Healthcare Recruiting Pulse (12/5/2024)

Corey Maywald, MBA, ACIR, CASR, CSMR, PRC

Talent Acquisition Partner | Healthcare Recruiter | AIRS Certified Recruiter | Talent Sourcer | Navy Veteran | Military Hiring Advocate | People & Culture | Connecting Incredible People to Amazing Careers in Healthcare

Published Dec 5, 2024

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope everyone is staying warm as these temperatures have been dropping across the country this week. This week in Healthcare Recruiting Pulse I break down some major layoffs in the healthcare space, healthcare news, and some upcoming hiring events. Grab your coffee or some hot chocolate and let's warm up with some of the latest in healthcare this week ☕.

Healthcare Layoffs:

💊 Novartis (East Hanover, New Jersey): Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company announced it will eliminate 139 positions at its US headquarters in East Hanover. The cuts will take place between Feb 2025 - Aug 2025. The cuts will primarily affect commercial field sales teams for the medicines.

❄ Novartis to eliminate 139 positions at HQ in East Hanover, NJ

💊 Bristol Myer Squibb (New Jersey): Bristol Myers Squibb, a global biopharmaceutical company announced additional job cuts following 2 rounds of layoffs earlier this year. The company announced it will eliminate 195 positions between Feb 2025 and Dec 2025. A BMS spokesperson said the cuts are tied to an ongoing push to reduce costs by 1.5 billion by the end of 2025. The company did not disclose which workers the latest reductions will impact or where they will take place.

❄ Bristol Myers Squibb announces 195 more layoffs

🏥 Palomar Health (San Diego, CA): Just before Thanksgiving, Palomar Health announced it laid off about 2% of its workforce impacting mostly leadership and back-office staff. The layoffs were part of its "recovery plan" to stabilize expenses and restructure for better long-term growth. The announcement came as audited results for Fiscal Year 2024 were expected to show the health system suffered a financial loss due to external factors.

❄ Palomar Health announces 2% reduction in force; Leadership and back-office roles impacted

💊 CVS (Multiple Rhode Island Locations): Nearly 800 workers with CVS Health will lose their jobs in early 2025, including a dozen employees who work out of, or report to supervisors in, its northern Rhode Island headquarters. A company spokesperson, said in an email Monday that the layoffs are part of the 2,900 cuts announced earlier this year, including much of its acute home infusion service arm, Coram, which is closing 29 of its pharmacies this year and discontinuing certain services. Of the 796 workers set to lose their jobs between Jan. 25 and Feb. 7, 2025, a total of 12 work directly out of the Woonsocket headquarters or surrounding corporate facilities in Woonsocket and Cumberland. The rest are remote or work from home employees in other states who “report” to the Rhode Island facility, according to the layoff notice. Rhode Island jobs being cut include several management positions, one nurse, one executive assistant and two senior data scientists.

❄ CVS announces 796 layoffs nationwide

🏥 Solventum (Saint Paul, MN): Solventum, previously 3M’s Health Care business, is engaging in a round of layoffs. In a statement that a spokesperson shared with MassDevice they stated: "As a new company, in our first eight months we are focused on positioning the business for the future. Our priorities are clear: creating the structure to support the culture of speed and agility we envision and directing strategic investments to fuel growth. As a result, we made the difficult decision to eliminate some positions across the organization to allow us to increase investment in other areas". It’s unclear for now how many employees at the company are affected by the layoffs.

❄Solventum announces layoffs

🏥 Lifespan (Rhode Island): Lifespan, Rhode Island’s largest employer and health system, has laid off a fifth of its executives in a move to reduce overhead and streamline operations. The layoffs will save Lifespan $6 million in fiscal 2025, allowing the health system to “allocate more resources directly to patient care and support areas.” Lifespan has not disclosed exactly how many people employed in executive positions were let go.

❄ Lifespan, Rhode Island's largest employer and health system lays off 20% of executive positions

🏥 Carepoint Health (Bayonne, Jersey City, & Hoboken, NJ): Announced massive layoffs totaling 2,602 positions across across its Bayonne, Jersey City, and Hoboken facilities by Dec. 12, 2024. The closures represent a significant blow to the healthcare sector and the communities these facilities serve.

☢ Seimens Healthcare Diagnostics (Flanders, NJ): Announced reducing workforce by 62 employees. No additional details at this time.

❄ Massive Layoffs at major NJ corporations

Layoffs Recap:

💭 There have been some massive layoffs in the healthcare space recently. Most of the positions have been healthcare executives and administrative professionals. It seems like this week the pharmaceutical space took the biggest hit. If you are a healthcare executive looking for a new role, you may experience some longer than usual timelines due to the amount of competition who has been impacted by layoffs/restructurings. Make sure you plan accordingly and find ways to break away from competition to stand out. Now is the time to start thinking of upskilling, getting a new certification, and polishing up your resume. Unfortunately, I have a strong feeling that in the next few weeks, we will see an uptick in layoffs in multiple industries as organizations wait until after the holidays to make these announcements.