Genentech reviews

3.9

73% would recommend to a friend

(3,708 total reviews)
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Ashley Magargee

81% approve of CEO

55% positive business outlook

Genentech has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 3,708 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Genentech employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

4K reviews
2.0
Sep 25, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

great science, rich portfolio of new products talented pool of people take care of commuters (e.g. gRide program, etc.) great learning opportunities for young people

Cons

too many layers of management - too many associate directors who aren't competent on making the right decisions. started to layoff people - laid off lower non-manager levels, but the middle management stayed. The remaining lower level staff are so swamped with the extra work from layoff coworkers yet afraid to complain due to job security. too many politics limited career growth opportunities unless you are well connnected. request for promotion is a lengthy process. be proactive to take on development or rotational assignments as these will help to move around internally.

2.0
Sep 12, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Location in California in relation to major city, good universities and academic locations, many products in pipeline as well as on the market, Good people still work here for now, Corporate history as the birth of biotechnology

Cons

Corporate politics have split company into competing factions with different priorities that increase inefficiencies and drug development timelines/costs, maintain divisions between Roche and GNE, and increase bureaucratic processes instead of focusing on medicine and patients. Too many changes based on cost-cutting leading to 'brain-drain' of excellent people, some of these changes unnecessary such as change in cafeteria vendor so food is now awful. Other necessary changes still have not occurred including one email or calendar client or other software to minimize system errors and inefficiencies. Can't trust management to keep to promises or be transparent on decision-making, increase in management layers have increased the number of people focused on politics rather than science & who create barriers for the people beneath them doing the work to develop medicine. Unfairness in promotions have increased as middle management gather supporters around them in a time of flux. People in the same department still have not integrated titles so Roche employees' may be reporting to GNE people with a lower title or have been mapped to a much lower level than justified. Unfairness in compensation also as bonuses are also scheduled to match Roche's to be much lower for GNE employees but salaries will not be raised to match Roche's so GNE employees will have lower compensation overall than Roche counterparts. Lots more changes still to come make this an awful company to work for in the next few years.

Viewing 37 - 39 of 3,708 Reviews

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