GlaxoSmithKline Reviews

Pros

Flexible work environment, no micro-manager (some areas are different), great salary, easy going expectations, great benes, easy going company meetings & training. Low stress environment, loved it!

Cons

They changed how they compensate sales people, now it's pretty subjective, not based on numbers. I'm no longer there, but here that most reps are unhappy about the new plan.

Advice to Senior Management

Sales people want to be paid for what they sell!

Pros

Great place to work, great opportunities to interact globally

Cons

Manufacturing side is challenged right now

Advice to Senior Management

none

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.

Pros

Benefits and Salary, Great work culture

Cons

Politics, Late Promotion, Sweating, and Night Shifts

Advice to Senior Management

Nothing

Pros

Great benefits
Good pay
Flexible
Interesting development programs

Cons

The culture is defeating and in constant flux

Advice to Senior Management

Be engaged. Go to bat for your team. Stand up for what's right for the business, the customers, and your employees.

Pros

Great benefits and employer contributions to 401K. Three weeks vacation your first year, plus company shut down last week of December.

Cons

Company has gone through too many changes over the past few years. The quotas set for reps were seriously unattainable and created a lot of dissatisfaction, which forced many employees to leave the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Be accurate and realistic when forecasting, instead of being overly optimistic and then making the field sales force pay for your mistakes.

Pros

Flexibility, work from home (or remotely), most managers are not constantly over your shoulders, pretty good pay and benefits.

Cons

Due to flexibility very difficult to meet people face2face. Lot of CYA type activities due to matrix type organization. Sometimes I do not see my manager for weeks, this could be good and bad. Things that used to take 4 weeks at a smaller company, take about 2 to 3 months here because it's tough to get people together. Expect to work long hours and odd hours as parts of you team may be based all over the world and thus, late evenings for Australia meetings and Early AM for UK meetings. Management impliments processes without input from the folks who actually have to live with it. A lot of Knee Jerk Reactions. People are over worked.

Advice to Senior Management

Think before you act. In past 5 years, any new re-org or process has lasted less than 1 year. This is a sign that you are not thinking before taking any action. Sometimes major actions are announced, but the final result is hardly any different that the current situation..... basically no one has the guts to take a bold action, especially when it's necessary. We need more people, we are working very long hours to keep-up, this is not good in the long run.

Pros

-Great athletic / recreational facilities. Good company-wide intramural sport support
-Great work-life balance. 35 hr work weeks and half day Fridays, can leave after lunch

Cons

-Resistance to change due to lack of budgeting allocated to projects and strict quality/safety controls
-Difficult to measure and predict impact of work and projects due to the nature of highly documented and regulated manufacturing, lack of accomplishment at the end of the day

Advice to Senior Management

-Invest more and allocate greater budgets to projects that will save money in the long run.
-Provide more resources and assistance to bottlenecks in project teams

Pros

Great pay and benefits - by far the best I've come across, compared to other industries. Friendly people. Collaborative work environment.

Cons

Not much talent. Was surprised to see people with such limited knowledge and skills. So, was not able to learn much from my colleagues. A lot of "dead" weight and lazy employees who do as little as possible and are able to get away with it. Not much opportunity in Philadelphia vs RTP or London.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire some quality people from the outside. Stop shifting the bad employees from 1 position to another. Consolidate headquarters in the US.

Pros

Diverse employees background, strong reputable brand in pharmaceutical market, structured career advancement pathway, strong corporate ethics and professional conduct vis-a-vis the industry

Cons

Bureaucratic culture, negative office political working conditions, below average salary scale and compensations, limited opportunity for interations with senior management

Advice to Senior Management

Increase facetime with employees at all level to minimize attention-hogging office political players, match to compete with industry on employees compensations package