Eli Lilly Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Eli Lilly

Pros – Great pay. Nice town. Smart colleagues. At the principal research scientist level and above, You are generally given the freedom to decide what to do and how to do it. This is a place that openly celebrates promotions and devotes a day to do so, with spouses. Family friendly. Interesting mix of very creative and very conservative approaches.

Cons – A lot of pressure to produce results. Promotions don't always go to the best performers but to the people that play the game well and smooze with key decision makers. Can be cold and snowy in the winter.

Advice to Senior Management – Value teamwork more and do not micromanage.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Eli Lilly

Pros – Great people from mid level managers down. Lilly still has the ability to make a difference in the lives of people.

Cons – Poor executive management, poor loyalty for employees, compensation and benefits are unremarkable at this point. All and all the company has been managed into a run of the mill pharma company. Very sad!

Advice to Senior Management – Business majors run businesses and chemistry majors run labs. Never the two should meet. Failed business plans and a lack of vision has created an environment of fear. No longer is the free flow of ideas the norm. Instead people just want to make the next cut of job layoffs.

Former Employee – worked at Eli Lilly

Pros – The good things about Eli Lilly are that they have an established market presence, good networking opportunities if you try, and generally nice people who are willing to have coffee with you and chat about life and business.

Cons – Some positions are assigned a lot more work than they should have. I saw many people who have too many assignments that they might as well have been paid 2 times their current pay. The salary is not the top of the line, and you must get used to the location because you won't be traveling much for most of their positions.

Advice to Senior Management – Management should consider alternative ways approaching the high R&D structure experienced by pharmaceutical companies in general. Growth opportunities should be expanded.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Eli Lilly

Pros – Pay is pretty decent
Benefits are great considering the economy
Respect for People that is working there
Workers are pretty nice, for the most part

Cons – Communication is lacking, especially in management
Promotion Opportunity is lacking, especially in manufacturing
Location is not the best, but it could be worst
Vacation Time
Low expectations

Advice to Senior Management – Expectations are sometimes extremely high due to the lack support they give you. Running a process and improving it isn't hard. It all the extra projects that they sometimes give you, that is too much.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Eli Lilly

Pros – Great benefits. Fantastic city to live in.

Cons – Slow to respond and top heavy.

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on the employee more.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Eli Lilly

Pros – 1. Good benefits
2. Good opportunities, challenges
3. Good people to work with

Cons – 1. Company going through tough times.
2. Ceiling on pay being reached, no baseline increase in 2012.

Advice to Senior Management – 1. Don't outsource so much, invest in employees in the downtime.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Eli Lilly

Pros – Lilly has totally flexible work hours and is very "family friendly." The compensation, salary and benefits, is very competitive. The work environment is first class. They are moving aggressively toward a mobile workplace, unfortunately this does not extend to freedom to work from home without strong coordination with your supervision. It is a well respected company in the community and in the state.

Cons – While this is probably typical for most large businesses, it is a highly political environment. Networking is extremely important. "Organizational memory" is very long. While they encourage you to take risks, you need to be certain that it is a risk you can overcome. Failure is not an option and if you fail, it will follow you for a number of years as your career stalls. This may not be universal and maybe mitigated if you have done the "required" networking ahead of time. This gives your management a chance to "spin" your failure into something with less impact.

Advice to Senior Management – It is very hard to see significant capital improvements being made while in the process of shedding 5,000 employees. Things will be great for those who remain. It is also tiresome to hear how great our product pipeline is, when the financial results don't materialize. (This is not unique to Lilly and is a problem with all pharma companies.) That said, I must say I cannot image a company that handles layoffs in a more generous manner. Sometimes the business climate demands a contraction of the workforce and Lilly handles it about as well as it can be done.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Eli Lilly

Pros – Job at Eli Lilly is relatively stable.

Cons – Employee's performance management is one direction only for most of employees----depending on supervisor's personal opinions even if they are not fair or objective.

Current Employee – been working at Eli Lilly

Pros – Good total compensation package. The company is a good place to work because it is working to truly improve the lives of people around the world

Cons – Revenue losses have translated into many cutbacks of people. Less work is getting done and morale in IT has plummetted as more and more people get cut loose

Advice to Senior Management – Better find some new products before it is too late.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Eli Lilly

Pros – Great benefits, good salaries, good people, great working environment.

Cons – Very political, not much opportunity to move up as they are in an outsourcing mode. It it not what you know but who you know that get you ahead. IVY Leaguers got it made.

Advice to Senior Management – Treat everyone with respect and see them for what they bring to the table not who they socialize with.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend