GlaxoSmithKline Reviews

Current Employee – been working at GlaxoSmithKline full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Interesting work, great sense of purpose in drug development, nice mix of cultures, decent benefits and great credit union

Cons – Overworked, passive and subversive homophobia, constant change for the sake of change, no oversight of managers - not treating employees the same - hiring practices which subvert morale.

Advice to Senior Management – Pay attention to your employee needs, speak up against retaliation of sexual orientation, take a look and see if the benefit of change is REALLY worthwhile. Do more to protect LGBT employees from homophobic managers.

Former Employee – worked at GlaxoSmithKline full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Great benefits, great people, I would love to go back.

Cons – Little to no advancement opportunities and layoffs.

Advice to Senior Management – Do something so that layoffs are not 'needed', better utilize employees, especially those seeking more work/challenges.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – Great place to work for.

Cons – Just paid $3B fine. Not sure how will this impact org strcuture.

Advice to Senior Management – I am new.

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

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

Pros – Good Culture. Great opportinities to growth.

Cons – The downsizing situation. Right now not have much opportunites to obtain work with them.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at GlaxoSmithKline full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – - Infrastructure/resources
- most people are capable and well-intended
- quite a few opportunities for lateral/internal career movements
- salary above industry average
- declining, but still great benefits

Cons – - quite a few work-pockets that put themselves above the interests of the company (as whole)/customers
- office politics can be very strong
- low morale, too many employees just waiting to be laid off

Advice to Senior Management – - demonstrate, not just say, that employees are your greatest assets

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – The people below the VP level - that is about it. The older executives that have been "real" GSK folks generally care about people and have interest in others developing and the greater good of the patient.

Cons – The new executives (VP+) moving in (mostly from Lilly) are motivated by power and carnage without any concern for employees, selling drugs or helping patients.
Too many people for the number of products.
Focus is on checking boxes rather than innovation
Legal oversight has paralyzed the employee
Have to get everyone's approval before you go to the bathroom - too much micro-management. Sucks the life out of innovation!
Negative culture with everyone unhappy

Advice to Senior Management – Empower people
Lay off 50% of work force because Advair is not going to keep 80,000 people employed
Stop inhibiting employees today for what bad employees did 10 years ago and get rid of the employees who appear to be like the bad employees - you have several executives that are going to make you go through the same thing in 10 years. The problem is not at the indiviudal contributor level it is at the VP and up level.
What happened to the old GSK with nobelaureats and a drive to help patients by developing drugs that save lives? That culture is completely gone and needs to be reinvented. The company is no longer a R&D or science company but rather a sales and marketing machine of whatever you can sell - what a horrible position in the market easily stumped by smaller biotechs and big pharma recreating themselves focused on innovation.

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

Former Employee – worked at GlaxoSmithKline

Pros – Good network, Large company with lots of communication

Cons – Low proficiency since lots people involved in.

Advice to Senior Management – More coffee time involved with colleagues.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at GlaxoSmithKline

Pros – Strong, confident company with good product pipeline. Great retirement package and assistance with the same. Competitive pay.

Cons – Home office procedures bureaucratic. They don't listen to field staff anymore. Patient First program not transparent with testing performance so reps can improve.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to employees in field and not just one representative who "filters' feedback out to their discretion. Bring back incentives.

Former Employee – worked at GlaxoSmithKline

Pros – Great place to work, great opportunities to interact globally

Cons – Manufacturing side is challenged right now

Advice to Senior Management – none

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at GlaxoSmithKline

Pros – Awesome benefits, great location, talented professional co-workers, great facilities, excellent salaries, good room for growth, top industry bonuses, still has pension plan

Cons – Too many layers of management, management hires outstanding performers but does not trust them to be knowledgeable enough to do their jobs, therefore some projects get stagnated because management has to be too deeply involved in even the smallest projects, decreased ability to work from home due also to management's lack of trust in motivated highly competent workforce.

Advice to Senior Management – Know that you hire the best. Admit that management isn't the expert on everything, which is why you hire the best, so that they can advise you and make decisions within their areas of expertise. Empower your employees and lower management. Being control freaks is the biggest threat to the GSK organization - it s slowing down progress on projects and frustrating employees and lower management. Make the organization flatter so that there aren't 4 levels of review and approval. Also, why move to the open space environment, then practically forbid folks to work from home? Shows further lack of trust that middle and upper management has in it's people, which is unfounded. Having worked at 2 others pharmas in the past, know that GSK's workforce is THE most talented, capable and committed. Maybe if management realizes this, we can move forward united to meet our goals.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend