Rupert and Company - Guides to a Changing Workplace

	Amgen Avid Technology Memorial Sloan-Kettering Bristol-Myers Squibb Horne Sodexo RSM McGladrey			Bristol-Myers Squibb - Saving Sales Reps *Supporting an aggressive pilot with customized online training*
				Client Challenge Bristol-Myers Squibb needed greater retention & production in Field Sales. The problem: the turnover of talented and highly valuable female sales reps and the ongoing challenge of how to get more face time with doctors in the sales territories. A group of sales reps and their manager in the Field Sales Group of U.S. Medicines identified job sharing as an option that offered part-time conditions within full-time positions – thus avoiding the costly redrawing of territories. They also thought it might allow more creative staffing. A pilot proved very effective. FlexWise™ Intervention Rupert & Company had already installed key content of its FlexWise™ guidelines for Bristol-Myers and driven flexible management practices across the organization. R&C was asked to debrief the successful job sharers and their managers and develop an online training tool that could serve to orient and guide new job sharers and their managers. The online course was reviewed, tested and revised with these pioneers to help capture and disseminate the best practices cost-effectively across the rest of this dispersed national organization. Organizational Outcome The participants in the training development process were extremely pleased with the final tools. Several indicated that it would have made their pilot participation more productive and satisfying had this training been available. The availability and use of the training had had a positive impact on their job sharing experience. One effect of sharing a job was the opportunity to rearrange schedules as well. As opportunities to interact with physician shifted from office visits to seminars and social events, being able to deploy two reps per event increased their effectiveness. At the end of the pilot evaluation, the job sharers received a higher rate of Pinnacle sales awards than their full-time counterparts.