Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson and Stryker remain at the top of the list of best places to work in medical device sales, according to a MedReps.com survey of medical sales representatives.
The survey polled more than 1,200 MedRep community members, with more than one-third of the voters favoring their current employers. The other two-thirds voted from a list of MedRep nominated companies and Fortune 500 companies.
Since 2014, the same three companies have received top honors. MedReps also included small, medium and large company winners of each category this year as well.
Even though the overall winners are considered large companies, 68% of poll respondents said they prefer to work for a small- or medium-sized company.
The annual MedReps survey also used the poll to gain insights into what employees look for in employers and how satisfied they were with their jobs.
Competitive compensation was one of the top two things that 72% of respondents said they looked for in an employer. More than half of respondents said work-life balance was an important factor when looking for a company to work for. A robust product line was the most important quality for half of the respondents. 70% of survey respondents were satisfied with their jobs, while 45% said they are somewhat likely to leave their job within the next year, down 2% from
About 70% of survey respondents were satisfied with their jobs, while 45% said they are somewhat likely to leave their job within the next year, down 2% from last year’s survey.
Here are five companies that received special mention in the report, along with Glassdoor quotations from past and present sales rep employees:
1. Medtronic
Overall Winner
Best Medical Device Company (Large)
“Pros: Great company benefits, culture and management. Cons: Transition to Medtronic from Covidien slow, product innovation slowed, product buckets growing.” —Current Device Sales Representative
“Pros: Strong Medical device company with a well-known name. Diversified. Cons: [Culture] has changed significantly and isn’t the company it once was.” —Current Senior Sales Representative
“Pros: Looks good on your resume, OK benefits, job security. Cons: Management is terrible and completely disconnected from what their employees actually do. Way too much overlapping upper management, No work life balance, lots of forced overtime and forced weekends with no warning, commission structure is impossible to follow, people rarely hit the target commission payouts because the quotas are ridiculously inflated.” —Current Inside Sales Representative
“Pros: Good work life balance, professional culture, great people. Cons: Compensation is below average. Limited advancement opportunity.” —Former Regional Sales Manager
2. Johnson & Johnson
Overall Winner
“Pros: J&J is a leader when it comes to embracing management coaching and training. Cons: Hierarchical structure within organization in the past made it difficult to access senior leaders for real-time feedback.” —Current Medical Sales Representative
“Pros: J&J really lives by its culture, you are surrounded by a lot of good people. They have been successful for so long because they are extremely proactive and will project 20 years out to make sure they are doing what is best for employees and end users of any of their products. Cons: I was in sales, and there was a lot of realignment in the field, so there is no guarantee for long term placement in any given territory. There was a lot of travel required and long hours.” —Former Medical Sales Representative
“Pros: Good insurance and retirement plan. Cons: Too big for own good, slow to innovate.” —Current Device Sales Representative
3. Stryker
Overall Winner
“Pros: Great autonomy with promotional ability and ability to transfer within the company to different divisions, great team to work with and we have each other’s back, competitive atmosphere. Cons: Some companies share market earnings, this one does not. That means you can’t hide behind the group effort if you aren’t pulling [your] weight. This job is not for a slacker. Not really a con, just something to consider.” —Current Sales Representative
“Pros: Competitive company with innovative products, good benefits, good earning potential. Cons: Very competitive field, does not pay for gas/travel in territory, [relatively] new in the sports medicine field, so there is a lot of work to catch up.” —Current Associate Sales Representative
“Pros: Good benefits for reps, good products. Cons: Low commission rates, bad work-life balance, bad management.” —Current Sales Representative
4. ConMed
Best Medical Device Company (Medium)
“Pros: Company making positive changes. Cons: Change affects positions [differently]. There are always inequities and some peoples’ territories can be negatively affected.” —Former Sales Representative
“Pros: It beat selling used cars, and some of the internal support people were great. They were willing to be aggressive on pricing products to help win deals. The CEO is working hard to change the culture and make ConMed a more responsive and innovative company, but they are far behind their peers. Cons: They are incredibly slow to get new products to market. Everything is about numbers for the sales team, and with a spotty record at best interns of innovation, it can be difficult to drive growth. A lot of customers have come to see ConMed as an afterthought these days due to a limited portfolio compared to their competitors. The RSMs are great in some instances and are horrendous in other cases, so if your gut tells you that the one you may work for is not what you would want, keep looking.” —Former Sales Representative
5. AccuVein
Best Medical Device Company (Small)
“Pros: Global leader in vein visualization. The competition’s device cannot compete. The company’s family feel provides an extreme job satisfaction with its employees. Cons: A capital equipment purchase adds difficulty to closing deals. Commission and base structures could be better. Pricing on the device although very competitive could be more conducive to close more sales.” —Current Account Executive
