This is an interesting discussion. I formerly worked for BLC and we pitied the sad, frustrated Pfizerites. They seemed chained to dreary jobs with moronic management but oh, the golden handcuffs. The "colleagues" did relish their superiority over contractors even though many of the contractors had more intelligence and certainly more perspective. I guess it is human nature to want to feel as though you are "better" than someone else. Especially if that someone else has something you desire - like the freedom to walk away. Good luck to everyone who will be looking for work in this awful job market with lots of competition. It's not the end, it's the beginning.

what's the latest policy on contractors? people in good books of management continue to work for more than 2 years - others are let go to keep up with the rules.

Nothing has changed, policy 117 is still on.
The only difference, the Wyeth contracts countdown for Policy 117 started officially when on the Merge date (i.e.: Day One) . So no matter how long they've been at Wyeth, the countdown has now begun.

what's the latest policy on contractors? people in good books of management continue to work for more than 2 years - others are let go to keep up with the rules.

Dilbert has higher IQ for sure.

That's a good one. Thanks for posting.

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-09-25/

Dukie! What's really going to happen?

There are a lot of idiots in IT, both BLC and Pfizer, who exactly are you referring?

Good riddance is right! And shame on some departments hiring some of those horrible idiots back into Pfizer. Some people just never learn do they.

Good riddance to all the contractors who have gone and hope the rest go soon too.

Agreed but then again that would increase the head-count and payroll. As it stands now, we contractors are discretionary spending and are not "heads".

Exactly the problem - why the fear of increasing headcount? when it is the cheaper option both short run and long run?

We are losing 3 invaluable contractors today (BLC employees). Do not assume that they are not qualified in some way or that they have not performed their contracted duties. They were just unfortunate when they chose BLC as their MSP provider. We are not going to be able to fill their shoes and software distribution, architcecture and IT support will not be able to function properly for some time because of this loss.

All these contractors made enough money off PFE for so many years along with the people awarding the contract - they now cannot get a job that will pay them 75% of what PFE gave them. Good riddance!

Agreed but then again that would increase the head-count and payroll. As it stands now, we contractors are discretionary spending and are not "heads".

Problem with PFE outsourcing strategy was simple - it cost too much. They paid the contractor high hourly rates, then paid the company that employed them a hefty commission and then had salaried managers / directors to supervise the contractor. Instead why not hire a person to do the contractors job and pay taht person a decent salary & get rid of the overheads? The root cause is the phobia to show more FTEs

We are losing 3 invaluable contractors today (BLC employees). Do not assume that they are not qualified in some way or that they have not performed their contracted duties. They were just unfortunate when they chose BLC as their MSP provider. We are not going to be able to fill their shoes and software distribution, architcecture and IT support will not be able to function properly for some time because of this loss.

Again you have missed the apples:apples comparison. We still don't know how much this guy was bringing home relative to his billable rate. To me, it sounds like he probably just has a shit credit rating, which is a lifestyle choice he's entitled to make on his own.

I'm sorry. You're completely retarded.

"I understand that you would really like to have a corvette, powertoys, a hot woman and a big paycheck -- well, it's not going to just happen while you sit there waiting to get laid off from your FTE job. Go out and do something about it! Plus, I am sure there are surgical enhancements for your other obvious problem, so don't fret."

Stick with chemistry, you obviously did not pass human psych classes.
I brought up those things to point out the amount of over compensation. We all know contractors are compensated higher due to their disposable status , but some people's compensation was way too much and their lifestyles showed it. When I was in the IRS, we would call that a red flag.

As for the good people at BLC, there were a few, but they are and need to be collateral damage in the war to clean up the place.

When Pfizer started outsource work a few years back. They had done some analysis, it said that the overhead for each FTE on average is more than 100K a year. This is on top of all benefit. It's pure overhead. No wonder this company has problem.

'193k contracting rate and 75k FTE salary are not even close to being an apples:apples comparison. Firstly, the 193k represents an all-inclusive cost to Pfizer. The 75k does not -- this negates: employer insurance, retirement plans, healthcare coverage, taxes, etc. Taken wholly, these are pretty comparable rates."

WTF are you talking about Dude? As a former Pfizer lab rat, I made $91,100/year. Every year I received a statement from Pfizer stating my total compensation, which included health care, pension, etc.

The total NEVER exceeded $119K per year, so there is NO WAY $193K per year equates to a $75K per year FTE salary plus benies, by comparison!

How many of these pfuckers posting here ever worked for Pfizer? Don't get me wrong, I HATE Pfizer, but one has to wonder!

I've been told this and am very disappointed that a global company like Pfizer would resort to petty politics. Pfizer is preventing people from working who have no tie to what others perceive as the "corrupt" former management. There are former BLC employees who are not close to the former management at all - if that is really the "problem!"

As for the ignorant FTE who is so bitter about his own position there that he has to spout off nasty generalities about all BLC employees, I take offense to your comments. I have interviewed for a few FTE positions and one even got so far as HR calling me to talk $$. At the end of the call, I was told that I would be receiving an offer in a day or two (for less money than I was making as a contractor) only to be told 4 days later that I was overqualified. Something is definitely wrong with that. My point to you is don't generalize! You really have no idea what you are talking about.

193k contracting rate and 75k FTE salary are not even close to being an apples:apples comparison. Firstly, the 193k represents an all-inclusive cost to Pfizer. The 75k does not -- this negates: employer insurance, retirement plans, healthcare coverage, taxes, etc. Taken wholly, these are pretty comparable rates.

Let's remember that 193k translates to about 100/hr on a normal work year, which we have ourselves listed at 1920 hours. A senior consultant can pull this rate down easily anywhere, and you should know that. Just because Pfizer is cheap as shit on contracting rates, this is not a revelation... it's a realistic market rate anywhere else in a major corp in CT,NY,NJ. What about the contracting house take? Your theory negates this too.

To add oil to the fire, our own procurement has said in the past (during the most recent hiring freeze to be exact) that the costs of bringing an FTE on are 3-5x the total liability of a contracting rate. Now that it's convenient the canary's changed its tune.

Really sad what's happening to this company. BLC from what I understand did everything in its power to bend over backwards to deliver exactly what and who was asked of them.

A lot of good people are gone already or will be soon -- and we're worse off for it.

It's things like this that have shaken my faith in the ability of Pfizer to do good business in the future. I just see our business plan as us trying to get "too big to fail" so we're entitled to some sort of bailout when Lipitor goes of patent.

"I've heard that BLC folks are "unofficially" blacklisted.

All I have to say is, THANK GOD!

There were so many suspicious billing, people padding the system.

I knew one contractor who turned down a $75K FTE Position to stay with BLC, then BLC billed Pfizer $193K for his next year (I've seen the PO for this and have the numbers). Then to make matters worse, they hired his unqualified girlfriend to be a glorified administrator and paid her a fortune and for her Visa (they were both Foreign nations). She and he had fun driving in their brand new 2006 corvette every day when they were not driving their new motorcycles from their $515K beach house in Long Point. They weren't that good technically (though she was good looking with a British accent), made me wonder who she was servicing. If we ever hire her as an FTE, that would just confirm that suspicion; 'cause we would have to pay for her green card!

Were there some good BLC employees, yes just a few.
But unfortunately they need to be collateral damage in this situation if we ever want to clean up Pfizer from the old corruption!
Time we get rid of the Leaches!"

OK, so here's a summary of your problems with BLC: "Hi I am an underpaid FTE. I have issues with adequacy, not only in terms of the car I drive, not only in terms of the paycheck I earn, and not only in my ability to attract women. I am xenophobic. Therefore, I use illogical ad-hominem arguments to blast people I am jealous of as a result of my heightened personal insecurities, as it makes me feel better about my short comings."

I understand that you would really like to have a corvette, powertoys, a hot woman and a big paycheck -- well, it's not going to just happen while you sit there waiting to get laid off from your FTE job. Go out and do something about it! Plus, I am sure there are surgical enhancements for your other obvious problem, so don't fret.

Did I miss anything? Thank you for this though. Really. Rarely has a Biofind post afforded me the chance to revisit collegiate topics of Freudian psychoanalysis and philosophy and logic.

If I were making it up, how would I get people like you to inadvertently validate the claim? Notice how spun up you are about the "confidential" PO, yet you make no attempt to refute it. We both know it's true.

The amount of people that have access to this is huge, the entire Accounts Payable Department for starters. Plus anyone can look it up easy enough, it is listed like a printer toner. Anyways you assume that I got it from Pfizer, I could have gotten it externally from BLC themselves, dumpster diving anyone?

Regardless, you miss the point. A number of BLC were the paid dogs of the previous CORRUPT administration. They were overpaid to lead us into a corrupt situation. The things that Pfizer was supposed to eliminate with the outsourcing (such as corruption, nepotism, inefficiency) were exactly ALL THE THINGS THEY ENABLED TO HAPPEN! How do you think an uneducated mechanic and an ex-underwear model got in here to manage IT at those rates? Not for their charming personalities, unless you consider sex stories appropriate and charming. You cannot accept their Ollie North plea "I was just following orders." They were the hands that executed the corruption and in my opinion equally culpable. At the same time, we had to ATS much better people to make up the losses they brought into our house.

We deserve to fail if we make any exceptions to allow any of them back.

Maybe if more people violated corporate policy, then it would suddenly become clear to everyone how inept this company really is.

You're putting Pfizer confidential data out on web. If as you claimed that you had see the PO, then, you had clearly violated corporate policy. Perhaps internal audit should look into who are you? or maybe you're just making this up?

seems you're really sour. I heard she'd been offered FTE position.

I've heard that BLC folks are "unofficially" blacklisted.

All I have to say is, THANK GOD!

There were so many suspicious billing, people padding the system.

I knew one contractor who turned down a $75K FTE Position to stay with BLC, then BLC billed Pfizer $193K for his next year (I've seen the PO for this and have the numbers). Then to make matters worse, they hired his unqualified girlfriend to be a glorified administrator and paid her a fortune and for her Visa (they were both Foreign nations). She and he had fun driving in their brand new 2006 corvette every day when they were not driving their new motorcycles from their $515K beach house in Long Point. They weren't that good technically (though she was good looking with a British accent), made me wonder who she was servicing. If we ever hire her as an FTE, that would just confirm that suspicion; 'cause we would have to pay for her green card!

Were there some good BLC employees, yes just a few.
But unfortunately they need to be collateral damage in this situation if we ever want to clean up Pfizer from the old corruption!
Time we get rid of the Leaches!

not in so many words ("that ain't gonna happen" in the words of SC) but the intent was clear. Can't be bothered with 'black lists', or 'favored university' or any of the rest of the nonsense spouted by conspiracy theory nutters but even the most hardened cynic has to admit that a pattern is developing; this is worth further investigation.

BLC is a CRO that used to support Pfizer. Also a lot of people have been told this from Pfizer and other companies!

Excuse my ignorance, but what is BLC? and why would there be any restriction?

Nobody has been told that.