Boehringer follows Sanofi with job cuts in France

Boehringer Ingelheim has confirmed it plans to axe more than 10% of its workforce in France, or more than 300 jobs, adding to several hundred losses at Sanofi last week. The privately-held German drugmaker says it will eliminate 327 positions – 197 in human health and 130 in its animal health unit – a move which comes just under two years after it acquired Sanofi’s animal health unit Merial in exchange for its consumer health division. All told, Boehringer employs 2,800 employees in France across both divisions, and it also says 32 new jobs will be created while 180 workers will have their contracts altered, mainly in connection with relocation to other sites within France. One of the key moves will be a consolidation of support functions at a single site in Lyon.
Last week, the CGT trade union revealed that Sanofi are planning to cut 670 jobs in France by 2020 that will affect functions such as human resources, IT, legal, and finances, with another 80 IT jobs set to be outsourced. Sanofi has said it also intends to recruit 250 people in France for new positions in areas such as bioproduction and digital. In a statement, Boehringer’s French subsidiary said that the drive is a response to the Merial acquisition as well as to remain competitive in an “increasingly constrained market…particularly in human health.” The announcement comes as a moratorium on job losses agreed when the Merial takeover was negotiated comes to an end.