Novartis Pharmaceuticals Reviews

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

Pros – Work and life reach a good balance

Cons – Some groups are too busy.

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

Pros – Full scale of career opportunities, support at district and corporate level to field are good as long as your manager supports.

Cons – Manager changes seem more frequent and each manager has own agenda and process. Once everyone is on same page then a new manager.

Advice to Senior Management – Corporate level directors with 18-24 month contracts and goals cloud longer term vision at field level.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – Large company
Competitive salary
Decent benefits
Can learn a lot due to size of company
Great bunch of people in the pilot plant before they laid everyone off

Cons – Swiss company means that the US always seen as 2nd rate
They laid off the entire development department in the US
Company went downhill after stock was listed on the NYSE, now all that matters is increasing profits

Advice to Senior Management – Shame on you, for sending all the development jobs over to China and laying off thousands of professionals in the US. I hope it comes back to bite you.

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

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

Pros – . Good company for starting a career . Little perks like company picnic, lunches, etc

Cons – A lot of departments understaffed, overworked. Management pointing fingers at one another. Low-morale is evident but managers ill-equipped to handle. Difficult to professionally move around another department unless you are in the higher management level or unless you are within the group's "elite or hip crowd". Seems to foster a spirit of fraternization among managers rather than foster inspiration to future leaders. A lot of talented and efficient employees specially in key areas were let go without extensive consultation or planning. Use to be "honor-system" now, time-in/out clocks.

Advice to Senior Management – stop with politicking and retain good and efficient employees.

Former Employee – worked at Novartis Pharmaceuticals full-time

Pros – Excellent pay, benefits and work-life balance. Smart people working hard for the most part. Advancement isn't easy but possible with the right connections.

Cons – such a big company - often the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing

Advice to Senior Management – more communication across divisions

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

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

Pros – Solid pipeline; comparable salary and benefits

Cons – too busy; high turnout rates

Advice to Senior Management – management should also pay more attention on employee's work and life balance, career development etc.

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

Pros – Excellent Benefits and ok pay. A certain amount of flexibility and ownership given to manage and grow your territory.

Cons – Your sales career very much depends on your District Manager's willingness to help you along and the established managed care in your territory.

Advice to Senior Management – Have more oversight on District Managers in order to allow for talented territory reps to get ahead.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Novartis Pharmaceuticals

Pros – Good pay, good benefits, nice campus

Cons – Long hours are the norm, not a friendly environment, human resources closes their eyes to bad management.

Advice to Senior Management – Work load is unbearable and everyone is afraid to speak up!

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

Pros – you get exposure to decision making, and new areas from day 1. you are viewed as an expert on your teams - and so until you prove otherwise. very smart colleagues and a culture that values science as the heart of innovation and value. It is a great place to get experience as other companies value what this company is doing well.

Cons – there is no work-life balance. the parking lot at Novartis Oncology was always nearly full routinely at 7pm each day. No advancement and little recognition for the amount or quality of work. Tough place for women to advance in particular.

Advice to Senior Management – Look outside the box when it comes to leadership or you will get cookie cutter results. Leaders come in different packages - genders, races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Look for people who manage both up, down, and sideways very well and can motivate and inspire colleagues. Sometimes those that manage up do very poorly down and across, where they really need to have their impact as leaders. They may not be the traditional Novartis leadership package, but you are so lucky to have really talented people. Recognize them, encourage them and promote them.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Novartis Pharmaceuticals

Pros – Novartis has been doing some great science to benefit patients. It has been relatively successful in bringing innovative products to the market. It's exciting to see and hear about the good news coming out of R&D almost everyday.

Cons – As much as the management wants us to think the company is relatively flat, there are often layers after layers of bureaucracy employees have to go through to get buy ins. This can and has caused delays that have significant impact on project progression.

Advice to Senior Management – Be more conscientious of multiple layers of bureaucracy existing within the company. In the long run, this can become dangerous in affecting overall company performance. In addition, management needs to be sure quality of science is not affected as the focus is now shifted towards cost savings.

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