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Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Engaged Employer

Great colleagues, bureaucracy in leadership - Associate Director Vertex Pharmaceuticals Employee Review

3.0
Feb 1, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Great colleagues- the people who actually do the work are top-notch and collaborative. Many willing to help if you are learning something new. -The company has some really good benefits. -Boston location is in a vibrant area- easy to get to by public transportation.

Cons

-Leadership is bureaucratic- decision making is not done at the appropriate level. Everything needs to run up the flagpole to VP+ level for decisions that lower level employees should be able to make. No empowerment. -Hybrid employees are mandated to be on site 3 days per week. Not usually an issue but this means the hybrid employees are not really trusted to do their jobs. Example: 1. if you have no meetings and could focus and work with no distractions on projects at home, you still must commute in to sit at your desk to meet the 3 day requirement. 2. If you aren’t feeling well enough to go into the office but ok to work at home, you will have to use sick time rather than work from home and be productive otherwise you risk losing your job for not meeting the 3 day requirement. 3. Commuting into work is more than the 2 hours average round trip- it’s organizing your family and getting yourself presentable for the office which eats into time that could be spent working. What could be a 10 hour workday at home becomes 8 hour workday when onsite coupled with the stress to get your family where they need to be and get yourself to work. - Vertex is an environment that is probably better suited to people who don’t have children or any other commitments or interests outside of work. Work-life balance is a big challenge.

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals Response
2y
Thank you for the review and candor. We strongly encourage you to share your experience directly to your manager, a member of your leadership team or a member of the HR team.

Explore other reviews about Vertex Pharmaceuticals

5.0
Jul 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Friendly coworkers; competent people; flexible

Cons

lack of growth plan for new grads

2.0
Jul 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Compensation -Benefits -Smart and capable co-workers make the day to day easier to navigate

Cons

-Poor leadership (specifically in the Quality organization). - Leadership does not lead by example - It's not unusual to observe a Quality VP or Sr.director taking screenshots of Teams chats (for CYA?). I question the level of trust (in both directions). This behavior creates a toxic environment. - Quality role scope creep- leadership tries to "own" and/or oversee the activities of other departments outside the scope of their QA responsibility which makes execution of processes cumbersome and, in many cases, non-value added and confusion over responsibility ownership.

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