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Sanofi Keeps July 4 Traditions Alive With Layoff Rumors and Promises of Cuts to Come

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: June 17, 2010 / 2:57 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

As the July 4 holiday looms in the U.S., Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) employees aren't dreaming of barbecues, fireworks and a day off work -- they're worrying about layoffs. Sanofi has used Easter this year, Christmas and July 4 in 2009, and Thanksgiving in 2008 to announce mass layoffs. So when holidays loom, Sanofi workers sweat.

Management used to plan bad news for holiday weekends because fewer people read newspapers or watched TV over those periods: the PR damage was less. Although Internet usage does go down on non-business days, the web and mobile devices have made a mockery of the tradition of releasing negative information after 5 p.m. on a Friday evening. Whether Sanofi is aware of this yet is an open question: Independence Day appears to be no different this year. CFO Jerome Contamine told a Goldman Sachs conference that he plans more cuts to marketing to offset lower revenues:

The way to cope with that is to continue to cut costs ... We are restructuring. We are changing our marketing model. We are merging sales forces, we are reducing sales forces, having a multiproduct sales force. We will continue to do that.

Sanofi Canada recently axed 70 jobs; and a further 1,000 are expected to go in France.

Rumors are flying wildly on Sanofi's CafePharma bulletin board, the online gossip community frequented by pharmaceutical sales reps. Some are so sick of U.S. holidays being used to let employees go that they are suggesting a Bastille Day protest against their French bosses -- they want everyone to call in sick or take a personal day on July 14, the French day of national liberation.

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