Genentech Reviews

Pros

This is a very intellectually stimulating place to work. I am always learning something new and people are very willing to share information and ideas. Patients always come first which is an important guiding light for the company.

Cons

Opportunities for career growth are limited in some instances and in some parts of the company. Post-merger the opportunities for learning late stage drug development are limited within Genentech Research and Early Development.

Advice to Senior Management

Maintain the focus on patients, on employees and on the science and Genentech will do well for the long haul.

Pros

Great base pay and bonus. Company car and great health benefits.

Cons

Company seems a bit disorganized.

Pros

Advancement opportunities abound. Supply chain accumen is well appreciated.

Cons

Dwindling benefits and loss of original corporate culture folowibg acquisition by Roche.

Advice to Senior Management

Work harder to preserve small company feel.

Pros

Good salary and benefits and interesting people to work with.

Cons

Kiss up, kick down culture is not much fun.

Advice to Senior Management

A little more humility and focus on rewarding the workers that actually deliver on making drugs that help patients. The best employees are the ones who have options and they will leave if not rewarded. Those that remain will by default be mostly the mediocre favorites that got the promotions and in the end the company will also be mediocre.

Pros

Cafeterias
Transportation System
Culture
Genentech Pride
Events
Large Campus
Great Location

Cons

Poor Communication accross Entire ompany
Much work is contracted out to vendors

Advice to Senior Management

Improve communication with changes, moving forward, and across departments

Pros

Great pay
Great benefits
Great incentives
Great training

Cons

Fairness in promotions needs to be revamped
Line managers need additional training
Internal and External communication needs to be revamped

Advice to Senior Management

More training around fairness and promotions

Pros

realtively good benefits; there are still some honest and clever people but I am not sure for how long these gems will be there since they get displaced by hypocrits and a..kissers

Cons

Lots, Lots of bull! Extremely lots of backstabbing from some senior managers and collegaues that are trying to please those same managers.
I was scientist there but got "suffocated" because of my manager. That guy has been in the company forever....very malicious, hypocritic and also likes people
who kiss his a.., not the ones who work!
Also, you can do hell of a work and still do not get recognized. Actually, he wanted to remove me from a publication and instead to put people who did
 NOTHING (but kissed his a..) and also those who are his friends! Be careful!
Actually this is happening once in a while -someone is working on something for very long time - then upper management would make his life such that the person would go alone rather than staying and becoming the same moron. After this happens - that same manger in question claims HE did something great that belong to someone else!
Why this is tollerated -well because of politics (you know who is fiends with whom).
One major Con is that individuals are not measured by the amount of sweat and tears they generate,nor by their actual day after day accomplishments and victories, but instead by the impression they allow upper management to perceive of them.
Hard work and dedication is not rewarded or recognized at the company by management.

If you have a 'challenging' boss, employee can easily be 'forced out' due to unfair representation.
Many unethical, tyrannical Managers, Hypocritical management policies, Inflated sense of entitlement by middle and upper management, Lack of respect for people who actually get the work done.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of poor managers and directors
Promote people with achievements and real talent, not people knowing how to play with politics.

A professional who is not on the managerial track should not be penalized for not behaving the same as
the upper management constituancy,but instead should be recognized for the knowledge, dedication and experience they bring to their job

Pros

Top notch science
Visibility to best scientific advancements in the world
Clear vision for drug development

Cons

Little emphasis on staff career growth.
Dir/VP level management generally extremely competitive with each other, and with subordinates -- often fear of subordinates going up too fast and taking over their roles.
Inappropriate aggressiveness is tolerated on the pretext of "emotional attachment to one's job" -- there is no excuse for shouting and senior management hurling personal insults and abuse in meetings.

Advice to Senior Management

Progress should be measured by drug development metrics as well as personnel development. Mid-tier management is obsessively trying to prove themselves to top-level management, walking over their team members if they have to do so. Many good people have left, and will leave, if this is not corrected.

Pros

Benefits + Pay + Big Name Pharma + work/life balance

Cons

Sr management has no clue what they are doing and there is a lack of and inconsistent communication. Company has gone from great to below average. Bonus' are declining, lack of promotions, pigeon holed into certain tasks, differences between contractor and full time employees, internal changes take an extremely long time (9-12 months), very political

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the employees and bring the old Genentech back - Recognize great performance and stop outsourcing.

Pros

Technically stimulating, big spenders though not necessarily on salaries, very nice location on shoreline, big-time scientists and thinkers, sweet bonuses, company-provided shuttle service from most Bay Area cities.

Cons

Meetings overkill, over-emphasis on PhD as an indicator for competency, out-of-control spending on food and events produces too much waste, middle-managers are technically superior but often lacking in soft-skills and years of true managerial experience, recognition often based on conference-room capability rather than on-the-job capability and delivery of results, Executive level and HR focused on protection of company reputation over employee protection, need to stop blaming Roche for everything gone wrong considering there are still many Genentech executives and directors holding their jobs, post merger.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop hanging on to the 'good old days' and progress to the modern day to which Roche has opened the blinds. Diversity has become a catch-phrase or slogan, and a review of the Human Relations files is a great place to start toward figuring out what the company truly needs to do in order to live up to its reputation. The company has been receiving some undeserved accolades, at least, where diversity is concerned. It is easy to love Genentech, but it is now also very easy to dislike Genentech.