69 Pfizer employees in Zug given notice

The number of planned redundancies at the Pfizer pharmaceutical company has only been reduced slightly during the consultation process: 69 redundancies will be announced in Zug. A further 23 employees are to be transferred internally.

This month, 69 employees at Pfizer's Zug branch will receive their notice of termination. This has now been confirmed by a spokesperson for the pharmaceutical and biotech company. The job cuts are the result of a consultation process that was initiated at the beginning of May (we reported at the time) and has now been concluded. At that time, the US company announced that up to 74 Zug employees could be made redundant.

Consultation phases are required by law for such mass redundancies. During this period, attempts are made to avoid the planned redundancies or to minimise their number.

In many cases, however, the consultation phase does little or nothing to change the original plans. At Pfizer in Zug, five of the originally planned redundancies have now been averted. The Pfizer spokesperson says that the employees were "actively involved in the consultation process, and put forward various proposals".

View of the Pfizer branch in Zug                 Photo: Dominik Wunderli

Redundancies due to duplication in certain roles and functions
Further redundancies could also be imminent in Zug, however. Pfizer already announced in May that a further 21 people had been offered a new job internally, and that those who do not accept the offer will also have to leave the company. This number has now increased to 23 during the consultation phase. Following the information provided this month, those affected have ten days "to decide between an internal transfer or leaving the company", as the spokesperson adds.

This means that little has changed in terms of the original plans: almost half of the Zug workforce will have to leave or transfer internally. Pfizer currently employs 191 people in Zug. "This step is not easy for us. We would like to thank all employees for their valuable contributions and achievements for the company," says the Pfizer spokesperson.

The Zug branch of Pfizer was created just a few months ago through the acquisition of cancer specialist Seagen, which had been based in Zug for some time. Pfizer completed the takeover for US$ 43 billion at the end of 2023.

Seagen's European headquarters were previously located on the Dammstrasse in Zug. The reason given for the job cuts is the integration of the two units and "synergies and duplication in certain roles and functions".