Novo Nordisk, the global healthcare firm has frozen hiring for non-critical roles across its offices worldwide.
This hiring freeze has been imposed under Maziar Mike Doustdar, the newly-appointed chief executive officer, who took over from Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen earlier this month.
Before exiting, Jorgensen had reportedly mentioned that layoffs could be under consideration as part of cost-cutting measures at the Danish pharmaceutical company. Clearly, the company has decided to focus on growth areas and control costs and has made a start in this direction by stopping hiring for non-critical roles.
It is pertinent to mention here that the firm has at least 77,000 employees, globally.
With many versions of Novo Nordisk’s popular obesity drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic available in the market, the drug maker is facing stiff competition.
The company, that had topped the list of valuable European firms in 2021, has seen its share prices drop by over 59 per cent since last year.
It was reported in July 2025 that Novo Nordisk is preparing to create at least 200 new jobs in India in 2025, at its Bengaluru-based Global Business Services (GBS) centre, which is critical to its global operations. It has reportedly almost doubled its India team to 4,500 over the last couple of years. The GBS centre serves as the hub for the firm’s drug development (driven by artificial intelligence), regulatory support, training, and innovation. The firm has been trying to expand in the Indian chronic disease space for a while now.
