Amgen Reviews in Los Angeles, CA Area

Pros

Great benefits and compensation
Excellent facilities

Cons

Little work-life balance
Unfair workload apportionment

Pros

Great benefits (including 2 weeks of shut down)
Solid teamwork
Good work/life balance

Cons

Slow growth and low attrition limit career options
Management plays chess with individual careers

Advice to Senior Management

Due to slow growth and flat organizational structure, come up with a plan to keep senior managers (happy)

Pros

-adequate vacation time, 2 shutdowns, sick time
-attendance at one conference and training per employee/per year
-Gorgeous campus with amazing views of the mountains creating a relaxing outdoor lunch hour
-NICE gym onsite
-Great Team Environment
-Values based company
-Lots of opportunity to move around the company and "go where you can grow"
-The Benefits are TOP notch!

Cons

-Amgen hires the best talent but many of the managers need to be trained extensively on how to lead others or manage people
-Company has a "Work from home" or "Telecommuting" benefit that is promoted but clearly not open to all employees. Depending on your management, you may not be permitted to partake in this great option as some frown at those who work remotely even if you produce quality work. It has been said by some that promotional opportunities could be limited should your boss not truly support your desire to work remotely.

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

Encouraging
Value
team work
opportunity for creativity

Cons

too competitive and stressful in some situations

Advice to Senior Management

cooperative and social
administrative skills should be improved

Pros

great benefits
great holidays
great on campus food

Cons

way too many hours
almost no recognition
career paths change without consent or notice
makes promises it won't live up to

Pros

Benefits - they are great
Pay - pretty good compaired to industry
Buildings and Campus are pretty cool

Cons

Inexperienced Management - they are educated but 9 out of 10 lack practical interpersonal skills. The decision making process (if there is one) is the weakest I have ever seen and the concensus building that occurs is merely an excuse for no one to be held accountable. Adminttedly the environment is complex with global considerations, but senior leadership represents the "smartest group of dumb people" I have ever run accross.

Advice to Senior Management

Measure performance, get your head out of the clouds, be practical, and stop thinking you are all scientists, most of you aren't.

Pros

Great benefits
Week off in the summer and winter
Generous 401K matching
Flexible work arrangement options (telecommuting, etc.)
Beautiful campus with top notch gym

Cons

Top heavy, too many managers, not enough individual contributors
Culture more like that of a big pharma company than a biotech, i.e. slow, bureaucratic
Certain departments are political - not conducive to matrix org.

Advice to Senior Management

Too many middle managers. Hire more individual contributors to do the work or convert middle managers into individual contributors. Middle managers do not communicate effectively with each other and do not work together as a unified team. Matrix org. is not working in an environment where lines are drawn in the sand between the company and its previous acquisitions and between the various sites.

Pros

There are many opportunities for professional growth.

Cons

Allocation of resources is poor, intense working hours. Great place for young, single workforce. Not balanced for working families.

Pros

Flexible work schedules
Great benefits(2 week sick leave, 3 weeks vacation, 2 week paid shutdown)

Cons

Hard to get promotions
Low salary compared to market avg

Advice to Senior Management

very Slow to perform tasks,

Pros

great managers , respect , teaching and training and lots to learn for free

Cons

not much growth after a while

Advice to Senior Management

all good