Codexis Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Codexis full-time

Pros – A place with lots of accomplished and hard working individuals, in general groups tend to get along well. Very flexible with time off and generous with amount of FTO, benefits are good, 401k match, and commuting/fitness reimbursement programs etc. Management is making sincere strides to listen to employees about what would improve the working environment and maintain transparency. Many people sincerely invested in the success of the company.

Cons – -Lack of clarity on how to move up in the company
-Individuals may have tendancy to complain about situations rather than take action

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the little people, elicit fresh ideas from other areas of the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Codexis

Pros – Great people, good benefits, good science

Cons – Upper management lack of recognition of lower level employee contributions

Former Employee – worked at Codexis full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Very nice people to work with - no prima donnas. Good benefits and the salaries are decent. They still have bonuses which are unusual these days, although they're pretty small. Office is situated in a beautiful area (business park at RWC harbor). Good IT dept and latest software and hardware. Lunch program, which has recently gotten better.

Cons – They cut spending in places that are silly and erode morale ex. breakfast program, which is now gone. Execs need to understand that they can have a successful company, however if the employees are unhappy at the same time, they will lose valuable people (and a lot have been quitting). Give recognition to the peons as well as the heavy hitters. Management thinks they try, however they are oblivious and unenlightened. Not sure I'd recommend this company to a friend. Depends on how desperate they are.

Advice to Senior Management – Start realizing that your actions affect the employees, who really do care about the company but are disillusioned and disheartened. Don't cut things out of the budget that keep employees happy. There's a time and place to cut $$$$, and sometimes it's considered petty and stupid.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Codexis full-time for more than a year

Pros – Fresh fruit every morning.
Better food on-site
VP that loves young women...

Cons – Declared 2012 bonuses - nothing for the people who work there for 10 months and then were laid off. Most of them received no severance. Moreover, before you had to work for 10 months to be eligible for a bonus. Now, it seems if you are laid-off at 10 months you get zero!

As per usual, some people are overworked without reward while other just get by complaining.

Hiring again, just a few months after laying off

Advice to Senior Management – You cannot hire talent with this record - you are actually losing it.

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

Former Employee – worked at Codexis full-time

Pros – People here are really nice. I had a good team work here. Challenging work with excellent science motivates you to learn more. If you are entry level, good place to work.

Cons – Interesting policies for work environment. Office temperature is very cold during winter time. Prepare gloves or a personal heater for Winter. You may work hard without any recognition or become a friend of project managers or directors. Some of the employee recognitions are questionable. Few people delivered their routine job and get recognized while others work extra hard to meet critical deadline. Too many VP/SVP for a small company. The company needs to hire "real HR" personnel to support employees.

Advice to Senior Management – R&D employees should be treated with respect.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Codexis full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great place to learn and advance.Very nice people,great lunch room,clean and modern buildings.Campus is in good location and safe.

Cons – Can't tell who's calling the shots. Supervisor tells you one thing and the manager tells you another and in the end your gone.They all should practice what they preach( coming in late and leaving early).A lot of back stabbing by managers.Can't fire you face to face but passes the buck.Facilities manager will have you digging thru garbage to save the planet but every light is always on,heat to high and nobody ever turns off a computer.Lot of waste by tossing perfectly good stuff in dumpster.Don't get injured on the job here because once you hit their clinic your days will be numbered right up to the day you get a release from the Doctor.

Advice to Senior Management – Quit making everyone VP's and give them what they need.Bring back "BUBBA" and let him sort you guys out.He'd know who would have to shape up or ship out.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Codexis full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – It is great place to work and grow. You constantly learn new things. There is tight deadlines, but the management empowers employees to have good work/life balance.

Cons – Managers not really trained. It will really improve efficiency and communication if some efforts are put to assess managers.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

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

Pros – Good amount of vacation time, fairly flexible hours, good health care benefits, most coworkers are intelligent and easy to work with. Backup child care is nice. Great core technology.

Cons – Salaries are 20%+ below industry standards. No sick days, so you have to tap into personal time to when sick, which means people come in to work when sick and get everyone else sick. Amazingly, there is no 401k match. Lots of nepotism. Little opportunity for advancement and no focus on career planning. Upper management have little respect for employees. It has been years since this company has focused on innovation. Impossible to understand how or why people get promoted. Company is focusing on areas where its core technology can't be leveraged. It appears upper management is making it up as they go along. There are more VPs than research assistants and it is difficult to understand why they are all needed. Half the people at the Redwood City site were laid off including 75% of R&D, yet none of upper management (many of whom are responsible for the company's deterioration) were let go. Given the company's current workforce it appears the plan is to sell the company piece by piece. This makes much more sense than the plan stated by upper management, which will be impossible to execute given the current resources.

Advice to Senior Management – Start being honest with your people and show them some respect. Nobody trusts you or has faith in your ability to right the ship because you patronize your employees and are disingenuous. Because of this and the mishandling of the recent layoff even people you were hoping to retain are now looking to leave.

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 Codexis full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great people. Good bagels and good coffee.

Cons – Bad planning, Should of told people getting laid off in person.

Advice to Senior Management – Let them have the 60 days off.

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 Codexis full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – This was a great company to work for. They had a worthy vision, great technology, strong partners and wonderful people.

Cons – I'm not sure the company has any vision or plan of how to regroup after the lay-offs. The lay-offs were also handled abysmally.

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