Novartis reviews

4.0

80% would recommend to a friend

(9,057 total reviews)
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Vas Narasimhan

86% approve of CEO

69% positive business outlook

Novartis has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 9,057 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Novartis 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

9K reviews
2.0
Jan 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Base pay, bonus and LTI are generous compared to other companies. Some very intelligent colleagues. Great products.

Cons

Restructuring every 6-12 months. One can forgive a restructure every few years. However upper level leadership and its consultants seem to have no idea how to lead and operate a company at this scale. There is so much turnover, and the resulting paranoia for one's role passes for whatever is left of "culture" and has left many good people cynical and jaded. There is also a rampant ageism driving layoffs and firing. If you are over 50 there, forget job security - you will be pitted against younger, cheaper talent as a matter of policy. It is full-on hunger games. There are employees who use the internal "SpeakUp" process to try to get ahead by reporting on peers and managers - creating a further climate of fear as people are wrongly investigated and simultaneously being prohibited from in confiding to anyone. Oh and you are expected to be a cheerleader and culture champion. :-D

5.0
Oct 19, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Novartis is a company that would still sponsor H1b and green card for master degree and RS level which is pretty uncommon nowadays.

Cons

I love being here, everything seems pretty nice to me

3.0
Oct 12, 2025

Can be rewarding, but with limitations

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A lot of intelligent people work at Novartis. There's a definite sense of purpose about the research and you can very successful if you fit in. Base pay is higher than rival companies and benefits are generally good.

Cons

A very siloed mentality compared to other companies. You're expected to do your job, ONLY do that job and know your place. Promotions are rare and often require a change of department/group to happen. Many of the managers tend to micromanage and have a mentality of "do it my way, or else"

Viewing 265 - 267 of 9,057 Reviews

Glassdoor has 12,652 Novartis reviews submitted anonymously by Novartis employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Novartis is right for you.