Abbott Labs – “One person's experience”

Pros

Still offer pension plan and 401k and their stock is fairly stable. They are very socially conscious and they try to do the right things for customers and employees. Great gym with personal trainers available to salaried employees. Company is family friendly and offers a few flex-time options (though, many managers don't allow flex-time).

Cons

They like to say "quality", but have little clue on how to actually achieve quality. Senior management tends to hire former auditors to determine how to get quality product. While auditors know how not to do things, they are typically poor at saying how TO do things. They have difficulty doing long-term planning beyond 2 years. Middle management is incompetent and/or afraid to communicate upwards or step out of their comfort zone. New computer systems (documentation systems, databases, etc) often are compliant to regulations, but fail to implement gains that could be had with electronic systems (systems are usually much less efficient than even a fully paper-based system would be).

Advice to Senior Management

Hold people accountable not only for poor decisions, but for lack of decisions. Give a long-term roadmap where each division is going (not heavily detailed, but at least a plan). Less cheerleading in communications and more substance would be appreciated.