Genentech Reviews in San Francisco, CA Area

Pros

The people I think are the number one reason its a great place to work. They've got great benefits compared toother companies. And the pay is pretty good too. And you are working for a company with a purpose.

Cons

Its extremely fast paced and the line between work and home get very blurred. There is no possible way to complete your normal job in a 40 hour week. This is pretty normal and known through out the organization. It can get to be too much at times and a lot of people burn out.

Pros

Good to employees and patients

Cons

cuts in pay and compensations (bonus, stocks), cuts in pay and compensations (bonus, stocks),cuts in pay and compensations (bonus, stocks)

Advice to Senior Management

talent will start to leave if salaries not adjusted to market, talent will start to leave if salaries not adjusted to market, talent will start to leave if salaries not adjusted to market.

Pros

benefits
flexible hours
low key, culture is still exist depending on the site you work at

Cons

cut cost, management is no longer there to support you. The ability to help or develop the individual is no longer exist. 'They throw you under the bus and let you die. It's all about cover the management "CYA' but they will take your job and make it theirs. No credits or appreciation, bonuses no longer exists, more layers than it should have been. NO development plans for employee or recognition for job well done.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to the details and get on the floor; understand and listen. Be more expose to what is going on the manufacturing floor then just the surface. Don't hire idiots to run the sinking ship; listen to the worker bees or the supervisors that see the process day-to day.

Pros

Superb Benefits/401K plan
Flexible time
Best care for working mothers

Cons

Roche brought a lot of chaos to Genentech. Job descriptions, definition of responsibilities for each job level are vague. Clinical operations suffered from being understaffed for a very long period of time.

Advice to Senior Management

Medical Teams need to learn how to work as great functioning teams. Senior Management need to listen to their employees more.

Pros

Genentech cares their patients and about doing the right thing for the right reasons. Great benefits and great compensation.

Cons

People are promoted into leadership positions because of who they know and how they "play the game" but many do not possess the appropriate skills to inspire, motivate and lead their team. Each department is different so this may not be true of all.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote employees based on their performance and customer feedback. Train managers to focus on fair and equitable treatment of all employees. Provide appropriate management/leadership training.

Pros

Nice perks such as the Genenbus, subsidized benefits, abundance of free food.

Fellow co-workers - non-management - are very pleasant and knowledgeable.

Cons

1. Hiring of people at below market salary and slow to promote
     a. constant claim of "business need" to warrant promotions, but with a convenient non-recognition of employee satisfaction being a substantial part of business need.
2. Line managers more interested in own projects than managing their own staff
3. Cash bonuses for recognition of good work are capped without sufficient explanation as to why

Pros

Science is amazing, approved medications truly help improve the lives of patients, GenenBus is awesome and very convenient, great gym, opportunity to work with very smart people who understand clinical development and the medical applications

Cons

gRED Clin Ops Leadership is not very strong and are only worried about keeping their jobs, severe micromanagement by uncaring and inexperienced Clin Ops Leadership, work environment is not consistent with mission, there is no work-life balance, new budget constraints make achieving deliverables very difficult

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the hard-working employees who do the work and consider re-evaluating the skill set of the leaders in gRED ClinOps, keep policies consistent across the company (gRED operates as though they are a separate company and it is deterimental to the success of the glonal organization), be true to your reputation or you will continue to lose top talent

Pros

Scientific excellence
innovative
generous
competitive
Cutting edge research
Good mentorship, and excellent benefts provided.
Sesnse of community is very strong

Cons

slower upward mobility
titles are downplayed

Advice to Senior Management

Allow for some career flexibity

Pros

This is a place that values difference and embraces it. Love being surrounded by smart, motivated and genuinely nice people. The culture supports giving credit where credit is due. Love the South San Francisco location and the perks like the Genentech buses that bring people to work. But it's also great to have opportunities available to work anywhere Roche has offices. That's literally in dozens of countries.

Cons

Long hours and some of the integration issues post the merger with Roche make the work challenging sometimes. For example, we still have two email systems, two meeting calendar systems and two systems for virtual meetings. This makes interoperability between us and our colleagues in other parts of Roche difficult.

Advice to Senior Management

Let's make more decisions that help us to function as one company -- especially on the Informatics side. Roche and Genentech together make for a stronger company.

Pros

Energetic, engaged workforce. Meaningful products.

Cons

Promotions based on seniority and networking, not on ability/achievements.

Advice to Senior Management

Genentech will need to develop and retain newer employees to stay competetive.