Novartis Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Novartis

Pros – people Management is one of the best in industry

Cons – I don find any thing

Advice to Senior Management – Field and expectation are different

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Novartis

Pros – Always depends on your manager!

Cons – Drugs that have gone generic.

Current Employee – been working at Novartis full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Down to earth company culture. Recognizes and rewards those deserving of it.

Cons – Novartis became increasingly untrusting of representatives because of ongoing legal trouble the company faced. Led to a culture that didn't encourage open and honest communication.

Advice to Senior Management – The movement toward robot managers that care less about their team and more about their personal well being will prove to be the wrong move for Novartis as a whole.

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

Pros – good pay and benefits, good environment

Cons – lots of temporary contractors filling for open permanent positions

Advice to Senior Management – hire more fulltime employees instead of army of temporary contractors

Current Employee – been working at Novartis full-time

Pros – Good environment, people friendly, good co workers and good management . Office is really great and the senior management is very approachable .

Cons – Competition is very high, performance driven..

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

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

Pros – Very good company to work for

Cons – Politics and senior managment disconnected

Advice to Senior Management – To be on the ground more

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – Great work life balance here

Cons – Management must do better job

Advice to Senior Management – None

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – We all have a passion for patients

Cons – Managing upwards is more important than managing people

Advice to Senior Management – Recruit against our values

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – The underlying business is relatively stable and profitable, especially in Europe. As a regulated business, products that are sold in Europe can be sold almost every where in he world. So globalising the brands has been a successful focus.
The whole OTC/ Self Medication model is supported by governments to reduce their own healthcare costs by encouraging consumers to buy their own medicines themselves.
By and large the people are smart and self starters.

Cons – Nike school of management 'Just Do It'.
Top management is based in the US, but gets distracted by its local business model. Which in the US case is pure retail, with high sales but low earnings. However, every where else the model is pharmacy based with regulated products, higher barriers to entry and greater business sustainability and much much better financials.
Politicised decision making.

Advice to Senior Management – 1. Relocate to where the money is made ie Europe. Go to Basle to be taken seriously.
2. Recognise you have two different business models. Adapt your approach to reflect this. Better still sell the US business to its management or to private equity as it lacks material synergies with other markets as it is an unproductive distraction.
3. Move from an annual planning process to a rolling 3/1 plan so there may start to be some consistency of purpose and achievement of real progress over time.
4. Treat your people with respect and integrity.
5. Less top down and more, much more top up. Respect and trust the people who are doing the job.

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

Former Employee – worked at Novartis

Pros – great experience, company treats its employers well

Cons – I was only there for the summer and I had a great experience