Genzyme Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Genzyme

Pros – lots of opportunity, constantly changing environment.

Cons – very challenging, sometimes tensions run high. used to offer a lot more for employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Genzyme as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – Most of the people that work there are younger and are therefore more in tune with what's happening outside of the walls of the Genzyme (ALF), leading to a fun work environment.

Also, upper management isn't bad, they are actually really nice, but are oblivious when it comes to how much damage certain department mangers/supervisors are causing to employee morale.

Cons – At least in the department where I worked, it was very "clicky," the facility is staffed 24/7/365, which is divided into shifts (1st. 2nd, 3rd Weekday | 1st, 2nd, 3rd Weekend). This, along with ineffective management, led to a very clear separation between all shifts, which led to each shift blaming the previous, or following shift for whatever went wrong in the lab.
Also, if you are sensitive about race, at all, be warned! There is a clear division between minorities (who dominate the odd and weekend shifts) and whites (who are all on regular business hours, with the exception of a few... which I can count with a single hand.)

Advice to Senior Management – Get rid of the bad managers!!!!! I can't stress this enough!!!! The same people that got this facility into consent decree are the same individuals making the decisions about the future of the facility!!!

Seriously, how many times does a manager have to fail "in-house" validation projects before you stop them from managing these projects!!?? (I guess more than 2x)

Literally I have nothing bad to say about the workers, but managers/supervisors allow certain individuals to get away with murder, while blaming other people/shifts for their own mistakes. (Again, this is because managers/supervisors pick favorites, and when I mean favorites, I mean like they let certain workers step all over them so that they can be considered "cool.")

Get a team of managers that really knows what it means to be a team! If they did this place would have been a wonderful place to work, where people dedicate themselves and produce the best results. (Because the majority of workers are extremely dedicated to their work).

The worse part is that the bad seeds in this department aren't many, but they somehow have a lot of pull with certain individuals with upper management.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – Great benefit, good pay, bonus, job security

Cons – under consent decree. poor GMP, and management does not care

Advice to Senior Management – Quality comes first, not product

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

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

Pros – Decent benefit. Comparable to other biotech companies in greater Boston area.

Cons – The company is deteriorating. I was surprised at its high turn over of employees through two years working there. A lot people I worked with have left since, especially after the company was bought out and it went 24/7. The management has no consideration of employees in general.

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 Genzyme as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – Good people trying their best to overcome the issues of consent decree and the Sanofi buyout. Many employees have helped to grow Genzyme from a startup to a major company. Their history and lessons are valuable.

Cons – Constant changes in the way business, training and work is being done. Part of this is due to Sanofi's increasing influence. Workers are often frustrated and confused with the changes and what is now expected of them.

Advice to Senior Management – Make sure your entire way of doing business and work is up to date and modern to keep pace with the current biotech marketplace. Spent a bit less money on new floral plantings every few weeks and more on perks for your hardworking employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Genzyme full-time for less than a year

Pros – Solid pipeline of drugs. Drugs for rare diseases. They do give many drugs away to those who cannot afford the meds.

Cons – GMP's are subjective. Training is awful and management is detaches from reality. I don't know how they make money. Very clicky. No communication. It is run like a 3rd world factory. Dirty.

Advice to Senior Management – Leave...just walk away.

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

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

Pros – - You get to meet the patients you serve
- The products are interesting and have a real place in medicine
- Pay is competitive

Cons – - Management in genetics no longer cares about the people they serve; they only care about protecting their position and handing out plum posts to their friends.
- Genetics commercial is an operational nightmare. It is a miracle that they can manage to get drug shipped.
- Strategy is totally misguided and reflects how out of touch genetics management is with reality
- Too many people have not experienced other companies and do not realize how far behind the times they really are.
- Upper management keeps hiring unnecessary people to chase unrealistic goals and the lack of real responsibility among various stakeholders is creating infighting and turf battles.
- It is very hard to hold employees accountable because of the lack of role clarity and unrealistic objectives.
- Career opportunities are surprisingly bad in house and there are no opportunities for development for field employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Find some seasoned talent from another company to run this division and get your operations sorted out. The company is not fit to compete.

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

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

Pros – Great people. True spirit of helping patients. Novel drugs that truly do make a difference to patents and their lives. Nice location and building in Kendal Sq Cambridge MA

Cons – The acquisition by Sanofi has started to change the culture to one more akin to big pharma. There is also a fair bit of travel required to France by senior management.

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

Pros – Peaceful environment, not competitive, mostly people work along well in the department

Cons – Salary is not up to market standard, not much encouragement to advance in career, not efficient in spending money

Advice to Senior Management – Need new ideas..

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Genzyme full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Exciting to work to help patients in need

Cons – Too many people worked there for too long and were irrelevant, but somehow, hung on to fancy titles solely due to their length of employment.

Advice to Senior Management – Communicate.

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