Great company, horrible management/leadership - Technician Genentech Employee Review

3.0
Jan 27, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Everyone is kind & nice. Hohos every Friday. Decent bonuses. If you’re full time, you definitely reap the rewards. Free lunches (if you’re lucky enough to work day shift). Yearly give back concert.

Cons

Where do I start? Management and leadership are ATROCIOUS! Most of the people within the company know one another. The issue with this is that upper management is too friendly with their subordinates as in they’ve been to each other’s weddings and have weekly wine nights. This leads to a conflict of interest because when employees raise major concerns over supervisors, the managers will always side with their “friend” even if most of the employees complain. Forget about upper management. The site head talks non stop about tequila. They say to voice your concerns, but you will be punished. HR is a joke as well—they are only there for the company. Also, contract workers get zero benefits even though they do more work than full time/senior level employees. Behind closed doors, I’ve witnessed supervisors belittle their subordinates, cussing at them, calling their subordinates idiots, threatening their jobs, etc. Back in 2013, the site hired around 300ish people to bring that new plant up, and look what the company did as a repayment: they laid off 200 full time employees without justification and 100 contract workers. They called people at 3-5am to inform them not to come in and even pulled people out of car pools to check their lists. What a catastrophe! We lost a lot of good people because some power hungry people in leadership had personal vendettas against certain people. Like I said, it’s a fantastic company of which I’m proud to be a part of, but leadership needs a clean sweep big time!

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5.0
Jun 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Great salary and team! The interview process was smooth and effective.

Cons

To be determined, but so far many alignment meetings. Some folks have frustuations around the re-org and strategy changes.

3.0
May 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Genentech's origin story and mission are genuinely inspiring — few companies can point to such a meaningful historical arc in medicine. Patient engagement is taken seriously and feels authentic, not performative. The campus is beautiful and the culture has real warmth.

Cons

DDA is operating with significant gaps. First, the foundational data infrastructure is not mature enough to support the ambitions being set for the team. Second, the measurement culture has gotten ahead of the methodology, and no one in a position of authority seems to be asking hard questions about whether the numbers actually mean what they're being presented as meaning. Third, some management feel disconnected from the work itself, lacking the knowledge, hands-on experience, or relevant credentials. Individually any one of these would be manageable. Together these create an environment where it's hard to do rigorous work, rather work is performative, and be recognized for it.

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