LifeScan Reviews

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

Pros – Great management, older product that needed to be replaced with a new generation product but having said that hospitals remained committed to J&J because of the excellent client support and small turnover of dedicated, professional employees.

Cons – Slow to invest in next gen product and or long time to bring to market.

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

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

Pros – There are still a few good leaders with the values that Johnson & Johnson holds dear, left in the company.

Cons – The culture on the commercial side has become increasingly cut throat and political as a result of the successive years of lay offs. The squeeky wheel gets the attention, not necessarily the most competent or diligent person. Only a true political animal can survive in this culture.

Advice to Senior Management – LifeScan no longer represents the best of what J&J has offer its employees. Leaders, please take a hard look at your mid to senior marketing management, and the type of a culture being fostered. Identify the self-promoters, credit stealers and others that desperately want to hold on to their jobs so someone else can get laid off in the next round.

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

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

Pros – Tight knit group of co-workers. Flex hours. Could work from home one day a week.

Cons – Not many people left in CA because of lay offs.

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

Pros – Company stability, the culture is friendly and there is possibility for advancement both within your function, or cross functionally. LifeScan can also choose to pay for your MBA if your manager approves your work.

Cons – At times the finance work is repetitive, constantly updating financial forecasts, and comparing each month vs the forecast. Lots of accounting and Sarbanes Oxley compliance. No margin for error. Lots of scrutiny.

Advice to Senior Management – Remember to give praise much more than you criticize. Help employees develop and advance towards management, don't put them down constantly.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at LifeScan full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Local team has being the greatest incentive. Could not ask for a better group to work with.

Cons – No stability and limited growth potential if you are a contractor. If you are a contractor you be better be good friends with upper management to at least get a shot.

Advice to Senior Management – Contractors are treated as help and even when they leave they're blood and tears on the job there is no consideration and treated as a second grade employee. This should be corrected neglecting and treating employees less than equal surely goes against your Credo.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at LifeScan

Pros – A great work environment. Good people. Reasonable autonomy. Committed employees.

Cons – Difficult to see strategy clearly.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at LifeScan

Pros – A few reasons to work at LifeScan is they have great compensation, benefits such as medical, dental, 401K, gym and cafeteria. Depending on your department, you have nice co-workers. In addition, the up-keep of the campus is very nice.

Cons – Some of the downsides to working at LifeScan is equal opportunity for all and hidden agendas.

Advice to Senior Management – Prior to hiring senior management, they must meet the basic qualifications of the job vs. learning as they go.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at LifeScan

Pros – Great people
A johnson and Johnson brand
The company basically operates under the credo which keeps the company for a long history.

Cons – Managements are infighting.
The company lacks of the supervision;
The politics plays a big role in the promotion. The salary is decent.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at LifeScan

Pros – 1. if you care about the product you are marketing, this is a terrific healthcare product to work on
2. Some of the marketing associates were the friendliest, supportive team I've worked with
3. It is part of the J&J network if you care about that; and it looks great on your resume

Cons – 1. First time managers who do not know how to coach and mentor a team are horrible to work for.
2. Executives don't seem to be able to stick to their so called long term strategy and keep making changes, making it very difficult to stick to goals/forecasts.
3. No respect for work/life balance - they often say 'go home' and heap a pile of work on you and say we need this asap...but go home. How do you do that? And if you work a 70 hour week they call it a 'strong work ethic'.
4. Management has no idea how to handle a company I think..they hired a whole bunch of associate marketing managers and then few months later threw us out of marketing and into sales and then tried to give us our jobs back when they found out we may take legal action..by then half of us were so furious (as some of us had moved across the coast to take up a marketing job specifically post MBA) we had found other jobs - is that how they value their employees?
5. When you tell them you are stressed and having a breakdown and ask for a rotation you are denied and given the ugly treatment thereafter.

Advice to Senior Management – 1. Take some coaching classes on how to mentor and develop your employees
2. If you truly want LFS to be a work/life balance then mean it and show it in your actions
3. Learn to appreciate your employees...just by walking around and shouting 'how are ya' every 5 minutes you are not bonding with your team.
4. If an employee is saying they are having trouble, hear them out and try and provide solutions. maybe something is wrong with the way some of your roles are structured.
5. You can't just keep saying' how can i help' and imagine those words alone are helping. They are not.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at LifeScan

Pros – Great benefits, strong support from J&J corporate, great training and development opportunities as you move up. LifeScan may not be a household name, but J&J is, and I always felt proud to say I worked for J&J.

Cons – Get used to "LifeScan Standard Time": meetings start 10 minutes late, and new products launch at least 6 months late. Layoffs have become all too common lately. Some groups are very silo-like, although not all.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to team members when they tell you (weeks or months in advance) that the schedule cannot be met, rather than insisting on an unrealistic, can't-be-met, make-no-contingency-plans false view of the world. Give project teams the resources they need to complete the projects, and then hold them accountable.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend