Testimonials

I spent ten years in retail management before deciding that it was time to make more use of my interest in science and moved into medical sales. I started off working for a contract sales company and ended up as a regional business manager for Wyeth, now part of Pfizer. I joined Nutricia at the beginning of 2010 because they offered me a sales management role which called for both a clinical background and strong coaching experience – me to a tee. Initially I worked on specialist products, but in June 2010 I took over a team of five handling almost the complete range of our products in the West Midlands area. It’s a bit difficult to come up with a typical day because every day here is different. I’ve got the title of manager but I see my role as guiding, helping, coaching not directing. If you’ve got good people, and I most definitely have, then a command and control approach never gets the best out of them. My job is to allow them to develop their full potential. Because the team covers a very large area of the country I’m on the road at least four days a week. The idea is that the fifth day is spent in my office at home catching up on admin, but often that has to go by the wayside and I’ll be back out in the field. The other main part of my job is working with the contracts team to make sure that agreements with customers are working smoothly and that also brings me into contact with many of the other key functions in the business, such as marketing, nursing and customer services, which is a great way of seeing how the organisation operates as a whole. I really do think that Nutricia is a great place to work, a place where you can be yourself and get the job done in a way which makes best use of your skills and experience. The leadership style is the one that I personally subscribe to – enabling people rather than being prescriptive about what to do and how to do it. It makes me feel that I’m really making a contribution to the growth and success of the business. And that I’m being well rewarded for it – particularly when it comes to the flexible benefits package, which is really fabulous.  I also like the fact that we are part of a larger group and the opportunities that throws up. I love my home town of Preston but the possibility of being able to move on elsewhere within Danone, possibly overseas, is also very attractive. And I know that, if I identify where I want to get to, the company will do everything possible to help me achieve that. Perhaps I’m just one of those people who see the bright side of things, but I honestly can’t think of anything about working here that I really dislike. In fact, if I have one regret about joining Nutricia it’s that I didn’t do it sooner!

Riyaz Atchia Regional Sales Manager, West Central

I started work with Accenture HR Services as a Contracts Officer for BT, before moving over to the O2 account.  This 5 years Contracts experience led on to a full blown HR role with a construction company for a couple of years before I joined Nutricia’s contracts team where I worked on the complete revamp of NHS tender documents for about a year. I was very happy in that team, but the powers that be must have spotted potential that I didn’t necessarily know I had and I found myself being gently nudged towards customer services - which is just as well because I absolutely love it. My role has two distinct elements. Firstly, people management which involves managing a team of eleven who handle queries from our customers – from individual patients to nurses to dietitians and other healthcare professionals. It’s a great team and varied from all backgrounds, the common theme being an ability to empathise with the people we deal with and to remain calm and focused under stress.  We work on shifts, providing a service from 8am to 8pm with emergency cover throughout the night and we work very closely with other departments such as logistics and prescription services. The other side of the job is account management, making sure that everything runs smoothly and trying to resolve any issues that crop up. I’m where the buck stops, so it’s up to me to do the crisis management element which can be anything from a pump not turning up at the right time to a report that one of our drivers had driven over a patient’s garden (it actually turned out that a neighbour was responsible – our drivers don’t do that sort of thing!).  But it’s not all fire-fighting – often I get to deal with compliments too – there are a lot of people out there who are very happy with what we do and many of them are kind enough to take the time and trouble to express it. It’s a demanding job and some days can be tough but it’s always very satisfying. You feel that we really are providing patients out in the community, people who are often very poorly indeed, with a service that’s second to none. It’s something I’m genuinely proud of. I’m based at our head office in Trowbridge which, all in all, is a rather nice place to work. We’re very well looked after with a wide range of benefits- ranging from a bonus scheme (which is rare in the customer services sector), to those little things which just make life more pleasant such as free Evian and Activia yoghurts. This is a company that knows what it’s doing when it comes to developing peoples potential. It’s much better at it than anyone I’ve worked for before. This is my first time in a management position, for example, they have provided me with all the support and training I could have wished for and I’m now really comfortable in the role. Nutricia seems to have developed the knack of encouraging people to write their own future. You aren’t pressured to keep moving on just for the sake of it and if you find a niche you want to stick in, then that’s fine. But if you want opportunities they are most definitely there and readily accessible if you have the ability and commitment.

Purdie Davies (SHS) Specialist Customer Services Team Leader

I did a maths and accountancy degree at Sheffield and then went travelling for a while before joining Nutricia in contracts administration. Originally I was just here on a temporary basis for six months, but eight years later so much has happened and so many opportunities have come my way that I’ve never been tempted to leave. In my time here I’ve worked in contract admin, medical sales, training and general business development, which has given me a really superb grounding for the role I’m doing now. The essence of my job is making sure that all of the contracts we have with customers work as effectively as possible both from an operational and commercial point of view. So what does that mean in practice? Well, I spend a lot of my time with procurement managers in the NHS talking through contracts, explaining terms and conditions, reviewing compliance and pinning down what both Nutricia and a trust needs to do to make things run smoothly and to mutual benefit.  I’m also always looking for development opportunities, trying to make sure that the people who authorise and commission spending in the NHS understand what we do, what we can offer and how to work with us so that contracts roll out in the best interests of all stakeholders. I also get involved in coaching our medical sales reps so that they get these messages as well. My job calls for an eye for detail, good negotiating skills, patience, plenty of diplomacy and more than a bit of steel as well. It’s a very independent, autonomous role and the majority of the time I’m working on my own. But that doesn’t mean that I’m isolated in any way – I liaise a lot with other specialists in the business from customer service to sales to logistics to finance. This is a very people focused company. HR gets a big say in the running of the business on a day to day basis and there’s consequently a lot of internal promotion and development, and there’s a real focus on motivating people through recognition and reward – everything from competitive basic salaries to a good bonus system and a very flexible benefits package. It’s a very ambitious, forward-looking organisation which is always planning 3-5 years ahead and involving everyone in that process. Everything is very open and transparent – there’s no place for secrecy here. There are plenty of career opportunities if you want to take advantage of them, although there’s no real pressure to keep moving if you’ve found the right level or niche. And because we’re part of Danone those opportunities aren’t just within Nutricia itself or even just limited to the UK. We’re starting to see quite a bit of movement out into the wider group and examples of people building new careers outside the UK.  What you end up doing is down to you – to your own drive, ambition and personal goals. If you know where you want to go and have the ability to get there, the company will give you all the help and support it can to get you on your way.

Mark Ruddock Contracts Executive, South and East England

I started off as a nurse, specialising in trauma and orthopaedic work and then spent some time overseas in Brunei looking after members of the royal family amongst others. When I came back to the UK I decided I wanted a bit more variety so went into the commercial healthcare sector as a nurse advisor and then joined Nutricia in 1997 as a territory manger, a real jack of all trades role dealing with nurses, hospitals and patients out in the community. Since then I’ve done a whole host of sales and marketing roles, and ended up heading sales for one of our biggest UK regions (as well as having some children along the way!). But that’s as far as I wanted to go with sales – the idea of a national role didn’t appeal. So Nutricia, being the sort of company it is, came up with my current role, something that’s in effect built around me and the skills and experience I’ve put together over the course of my career. My job is to make our marketing to the NHS as effective as possible by making sure that we’re delivering messages that really resonate with people, which tie into the challenges and opportunities they face every day. What’s great about it is that I work across all the functions of the marketing department and have a huge amount of autonomy. I don’t think I’ve ever had a typical day at Nutricia but it’s most definitely the case now. This week I’ve been out to visit a medicines manager at a clinical group in the West Country to discuss how we can support her better. Then I had a day at home catching up on admin. The following day I was organising a webinar which allowed members of our sales force to put questions to a key customer. Then I was talking to the group of NHS experts we work with, a sort of extended focus group, to work out our next information session. Nutricia has got a very strong culture of its own, which means that it tends to attract and retain people who are both passionate and committed.  There are quite a few people who have been around a good while. For a lot of us there’s a real emotional bond between us and the company and we couldn’t actually envisage working anywhere else. Personally I feel more like a partner here than an employee and I can’t say I’ve ever experienced that in previous jobs. Despite that fact that we’re part of a larger group, there is always something of a small company feel about the place. Individuals are recognised and valued. Even the most senior managers will seek out and listen to your opinion. Of course that can cut both ways. If things aren’t going so great, sometimes you want to keep your head down and not get noticed, but you have to take the rough with the smooth. And on the whole there’s a lot more of the latter here than there is of the former.

Debbie Taylor NHS Development Manager

I joined Nutricia in January 2000 having previously worked as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company, as well as a nurse in the NHS. I joined Nutricia to take advantage of the personal development opportunities offered. Shortly after joining the company, the sales force was restructured and my role changed to Community Representative. About three years later I was offered the opportunity to take on a new role of Healthcare Development Executive, in which I was tasked with exploring new business opportunities at the PCT level. This gave me valuable experiences in working at a more strategic level with the NHS. Most recently, I have taken on a new role as Paediatric Representative with responsibilities to sell paediatric products in hospitals as well as in the community. My main customers are paediatric dietitians and paediatricians. Alongside my day job, I am a regional trainer working alongside my Regional Business Manager to develop the selling skills of my team. I am also an elected member of the Employee Consultative Forum which brings together employees and management to exchange views and work together to further improve our company. I thoroughly enjoy working for Nutricia as it has given me opportunities for both personal and professional development. Nutricia is a very people friendly company which ensures that employees are happy and included, through encouraging feedback via the ECF and at regular interface meetings. My time at Nutricia is the longest I have spent in any one company as when I need a new challenge, I am able to fulfil my needs here.

Surjit Lockley Paediatric Representative