Amgen Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Amgen as an intern for less than a year

Pros – - Smart colleagues
- Excellent benefits
- Professional development opportunities

Cons – none, it was a great learning experience to me

Advice to Senior Management – keep up the good work

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Amgen full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good compensation and benefits. Comfortable working environment. Strong logistic support to do your work. Solid pipeline with potential and good economic future.

Cons – Over the past 10 years, Amgen has grown from an innovative and nimble company to a top-heavy, process-driven organization with little opportunity for personal growth and advancement. Ruthless profit-oriented management imposing sudden and frequent down-sizing episodes that destroy the careers and lives of many very productive people, regardless of their good performance and contributions.

Advice to Senior Management – If you must restructure, please consider alternatives such as: (a) offering positions in growing functions and/or product lines within Amgen; (b) drastically reduce executive positions (currently up to 100+ VP at Amgen) that cost the most anyway; (c) at the very least prepare departing staff at least 6 months in advance and provide them with meaningful professional help in transitioning (not just web-based classes on how to revamp your CV or organize your search). For example: provide them with up-front recommendations to be used with new potential employers. Think first before you fire Directors: they are the backbone of the Company. They actually do the bulk of the work.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Amgen full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good salary, decent benefits, Great gym and cafeterias.

Cons – The Company is no longer what it use to be. Amgen values are gone....

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Amgen full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Professional colleagues
If you love strategy and enjoy science, this is the place
They do the right thing, even when it's not profitable; patients do come first
There is much to learn that it feels like you're a student in university
Great campus with lots of conveniences like gym, dry cleaning, shoe repair, cake orders, film developing, etc.

Cons – Too much change all the time gets exhausting
My dept does not encourage regular working from home, even when it makes perfect sense
Senior mangers in tiny and noisy cubicles; demotivating

Advice to Senior Management – Please offer more formal telecommuting arrangements consistently across depts.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Amgen full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – A chance to make real impact on the lives of grievously ill people. Very good benefits, including company shut down the first week of July and the last week of December.

Cons – The company is overloaded at the levels of director and above with too many people who spend time meeting, talking, lunching, dining, and interfering with real work. (There are a few notable exceptions.) Most people below these levels are very dedicated professionals.

Advice to Senior Management – Be vigilant and skeptical with senior people describing themselves and their work with profuse superlatives.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Amgen full-time for more than a year

Pros – good science, good scientists, excellent benefits. working hard

Cons – bad management. re-org is painful and not efficient

Advice to Senior Management – science driven, and new blood

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Amgen

Pros – Great pay and benefits and their commitment to quality.

Cons – Don't expect development, promotion opportunities. There aren't any. All new workers are now contract workers for positions that aren't even offered to current employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Make decisions and get the right people in the job who know how to manage people.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Amgen full-time for less than a year

Pros – Did not experience any pros during my brief experience).

Cons – The acquisition was painful and they missed out on some good opportunities to make it better. I was utterly unimpressed with their HR team.

Former Employee – worked at Amgen full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Really smart, hardworking, busy people
Silicon-valley type benefits for southern cal
Technology-heavy work environment

Cons – Last few years mgmt has been heavy-handed with cost-cutting. People with 10-15 years tenure were let go with a few hours notice.
No visibility to mgmt decision-making.
Bottom-line is the stock price. So watch your back and keep a step-ahead of layoffs.

Advice to Senior Management – Short-sighted decision-making, with advice fed by management consultants is harming the morale and loyalty of employees

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Amgen as an intern

Pros – Good learning and training experience; offered the best compensation package for interns.

Cons – It's more of a training opportunity, not a future-full-time directed internship. No entry-level full-time hiring intention in the department. I have to look for other opportunities though I really want to work for this company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company