I started to work in Pharmalex as Senior Manager Regulatory Affairs in 2018 in the UK Cornwall office. I was employed for my experience with biological products and quickly joined the UK CMC biological team. I was very satisfied with the on-going tasks and projects I was working on and with the great work environment.
In 2020 I decided to go back to France due to family reason (one of the members of my family got sick and the situation was being difficult to handle from abroad).
Even though I was very satisfied with the scope of my work in the UK I had to make the choice of whether to stay with the company or look elsewhere. But before handing in my resignation, I decided to check with my line manager if it would be possible to work from France and still be employed by Pharmalex with the same position and continue with the same projects I was at the time working on. As I previously mentioned, I was pleased with my daily activity and really wanted to prolong the partnership we had as employee-employers within PharmaLex. In this company I was able to utilise my expertise while at the same time I was also learning a lot.
The idea of moving abroad and still being employed by PharmaLex came out from discussions I had with two other colleagues who informed me that they had been previously transferred from affiliated companies for similar reasons. Fortunately, we were acquainted so they were able to share their experience with me which was valuable in my discussion with my line manager when I raised the topic of my transfer with him in June 2020.
Discussions between the two offices PharmaLex France and PharmaLex UK were engaged and a few months later (in September 2020), both offices found a way to make it possible for me to stay working within PharmaLex , but from France. I moved back to France in January 2021 and the transfer was swiftly finalised. In April 2021 I became a member of the French team, keeping my status and position as a biological expert member part of the UK CMC biological team and with the luxury of being able to still keep on working with my current projects.
The PharmaLex France office has been really supportive especially regarding HR and contract specificities that I needed to be aware of.
Since I have been transferred, I know that one of my colleagues previously based in the UK also took this opportunity to be transferred to India. She told me that thanks to my experience she knew that this solution was possible and asked for it too. We are still working together on biological projects so far even over the distance.
This is the beauty of working in an international company.
Finally, I would advise any employee wishing to be transferred to first reach out to someone with similar experience to better understand the implication and timeline before discussing further with their line manager.
