Medical sales jobs are highly coveted. And for good reason – they pay well, typically offer flexible work schedules, and boast some of the best perks and benefits of any industry. It would seem that medical companies have no problem finding top-level talent from a seemingly endless supply of sales reps who are looking to either break into the field or advance their own careers. However, finding top-level talent and keeping it are two entirely different things.
MedReps’ 2017 Best Places to Work in Medical Sales report surveyed over a thousand medical sales representatives and got answers to a variety of questions, including what keeps employees happy with their medical sales job. The report is not only helpful in referencing key numbers, but can also be used as a tool that medical employers can use to further understand what exactly are the most important values that they can offer their employees. So what are some of the top values that sales reps cite when referring to job satisfaction and what drives them to work for a specific company?
The Values
According to the report, competitive compensation and a healthy work-life balance are not only among the leading values; they’re at the top of the list. Regarding competitive compensation, 72% of respondents claim that this is the single most important factor, proving that money does matter. Being paid well also shows that employers respect and hold their employees and sales reps in high regard. In addition to the high pay, 53% of the study’s respondents said that a healthy work-life balance is crucial to their individual success as well as the overall success of the company and individual company values like these are indeed, quite important.
Of the four important values that employers can offer, the remaining two values included promoting from within (31% of surveyed individuals) and job-related, paid training (19%).
A Great Place to Work
Similar to individual values, keeping sales reps happy can sometimes be tricky. What else are they looking for and what qualities does it take to be a great place to work, anyway?
For starters, half of the sales reps that were surveyed (50%) cited a strong product line as the most important quality that an employer can offer while 23% said it was a focus on research and development. Numbers like these suggest that in order for a company to truly succeed, the right pieces must be in place beforehand, and these employees know it. Rounding out the list of the most important qualities of great places to work are: brand recognition (8%), strong financials (8%), and other/various qualities (11%).
The three overall winners in MedReps’ Best Places to Work in Medical Sales survey were Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Stryker. These big three companies are consistently at the top of the annual list virtually every year so they are obviously doing something right. Despite being three of the largest companies in the industry, they still manage to create an intimate work setting, which is very important since small and mid-sized companies seem to be preferred, as 68% of the survey’s respondents said they would rather work for one instead of a large company. Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Stryker all do well because they are able to incorporate a small to mid-sized culture and feel, offering more personal interaction than other corporations, in addition to other important values and traits (listed above) that are highly desirable to medical sales reps.
Sales reps looking for medical sales jobs can use MedReps’ recent survey as a guide to put into perspective what their colleagues value about working for a medical sales company or medical device company. Similarly, medical sales employers should use the survey as a tool to understand what their employees really value in a job and what’s important to them.
