Pros

Benefits are very good.

High quality co workers who are generally great to work with. Top notch science. This is a science driven company and if you have a PhD you'll be happy and energized.

Cons

Promotion and leadership opportunities are few. Project teams seem to be stacked with the same people rather then promoting diversity of opinion,

Very head office centric

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the lip service. Trust and transparency need improvement, Often senior management comes off with arrogance (including towards industry/ investors)

Pros

Good benefit (two company shutdown time per year and good 401K) with OK salary ( little bit below the average).

Cons

Very bad management and HR department. It is very difficult to advance your career to next level within the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Need lots of improvement of management and the current promotion policy. Value and retain the talent in a smart way

Pros

Good pay. Good benefits. Nice and safe city. Intelligent people all around.Company's mission is motivating (to serve patients). Cafeteria food is great. Nice gym. Laundry service on site (among others).

Cons

Poor career development. Poor management. Poor HR organization. Messy, no structure and process in place. Unfair treatment to employees depending how many people you know, and who you know. Promotions and movements not transparent, often given to those who have good connections. Not merit-based. Performance review cycle send lots of people into therapy because they like to put you down until you have no self-esteem left. No positive reinforcement.

Advice to Senior Management

Lisen to your employees. Do something about the Global Climate Survey results. Yes, Amgen has poor decision making - what have we done about it at all? Get rid of poor managers, please. Be science based, be budget conscious, ACT LIKE A BUSINESS!!!

Pros

Good pay, collaborative environment, outstanding benefits, smart colleagues, being part of a larger mission of delivering important medicines to patients

Cons

Some longer-tenured folks who enjoyed the golden days of Amgen and maintain a large sense of entitlement towards pay/benefits/rewards

Culture here is that everyone is "nice," but this can translate into passive-aggressiveness or even slowed decision-making due to the need for concensus. Bureaucratic, no longer a nimble organization. It's accused of slowly turning into Big Pharma for a reason

Advice to Senior Management

Keep your ears closer to the ground - it's the masses who are rumbling with dissatisfaction. Read the comments given in the companywide employee survey

Pros

Very smart and talented employees; good benefits including compensation; 5 weeks total of paid time off per year; excellent weather.

Cons

Slow career progression and poor talent development; so profitable it cares less about cost management than it should (even though it is much better than it used to be).

Advice to Senior Management

Strength is communication from senior management (including quality and frequency); area for development is career progression (speed thereof) and talent development (quality thereof).

Pros

-Excellent benefits (15 vacation days plus one week off for July 4th and one week off for Christmas)
-Stable company
-Good work/life balance
-Competetive salary (there is a wide range for each grade level)
-Products helps people
-Strong science and technology

Cons

The following are specific to the Fremont site and do not apply to other Amgen sites:
-Lack of empowerment for people below director level
-Decisions from senior management take too long to make
-Management skills of middle management is very poor (too much of a formality, i.e. just someone to sign your timecard)
-Lack of mentors to support career development of junior staff
-Uncertainty of activity at site (no new products or projects coming to the site)

Advice to Senior Management

A reorg of the site may be useful. People that are non-essential and do not contribute any value should be let go. Focus more on rewarding high performers and developing people with potential. Allow staff to be more empowered and make decisions without having to run everything by senior management.

Pros

Benefits are outstanding. Work life balance is not bad.

Cons

Management is unskilled. One thing management does badly is pick who else to promote to management level....which perpetuates the problem.

Advice to Senior Management

Get better middle management and senor management.

Pros

Nice facility, on site daycare, good pay, good benefits, pleasant environment. Overall, Amgen takes really good care of their employees.

Cons

Some of the people who work there can have an attitude of being "better than" other people who don't work there.

Advice to Senior Management

Nothing to offer, I like things the way they are...

Pros

5 weeks off a year, 10% match in 401K, reasonable salary, good bonuses. Amgen pays for bus passes and supports flex time and telecommuting.

Cons

Company does not reward productivity. Management never lets the truth get in the way of a "good story". Many of the midlevel managers have been there a long time and are not open to better ideas and are not willing to take risk.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a long hard look at your directors and executive directors and start getting rid of the dead weight.

Pros

Great benefits. Best I've ever had in the IT industry.

Cons

Jobs are stagnant positions. To move up, you MUST move laterally. Many of current leaders were staff in earlier days. Ideas from "outside" employees are not well received. Administrative politics often outweigh sound industry best practices. With the new IBM / EDS outsourcing, many jobs are being eliminated.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to you staff. At last staff meeting, it was mentioned by CIO, that Executive Management has a hard time communicating downward.