Amgen Reviews

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

Pros – Benefits and pay are in the top of our industry.
401k match is amazing and a lot of paid leave.
Atmosphere used to be better, although is still great. Attitudes are generally positive in the work place and open communication is generally accepted.

Cons – Benefits have slowly reduced (although still great)
Atmosphere is much more competitive due to less positions available in the last few years.
Workload has increased significantly as hiring of new staff is slow to respond to demand for work.

Advice to Senior Management – Better analysis of hiring needs. Work slack from lack of hiring for positions is being taken in by compromising work/life balance with existing staff.

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 a year

Pros – It has great benefits especially with longevity. The retirement plan is outstanding and has wonderful matching in the 401K. They have many molecules that are up and coming in the pipeline particularly in the oncology setting. Amgen is expanding their business into the hematology arena.

Cons – They have just recently undergone a significant downsizing of their staff. This is inclusive of sales people as well as Medical Liaisons. I question what the future is going to hold for staff at Amgen.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Amgen full-time

Pros – Benefits are good; very good 401k matching; relatively smart people to work with; variety of possible career paths

Cons – This place is a bit dysfunctional at the moment following recent re-org; Fairly noticeable shift in culture as old Sr. Mgmt flushed out and replaced with new ones. They struggle to make any decision...lots of swirl before a strategy is finally selected.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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.

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

Pros – Benefits are competitive.
Location is desirable for families and because of weather, but there are no other companies in the industry within 50 miles.
Name recognition can be helpful in pursuit of other jobs.
Many nice people sill work at the company.

Cons – Unethical conduct
Management looking out for #1
Lack of career development and no attempt to improve the situation despite 4 years of negative feedback from staff.
Disinterest in staff as human beings
Focus on bottom line and process, not on quality or patients

Advice to Senior Management – Find your moral compass
Do what is right for your staff and for patients

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – Competitive salary
Excellent benefits including annual bonus and 2 shutdowns a year
Reasonably good work-life balance
Ability to work from home
Stock price has increased dramatically with onboarding of new CEO

Cons – Advancement limited and based solely on "business need"
Crowded unattractive working conditions due to closure of a newer building
Employees who leave aren't replaced
HQ seems to forget we're here

Advice to Senior Management – Start promoting from within. This nonsense about "developing our people" doesn't increase their visibility or salary; once they learn a new/additional role, they become more valuable to another company willing to pay them accordingly and off they go.

LOSE the "Thousand Oaks-centric" mentality. Many people have left the SF site because an internal job change would require a relocation to Thousand Oaks. Conversely, Thousand Oaks employees have relocated to work at other Bay Area companies because their jobs can't be transferred to SF.

Rethink the layers of governance required to make/approve decisions. It's collapsing under its own weight and delaying development.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Amgen full-time

Pros – Benefits are among the best in the Industry. People at the "working" level (i.e. below Director) are great, they are dedicated, well qualified and they really care about doing a great job. Facilities are fairly state of the art. Corporate (ATO) offers a select few to work from home or another Amgen office.

Cons – Non-diverse: few blacks and hispanics or other minorities (ACO). Upper level (EDs/VPs) are "friends of friends" that have a poor track record of being competent-they're "YES" people and care not for those under them. Management drives a culture of do more with less to the ridiculous measure (no staff, take shortcuts and hide information), and they treat people very badly. Amgen no longer cares about innovation, quality or the patient. Backdoor lobbying and pay offs are the norm to get their way with Government. Bradway is a finance guy-it's ALL about the cash now. You will work until you're broken mentally and physically and won't be recognized. You wont be able to transfer until you've been there 2 years or more, even then it's crap shoot. More than likely if your good at what you do and have any bone of integrity, you will be rewarded by being put on a performance improvement program so that Management can cover their backside and blame you for any problems. Training is non-existant or poor. Quality and compliance is only there because they have to be, not because those are values that make a great product. If you're a patient I would worry. If your thinking of being an employee, go Corporate Director or above and you will reap the sweet hours and pay for being a figurehead (friend of a friend in high places)-go for it and treat everyone like crud and say "yes" no matter what-that's the golden ticket right there. Oh, by the way, don't try to help your fellow employees, it only targets you. The culture is one of self preservation and immorality. I am ashamed I fell for it.

Advice to Senior Management – PURGE Director level and above. LEAN your fat in ATO. HIRE & PROMOTE people with competence and integrity, REMEMBER-YOU and YOUR family are a patient. FOCUS on innovation, not acquisitions and salve labor overseas. HIRE leaders that will INVEST in the long haul, not mess things up for a few years and pull the golden parachute. EMPOWER HR to rid Leaders that cripple the organization. INVEST in training and a culture of INTEGRITY and PRIDE. You can make more money doing this than any other capital investment plan. Treat people with respect and actually act on your engagement surveys. Stop hiring NAVY men to lead! Employees are an investment, not expendable.

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

Current Employee – been working at Amgen full-time for less than a year

Pros – Signing bonus
Yearly bonus and Stock
10% 401K matching (actually 5% matching plus automatic 5% on top)

Cons – lack of support between phDs

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – Autonomy, opinions treated with respect, everyone honestly doing there best work. Ethical.

Cons – Southern california! Ventura county yuck.

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 – Benefits
Vacation time is excellent with two additional weeks paid during July 4 and Christmas/New Year
Latest technology and smart people

Cons – Decision making is often slow. Too many individuals involved in making decisions.
Loyalty between manager and subordinate is weak. Random layoffs over the last few years has everyone doing whatever is necessary to keep their jobs.

Advice to Senior Management – Promote from within to give current employees hope that promotions do happen.

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