Amgen Reviews in Los Angeles, CA Area

Pros

Excellent location, competitive pay, very family oriented, accommodating of alternate lifestyles, health conscious, willing to invest in its employees, very enjoyable

Cons

Didn't get a tremendous opportunity for in-house review of my skills, performance or training. More emphasis on sampling different industries for interns would be appreciated.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate large decisions (including corporate restructuring, new avenues for revenue growth, etc.) directly to the employees and allow input to educate decision making.

Pros

Good people doing good work. The benefits are really good as will as the onsite perks (gym, day care, cafeterias, car wash, etc.). People generally seem happy.

Cons

Not a small start-up biotech company anymore. Very heavy with layers and layers management. It is hard to get a decision made without multiple levels of people feeling they need to give input.

Pros

Good compensation. Great benefits. Nice work environment.

Cons

Work you like a dog. Insignificant recognition for work performed.

Advice to Senior Management

Lessen the gap between executives and workers. A company is not all about shareholder values. Sometime the best growth ideas come from those in the trenches doing the work.

Pros

Fast pace, if you love to learn new stuff this is the place. sharpen your troubleshooting skills

Cons

You work all the time day , night and weekends.

Advice to Senior Management

New CEO in May, lets see what happens....

Pros

Large stable company, nice people, great working atmosphere. Treated great by co-workers & management, especially for being a temp worker.

Cons

Contractors have no benefits or security. Can be let go at any time. Large bureaucracy to get things you need, like computer, access to ERP System(taking 7 weeks).

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work.

Pros

There are a lot of opportunities in working at Amgen - meeting great scientists in the industry, learning from an elite group of scientists in the industry, going on conferences, meeting people in general because it's the headquarters. Work life balance is great at Amgen if you take advantage of what Amgen has to offer.
Company offered benefits (401K, Health etc.) are incredible.

Cons

Management is not very stable or great. Amgen should be more informed when putting people in power.

Advice to Senior Management

Re-organizations are very healthy and helpful.

Pros

Relaxed envirorment, kind employees, beautiful location

Cons

No growth, the process for lay offs is totally random and not based on performance

Advice to Senior Management

Take time to grow your people and communicate, communicate COMMUNICATE! Leadership 101

Pros

Great benefits and flexibility. Freedom to take initiative.

Cons

Promotion from internal is lacking. Keep hiring from other big pharma, which causes bureaucratic nightmare.

Advice to Senior Management

Cut the red tape.

Pros

The benefits: 401K, good health benefits, nice gym, cafeterias, daycare.

Cons

The lower level management gets formerly trained, but not effective in practice.

Advice to Senior Management

Need better qualifications for management

Pros

Leaders in implementing new technologies and business strategies. Benefits are very good and they offer a lot of employee programs to support health and family. (Unfortunately, everyone is so over worked they can't benefit from these programs, but at least the company is making them available.)

Cons

More time is spent on corporate spin than on actually developing and manufacturing drugs. The politics have overwhelmed the work that is being done. Every bit of data is massaged and presented in presentations and more time is actually spent on colors and charts than on the actual data that went into the reports. So much time is spent "talking" about the data, the message behind the data is actually missing.

Advice to Senior Management

It's not ALL about the shareholders. Put more focus on development and manufacturing. Elevate those within the company and be open to contrary opinions. Appreciate that dissonance creates value. Bring back Gordon Binder as a consultant to assist with identifying new opportunities that can grow Amgen beyond financial positioning.