Johnson & Johnson Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Great network of companies in three very distinct areas of Consumer, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceutics. Opportunities to rotate between any of the three areas .

Cons

Because J&J is such a large organization ti it difficult for the organization to make changes quickly or respond to issues in an efficient manner.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership should feel more empowered to allow people within middle management to make decisions and be allowed to fail but also hold those same decision makers accountable for a track record of poor decisions.

Pros

Good pay and benefits, particularly pension for those with long tenure. Strong balance sheet.

Cons

Experiences will vary signficantly from location to location as the company is a group of some 200 + operating entities operating under 3 divisions. Gold plated balance sheet and tripple A rated bonds means the company is unlikely to encounter major financial troubles in the short to medium term. I would have no reservations purchasing their short or intermediated term bonds or even stock (pays good divident) but as a company to work for it is a totally diffrent matter. They pay well above market because they have to to keep people. Work environment is very high pressure for techical people because these departments are controlled by Marketing and they do not understand what it takes to organically develop a culture of techical innovation and growth. Impossibly short time lines for product design and testing are the norm and if there is a slip, jobs are at risk. Employees there understand this so they will cut corners and find creative ways to rationalize poor technical plans and decisions to meet time like. This is fundamentally a marketing controlled company with their biggest asset being their brand. I predict in the next 10 years, this company will become more of a brand label like Westinghouse or RCA, where their power comes from licensing the brand to other less known names. There is very little I saw internally that leads me to believe in organic internal growth. Acquisitons and divestures are an every day event with layoffs happening nearly all the time. The department I worked in, people were routinely getting sick with ulcers and other GI troubles due to work stress. Management has a very snoby attitude to employees. It is do as they tell you now or you will be out in the next round of layoffs which seems to always be less than 1 year away. There is a strong push to promote women into management and I have seen many who are technically incompentant promoted into such roles as bosses over male employees. Real technical people stay away from this company as a potential employeer.

Advice to Senior Management

Is this a science driven company or a marketing brand company ? Need to clarify your strategy.

Pros

The company still has a good reputation and attracts talented individuals. Co-workers are very good at what they do and take pride in their contributions. Pay and benefits are good and most people are very congenial to work with. Seems to have a great pipeline and unlike other Pharmas has not been majorly impacted by the so-called patent cliff. This year alone there have been 3-4 new product launches which is unheard of in today's Pharma companies.

Cons

Many remain in their jobs for a very long time without promotion or recognition. It seems that management would rather hire from outside versus promote from within. Even contractors tend to have a better chance of getting the job over talented permanent employees. Hiring tends to be either over-qualified or under-qualified and there's no HR support whatsoever. New hires often have to fend for themselves as management has no clue how to properly onboard new people.

As a manager, you end up doing much menial and tedious work and there's not a lot emphasis on making things better. There's so much CYA work that it becomes difficult to identify continuous improvement opportunities let alone drive through these changes.

The organization is also very heirarchical. There seems to be a belief that you have to be an Associate Director or higher in order to make independent decisions. Otherwise, you'd better clear it with those higher level people or you're in danger of disciplinary action. Management also tends to micro-manage as they don't have as much trust in their employees as they should have and are constantly following up to make sure you did what you were supposed to do and when you were supposed to do it.

Another problem here is the prolific decentralization. The concepts of strategic systems and shared services are foreign despite the inefficiencies it yields to have so many different systems and processes to work through.

Advice to Senior Management

J&J's too big to be this decentralized and needs to develop a model of central controls with decentralized decision making in order to gain efficiencies and drive quality standards. Learn to trust your people - especially when they've demonstrated the capability to do good work without significant supervision. Look first to promote from within before you look for talent outside. Empower and hold your HR department responsible for doing their jobs effectively. And finally, develop a strong IT organization that focuses on supporting and serving the business.

Pros

Solid name on your resume
Great benefits
Leadership is accessible, even if the follow through isn't great
Decent office locations

Cons

J&J has really changed in the last few years. I am very proud to have worked with J&J, but I'm disappointed in their current direction. J&J has moved away from its decentralized model, and they've done a poor job of promoting/retaining their best people.

My initial experience was excellent. We were acquired by J&J. They left us alone, and they provided the finanical capacity for us to make some investments that we could not have accomplished on our own. Then growth slowed at other J&J companies, and J&J began to restructure. Longtime J&J employees began getting hired at our company. In fact, our management was told that they needed to find positions for many of them. The old J&J people then brought their friends with them. The problem with this is that the J&J people didn't understand our business. The decision making process became over-complicated and confusing. One external consultant warned our team that J&J paralyzes itself with analysis.

J&J became a very tough place to work. New jobs were posted that weren't really available... they had already been promised to someone else. The J&J people in managment filled their teams with people they knew regardless of whether the person was competent for the position. I asked one of my peers (a longtime J&J guy) why he hired one of his district managers. I had interviewed her (at the request of the national sales director) and I found her to be incompetent. I didn't know him very well but he said she would do a great job. She was a disaster and so was he. They both finished dead last in the national sales standings, and the morale on their teams was completely destroyed. Despite how terrible she was, they promoted her back in house. Her boss blamed the sales team. I knew several members of the sales team... they were not the problem. Even the district manager's former sales colleagues said they knew she would be a disaster. Both she and her former boss are still with J&J. There is no accountability.

I was truly sad to leave the company. J&J has some truly outstanding products. It is a leader in healthcare, and they are very supportive of their communities. However, they've protected bad subsidiary managers for too long, and these people have surrounded themselves with equally bad people.

Before I left, I tried an experiment. I stopped doing any work, and I just spent my time in meetings and networking. To my surprise, I was offered several new jobs. I wasn't even qualified for one of them, but the VP wanted someone he knew. I will admit it was tempting, but I couldn't do it.

I'm told J&J monitors these boards, so I'm sure they'll put a black mark on my HR file for writing this. I truly hope the company changes. I'm very proud of my time there. I wish I could have made a career in the company, but the culture is decaying and they show no willingness to change it.

Advice to Senior Management

I hope J&J will realize that they have too many people in positions that they aren't qualified for. # of years at J&J should not be a criteria for a job.

Pros

Good company - Great people
Upstanding reputation
excellent compensation and benefits
Extremely caring and understanding about personal affairs
Diverse group of people all working for a good cause

Cons

Very Demanding and a lot of things to do always but worth the work.
Minor problems with management and understanding IT processes (as a whole)

Advice to Senior Management

The management needs to be more open to younger / newer employees thoughts and contributions. Old ways are sound and safe, but sometimes new ideas can turn out to be better and most cost saving.

Pros

Great Reputation
Career Development Opportunities
Great Culture

Cons

Communication issues through hirer management.

Pros

There is a proud company history at J & J. Having so many locations allows for flexibility if you want to transfwer

Cons

The Credo is no longer followed. Stockholders and profits have become more important than quality. Upper management does not understand that continuing cuts have caused production issues.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on quality and get back to the Credo values. Reduce pressure to release product dispite quality concerns. Changes in uppermanagement needed.

Pros

Great people to work with, managers are very approachable, low stress/relaxed atmosphere. Innovation is encouraged. Amazaing credo that people actually live and work by.

Cons

If you do not like change Johnson & Johnson may be a difficul company to work for. With over 250 operating companies there is always something new going on.

Advice to Senior Management

Johnson & Johnson has always been one of the most well respected public companies around. As long as management continues to follow our credo I believe J&J will continue to have the respect and appeal.

Pros

The company has great benefits and a great balance between work and life. Most of middle management is solid with a keen understanding of the business.

Cons

Upper management is clueless. Decisions are made that are very myopic and delusional. Most JnJ organizations are in such upheaval that they are not even sure of their overall roles and responsibilities.

Advice to Senior Management

Read the Credo and start following it. Stop making decisions based on short-term gains that limit the future growth opporunities.

Pros

Benefits and compensation, respected company

Cons

Poor management, layoffs, quality issues, integrity lacking, limited to no development opps

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees