GSK

George Ham
Established Brands Associate IBL

6.00 AM
I don’t know why but even with a good night’s sleep, there is always a temptation to go back to sleep.

6.30 AM
I make way to the gym. Time to wake up by engaging those muscles!

8.00 AM
I’m on my way to work from the gym. It’s always busy around this time with commuters but I can be at peace with my earphones on.

8.30 AM
I grab a desk and get ready for the day by first connecting my laptop to the screen. We have free seating so I can literally sit anywhere but I like standing desks because I can alternate between sitting and standing.

8.45 AM
After checking my email and calendar, I write down my priorities for the day and make my way to the kitchen. I like the convenience of not having to carry my breakfast around and just keeping my necessities in the office kitchen. The menu is often vegemite (or marmite) on toast or fruit and yogurt salad.

9.15 AM
I’ve finished my breakfast (I’m a fast eater!) and start off work by breezing past any admin tasks or sending off replies to emails I received overnight. This gets me in the rhythm of working and there is no better feeling than to tick things off the priority list.

10.00 AM
If I do have a morning meeting, it’s usually around 10.00 am. Today my manager is checking in to discuss the progress of my work and help me decide on a few sticky issues and prioritise. It’s quite casual but at the same time, you develop a strong bond with your manager. GSK NZ is a very lean organisation where you get exposure to many things. Focusing on key initiatives is one of the biggest learning of my IBL journey so far.

11.00 AM
It’s time for a cup of coffee. A bit later than others perhaps but Nespresso machine in the kitchen is always available and it makes pretty good coffee. So over a cup of coffee, I like to have a chat with whoever is around. Literally everyone is up for a chat and you always learn something new.

12.00 PM
I often have lunch in the office but today I’m heading out with a bunch of colleagues to try out a new place that has just opened. Being in the CBD, the option for food is endless. We also go for a walk along the waterfront after lunch to stretch our legs and enjoy the view.

1.00 PM
Coming back into the office, I go into a quiet room, designed for us to use when making phone calls and joining teleconferences. I’m on a phone call with an external stakeholder to discuss how I could take my project forward with them. Whether it be customers or agency, internal or external, building professional relationships is another key learning from my IBL journey so far.

2.00 PM
I’ve got time to myself on the desk to work on my project and put together everything I’ve gathered through discussions with different stakeholders. I find it important to leave some time for myself to digest and really think through what my work means to the recipient and how it should be best presented. Working in the pharmaceutical industry and therefore impacting patients’ lives, I need to be extra vigilant. Having said that, being able to impact patients’ lives, when you think about it, it’s an awesome thing to get up in the morning for! (That’s why I can wake up at 6.00 am, you see.)

3.00 PM
Working in a corporate, I have many more colleagues overseas. With New Zealand ahead of everyone in time zone, I often interact with my overseas colleagues around this time. Today’s afternoon meeting is about supply update on key medicine GSK supplies. There is a culture of asking questions at GSK and although quite junior, my queries for the supply of certain medicine are taken note of and addressed. Working in market access, it is critical to make sure that medicines arrive on time because this can have a huge impact on patients’ lives. Often the cross-functional team works to ensure a stable supply of medicine for NZ patients.

5.00 PM
After an eventful day, it’s time to pack up. It’s always nice to revisit the priority list I made in the morning and seeing them all ticked off. I make a list of things to do tomorrow and send a few last-minute emails before shutting down my laptop.

5.30 PM
I arrive at Victoria Park for a game of touch rugby. GSK participates in a corporate league and has games every Monday after work. It’s a good opportunity to bond with colleagues even more.

7.00 PM
After a hot shower, I make myself dinner and take time to relax for a while. I find resting to be just as important as working and I do things like watching on Netflix, listening to music, reading a good book, or just browsing on the web.

9.30 PM
It’s time to do a bit of studying. GSK has a huge emphasis on personal development and my manager especially has been supportive of my initiative to pursue a postgraduate degree. Come the end of the year, hopefully, I can tick off this development item too!

11.00 PM
I’m back on the haven of my bed. I message and chat with my friends, but I usually dose off quite quickly because… well, I’ve got another day of impacting patients’ lives, haven’t I?

GSK

Nick Woods
Marketing Associate FLP, Nucala

7.30 AM
I gingerly roll out of bed to the sound of my alarm and walk straight into the shower. My morning routine has been made far easier by preparing all my work items the night before, allowing me time to enjoy my Weet-Bix before driving to work.

8.15 AM
Once at work, I must decide where I want to sit for the day. At GSK, we practice a hotdesking system, meaning that people sit at different desks each day to improve collaboration between colleagues. Being one of the earlier people in the office, I’m usually able to find a seat near the window.

Once I find my desk, I grab my lunch and head to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. In the kitchen, I bump into a fellow colleague where we discuss the overnight cricket scores and plans for the weekend.

8.30 AM
After being adequately caffeinated, I open my laptop to check the daily sales numbers and start going through my emails. If anything needs action, then I’ll add it to my to-do-list (which was prepared last night) and then re-prioritise which items need to be addressed first based on their importance.

9.30 AM
I walk into a meeting room and plug my laptop into the projector to facilitate our Brand Team meeting. Operating under a Matrix Structure, GSK creates cross-functional teams for the completion of projects, meaning that stakeholders across various functions (such as finance, communications and medical) all play critical roles in the success of my brand. In these meetings, we discuss what we have been working on, the weeks wins, any risks that need to be flagged and align on where we should be focusing our efforts for the week.

10.30 AM
After our meeting, I grab a snack and have an opportunity to continue working on the key projects on my to-do-list. I walk over to a colleague to ask for their guidance on a particular issue and more often than not they are able to offer a solution to my problem.

12.00 PM
I go back to the kitchen, grab my lunch from the fridge and heat it up in one of the many available microwaves. One of the great things about GSK is the number of friendly staff available to sit and talk to at lunch. After having a nice chat, I then make eye contact with a friend across the room who is pointing at the table tennis table. After a hard fought 3 set match and a satisfying win, I then return to my desk feeling re-energised and ready to continue working.

1.30 PM
I grab my laptop and walk into a meeting room to look at my brand's current performance. This meeting is undertaken with the Finance team where we look at various metrics such as market share shift, sales, and market research. We also look at internal measures to ensure that the sales team is tracking well in the lead measures which should then result in positive sales performance. To close the meeting, we insert our commentary into a PowerPoint Presentation and send it to the Executive Team, to whom we will share our performance with them at a later date.

2.30 PM
After returning to my desk with another coffee, I receive a Skype message on my laptop from a colleague in India asking if I am available for a quick chat. I do a lot of work with our Indian team who help support us in various marketing channels. We discuss a job which I recently briefed them on. After the call, I feel confident that they are clear on what to deliver.

4.00 PM
Every week at 4:00, we have a WebEx meeting scheduled with our National Sales Team. The objective of these calls is to update the sales team on performance, any upcoming head office activities and for the sales team to share what’s happening with their customers. This is a really great way to see what’s working with our customers, what could be improved and to collect rich insights about current market conditions. I take the minutes of the meeting and circulate it with everyone via email once the meeting finishes.

5.15 PM
I quickly go back into the kitchen and eat some tuna and rice before going to cricket training. At GSK, there are changeroom and showering facilities. I get changed and jump back into the car to head to training.

8.00 PM
Once cricket training is finished, I get home and once again start thinking with my stomach. I have some leftovers from last night in the fridge, heat them up and eat dinner with my housemate.

8.30 PM
Before I go to sleep, I take my work notebook out of my bag and do a quick summary of the day. Was I able to complete all of the items on my to-do-list? How did I perform today? What could I improve? After this, I start writing my to-do-list for tomorrow to help my brain turn off from work.

9.00 PM
I start my personal laptop and look at what I could potentially watch on Netflix. By the time I make a choice on what I want to watch, it's nearly bedtime! I then turn my light off to get ready for sleep, being fully aware that I’ll probably browse Facebook for the next hour.

GSK

Deviya Kuruparan
Communications and Change IBL

7.15 AM
I usually start my day around 7:15 am, where I like to take my time getting out of bed. This is because once I’m finally up, I’m moving around the house quickly as I set myself the challenge of getting out on the roads within 20 minutes, so that I can avoid any school traffic in my area.

8.30 AM
After securing the closest parking spot, I make my way into the office to get the day started. Luckily, everything is how I left it the day before so all I need to do is turn on my laptop and we are ready to go.

9.30 AM
My team, consisting of a cross-functional blend of HR, Learning & Development and Communications meets next to our tiered accountability board. This tracks our progress against key objectives and gives us visibility on what the team is working on and how we can work together to provide assistance.

12.30 PM
I usually have lunch around 12:30 pm although sometimes I get too hungry to wait! I take my lunch to the benches outside and have lunch with some of the IBL’s. On Friday’s we like to go offsite to one of the nearby cafes or take our lunch to the park.

2.30 PM
Today at 2:30 pm, we had a special afternoon tea celebrate International Women’s Day where we got to hear from a guest speaker, as well as some inspirational Women at GSK! This is something that I had the pleasure of helping to coordinate so it was great to see it run so smoothly.

3.00 PM
My manager and I have a WIP (work in progress) meeting to make sure were across everything that needs to be achieved for the week, whether that’s an office wide Town Hall, an engagement event or internal communication channels.

4.30 PM
I call it a day and being to pack up, hoping to beat some of the traffic.

5.30 PM
Once I arrive home, I give myself some down time before trying to motivate myself to go the gym. After that I’ll have some dinner with my family and unwind.

9.00 PM
At this point, I’ll most likely end up watching trashy reality TV or Netflix and falling asleep around 11pm, eagerly waiting for a new day.

GSK

Shreenil Amin
Consumer Commercial Future Leader

6.15 AM
I start my day with a swim in my apartment building, shower then iron my shirt and have a bowl of oats before heading to the coffee shop. I order my regular ¾ double shot cappuccino with skinny milk from my local café and start my drive to the Ermington site.

8.30 AM
I make my way into the office and find a good spot to set up my laptop for the day – we have a ‘hot desk’ set up so I rotate my desk location often. I open my emails and look for any urgent items that need to be actioned or any adjustments I’ll need to make to the day’s agenda or meetings.

9.00 AM
My line manager and I have a quick WIP meeting to ensure we are aligned on current projects. We assess the progress of our latest tasks and see if any resource management or delegation of tasks is needed within the team.

9.30 AM
I have my Customer eCommerce strategy meeting with our GM to share our growth ambitions, agreements and key actions needed to achieve executional excellence for the year.

11.00 AM
It’s time for my next coffee, I use the in-house barista coffee machine that we have in the kitchen and chat to one of the respiratory portfolio Brand Managers to gain some marketing insights before my client meeting in the afternoon.

11.30 AM
I type up and circulate minutes and key messages from the earlier meeting to the wider eCommerce team to align them on the plan and actions moving forward.

12.00 PM
I drive down to the local shopping strip with the eCommerce team and one of last year’s Future Leaders to have my favourite Vietnamese BBQ pork roll.

1.00 PM
Stop for a quick espresso, to ensure I bring my A game, on the way to a client meeting at their Bella Vista headquarters.

2.00 PM
We discuss our digital media plans for the retailer and negotiate on a media package that allowed targeted message delivery to our consumers. This ensures we build brand equity and then convert to increased volume sales in line with our growth target for the year.

3.00 PM
I drive back to the office and play some table tennis before getting back to the day’s agenda. I find that I am more productive when I take a break every now and then during the day to do something fun and physical.

4.00 PM
Work on a ROI analysis on all the digital media mechanics to ascertain the most effective form to meet our KPI’s to fuel category growth and share across our online retailers.

6.30 PM
I make my way to basketball training in Redfern and work on some “plays” that the team can use for our game next week.

8.30 PM
Dinner and beers with the basketball team after training where we have some downtime and much-needed banter.

10.00 PM
Finish off my day with some emails and lock in key stakeholder meetings to finalise the media plan over the coming weeks.

Lights out!

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