ICON reviews

3.5

64% would recommend to a friend

(5,299 total reviews)
avatar

Barry Balfe

55% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

ICON has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 5,299 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The ICON 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

5K reviews
2.0
Jul 11, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The pay is competitive Remote work opportunities

Cons

Frankly, as a former employee I quickly realized I entered a misleading corporate culture and organization altogether. What I was told - from my role, to the onboarding experience, as well as the benefits turned out to be very different or quite the opposite of what I experienced over time. Benefits are standard, management tells you what you want to hear, and withholds honest, yet necessary information. Onboarding experience was a hot mess with a chaotic process (or lack there of)....and there's no phone number to HR! Obtaining information or getting issues resolved at the HR level takes ages through a series of tedious tickets submissions. Spent a few years within the FSP group consulting for external clients in the pharmaceutical space. Was blindsided and laid off based off of unknown factors that management refused to share, despite the project I was on being ongoing. No severance, no payout, no nothing. Just kicked to the curb with little notice to prepare. True process around corporate practices and policies were strategically withheld so you never truly knew what to expect. Probably the worst company I've worked for in my many years in the industry. Don't bother working for ICON if you're looking for a stable company culture, with stable work, honest management, and a positive/long-term career outlook. ...on top of all that, the company has the nerve to have you sign a non-compete. At least be a company worth working for if you're going to make people do that.

2.0
Mar 27, 2025

Frequent layoffs

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunity to work with great, hardworking, knowledgeable colleagues.

Cons

Frequent layoffs, lack of transparency, replacing knowledgeable hardworking employees with inexperience cheap labor from developing countries. CEO posts videos, managers sends emails complaining about company’s finances which their excuses for no salary increase and bonuses, etc., while market analysis shows otherwise. Managers hires their friends who has no prior experiences in the field. HR department is hard to reach. IT department is extremely slow. Other than working with great employees until one of us gets layoff, nothing exciting to work in language department in this company.

1.0
Mar 6, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

All the PROs are gone.

Cons

It’s awful. Chaotic and unprofessional work environment. I leave work daily feeling depressed. Belittled frequently by internal people as well as research sites. Monitors get the brunt of blame for a crummy product.

Viewing 178 - 180 of 5,299 Reviews

Glassdoor has 6,546 ICON reviews submitted anonymously by ICON employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if ICON is right for you.