's obvious it's not an equal duty/rights between the employer and contractor . Focus, who has all the rights over you, the contractor, basically owes you. As a small example, the employer gives only 3 weeks notice while the contractor needs to give 6. Most of us who have signed even after reading such a ridiculous contract, naively did so, hoping that nothing goes wrong during their time at Focus or that the company would be fair play. The problem is (and that's what contracts are for!) when the company does not play by the rules (which is here the case), so you only have the contract left, which does not protect you at all. Some examples: - a team once exceptionally came back late on a Monday morning from a week-end trip. When the CEOs found out, they fired them. Lesson: as a contractor, you have to be flexible with hours (= work until late), but still entitled to start work at a fix time like an employee (9 am) - no exception. - When you decide to quit for the competition. As a revenge of "betraying" them, they will not pay what is left to owe you for your work (latest salary, commissions and bonuses). There is however no non-competition clause in the contract, only a clause mentioning you cannot work with the same customers you had while at Focus. 2. Another point they tell you and which applies, while not being written in the contract: they will take half of your commissions and bonus earned if you leave before 1 year, 20% before 1.5 year and 10% before 2 years. I wish someone had told me all these "behind the scenes", and that's why I tried to give you all those informations so you realize what you're signing for.

Focus Reports Response

Thank you very much for this review, we hope it helps potential candidates decide in full understanding whether they are ready to take this opportunity . The fact we use consultant over work contracts is standard in our industry. It merely reflects of the diversity of the administrative situation of our collaborators (different nationalities/countries of residence, no fixed place of business etc...). Based on such contracts yes it is normal that each of our consultant pays his/her taxes according to their individual situation. We are very transparent about the contractual conditions from the first phone interview and during our assessment days. We also send all the paperwork well in advance and encourage selected candidates to reach out to our collaborators and discuss the merits and challenges of the job and how they handle their administrative situation. As you know all our collaborators are well educated university graduates. Considering the complexity of the tasks they perform, we hope that "being naive" is not part of their skill set. We are sorry if you felt you signed such contract naively. With regards to contract termination , we will not discuss the individual cases that you pointed to, as we have a different reading of what may or may not have happened (there is always two sides to a story). Nevertheless as in any contracts (work or consulting) there are termination clauses and processes clearly laid out which you described very well. We very seldom terminate contracts unilaterally, and mostly do so on a common agreement except in case of gross or repeat misbehavior, lack of professional behavior or breach of trust. Having said this, we have never terminated any contract for someone breaking a leg, falling ill or getting pregnant. Quite the contrary, despite of the challenges associated with the task we have always supported our consultants facing unfortunate (or fortunate in case of pregnancy) situations. There is one point we agree upon :whenever we sign a new contract we are systematically hopeful that things will turn positively and disappointed when they don't. We always look at our next consultant as a potential success story, and take pride in training her/him to make sure she/he gets the best of an incredible professional experience while gaining financial independence. The good news is that in the vast majority of cases they do.. This is reflected in the amount of positive reviews we get on Glassdoor, the incredibly few numbers of collaborators who over the years have chosen to join competitive organizations and in the number of candidates that come recommended by present or past consultants. We are a small organization which spends an incredible amount of resources to select candidates from all around the World and provide them with the opportunity to travel, understand complex industries, embrace responsibilities and develop personally and professionally. We are confident that with time you will see the merits of your experience and will be able to apply the skills you have gained collaborating with our teams. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.

International Business Developer - Anonymous employee Focus Reports Employee Review

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