Wyeth Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Wyeth is a great company to work for. They have an excellent training system, people are very helpful, and the compensation package is good and cometitive. The pipeline is decent and the company has had important recent approvals by majorboards of health.

Cons

Stress levels have been extremly high since project impact was announced in early 2008 and have only increased since the Pfizer merger was announced. People have been trying to keep focus on work but there are too many distractions right now. We all feel insecure about our jobs and those who manage survivethe merger will face additional uncertaint until all integrations activities are finished.

Advice to Senior Management

Please increase communication about the merger.

Pros

Good working conditions and its location. I enjoy very much working with my reports and peers. Overall you have to learn to deal with how senior managment works.

Cons

Very difficult review process. Way to much opinionated. I do not like to "HOLD THE SALARY LINE" he is making to much money. But, the Director level and above reward themselves with huge raises , PIA and stock. SUCKS!!

Advice to Senior Management

Some of you should go play on 422, Most need managment training. Rewards and pay increases outside of the research area need to be investigated.

Pros

It is a great company to work for. It has good new product pipeline and good growth prospects

Cons

It is merging with another pharmaceutical and laying people off. Several changes have happened in the past year but employees only learned about them at the time they broke into the media

Advice to Senior Management

To think more about the impact of their decisions on employess lives

Pros

I excelled at Wyeth as a research scientist because my immediate supervisors allowed me to work independently. This confidence in my abilities spurred me to perform to the highest levels.
My collegues were friendly and very supportive, as was middle management.
Online courses are available to allow competency in many useful programs.

Cons

Senior management was not transparent and frequently seemed deliberately misleading. Research professionals should not be treated in a manner where decisions are made but not revealed.

In a team setting, a nonresponsive member should be held liable and not protected by senior management.

All hands meetings are usually cheerleading sessions, selling the company to it's employees.

It was very frustrating to have budget issues every year. Labs would have to curtail their work and spend idle periods of time. Indescriminate spending by some groups would affect all.

Job evaluations evolved over time...initially, effort was rewarded. More recently, effort, even extreme effort, is not rewarded if a project is not highly favored by senior management.

Metrics forced a dilution of efforts...senior management wanted bubbles on charts, but could not supply the resources to fully support development of early projects. It is hard to excel when you have to start from scratch every year or two.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat employees with respect.

Pros

For the most part, people are respected and the work environment is good. People are generally happy -- the commercial group seems to have the greatest stresses and that trickles to areas that directly support the commercial group. There is a gym on site.

Cons

Executive management is often dictatorial and capricious. Strong systems aren't in place, as a result firedrills are a way of life here. Wyeth greater Philadelphia locations are a long commute from the city center.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in process and project management at the highest level to create a thoughtful process on routine requests and reviews.

Pros

An opportunity to make a mark on a growing company. Because of it's history as a holding company, the last few years have been marked by transition as the new senior leadership team work to focus its growth and R&D. It has successfully been repositioning itself as a biopharmaceutical and it should be reflected in its stock price.

Cons

There have historically department silos which make getting ideas circulated difficult outside your chain of command. If you can come and quickly build your network across differenct businesses, you'll have a leg up on your colleagues.

Advice to Senior Management

Engage more people in discussions to challenge your assumptions of what's working and what's not

Pros

NIce facilities and outstanding research.

Cons

Promotions are only given to those who are in the "Eagles Program" Bonuses are extremely low compared to other pharma companies.

Advice to Senior Management

Let's put quality into products more than trying to meet a scorecard/metric agenda.

Pros

better than average compensation with generally good colleagues. The organization attempts to change with annual feedback programs but continues to fall short of the mark. The loss of Protonix to generics has hurt the bottom line and efficiency measures are taking place which is leading to a more focused organization

Cons

poor product portfolio and very little diversity. A poor and ineffective HR group which allows for bad management behaviors to exist.

Advice to Senior Management

Get some outside perspectives, tenure at the top is too long.

Pros

The salaries are competitive, the benefits are very good and in general the work force is comprised of talented, descent, hardworking individuals. The company historically has always done a good job at providing timely communications on important business decisions and activities. Leadership has also proven itself over and over again by keeping the company healthy and expanding in spite of serious product and manufacturing liabilities. Compared to the industry, Wyeth is a fair place to work.

Cons

Wyeth is not the leader in the Pharmaceutical or the Biopharmaceutical fields. The company is neither the biggest nor the strongest in the market.

Advice to Senior Management

Youre employees are your most important asset.

Pros

The salaries and benefits are on par with the rest of the pharma world....and if not, they're not too far off. Benefits are good, vacation and sick time are livable.

Cons

Can be very "click-y;" if you know the right people, you can advance far. If you don't kiss enough ass, you won't go places.

Senior management doesn't understand the ins and outs of being the "little guy".......but I suppose you'll hit a form of that in one way or another anywhere you work. Everyone thinks they can do 10 times better than their managers.

Takes alot to get fired, which is annoying when there are many incompetent people who screw up on a daily basis.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't pretend that you know what we do on a daily basis when you have no clue.