Amgen Reviews in Los Angeles, CA Area

Pros

Meaningful products that truly save lives
Majority of people are still science based and live the values
Opportunity to present ideas and pursue them

Cons

Slow decision making; Too much consensus building; Too much faith in the 'Matrix'; Top Heavy with few worker bees

Pros

The pay and benefits are great.

Cons

The arrogance and back stabbing at this company is overwhelming.

Advice to Senior Management

Get more in touch with your people.

Pros

Large company = great amenities on campus, good salary and benefits

Cons

Management is TERRIBLE. In my business unit management was completely incompetent. They were not qualified in the area they were leading, had no vision, no strategy & only talked about the issues, but put no plans in place. A total of about 8 people ruined my experience there. They played a nasty game of politics/empire building.

Advice to Senior Management

stick to what you know. try relying on the professionals you hired! Take a hard look at yourself and stop hiding behind alot of talk. do something.

Pros

- great to know you are helping people.
- very good benefits and pay.
- campus feel.

Cons

- no growth opportunities. Very difficult for internal movement and difficult to speak to HR even. No response from HR people even when leaving messages.
- matrix style company, no direct route for growth.
- more and more people have a "I am better than you" attitude.

Advice to Senior Management

Check out how to make internal movement more accessible and easier for people. Many strong employees would stay here and grow but if no one answers back (HR), then employees are not getting the respect from their own place driving them out of the company.

Pros

Flexibility and ability to do different jobs.

Cons

Job growth and difficulty in changing to other functions.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow clearer career track.

Pros

Great energetic company. Good benefit! Amgen is stable and running well comparing to most of competitors. The company is going to the right direction.

Cons

The company is still developing since it is only 30 year old. It needs to expand its international market. It is better to build some R&D sites outside of USA.

Advice to Senior Management

The leadership did a great work in the past decade. I hope Amgen will grow faster in the near future.

Pros

Feeling of doing something meaningful
Very interesting areas of drug research
The company feels positioned for success relative to other biopharma companies

Cons

Promotions are scarce
Perks from Amgen's glory days are gone
Sometimes overworked

Advice to Senior Management

If you demand extra work from your top performing employees, ensure that they are recognized in a meaningful way. In other words, "show me the money" or the promotion.

Pros

great benefits, great facilities, competitive pay.

Cons

lack of career advancement. understaffed and overworked

Advice to Senior Management

less politics and nepotism

Pros

Amgen has great benefits including a long vacation period. They also have the ability to have work life balance. The facilities are very nice.

Cons

The issue that Amgen is facing is the lack of promotional opportunities. They have a lot of middle management that has been here forever and not top performers.

Advice to Senior Management

Amgen senior management needs to re-evaluate organizational structure and eliminate poor performers. This is the only way to retain the top performers and continue to promote them.

Pros

Great pay and benefits, interesting science.

Cons

Management competence is spotty at best. If you have a good boss you are in good shape, if you get a bad boss then you are out of luck.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your scientists when you make project decisions rather than going with your "gut". Aggressively promote and develop your people or you will lose the best of them to the competition.