Wyeth Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

It is a first rate company. Competitive compensation package: salary, benefits, paid time off, etc. Managers were available and friendly. A more laid back environment than you might think for such a corporate image; though some of that will depend on your supervisor. Career development is ok. Internal opportuntites are posted, which is a strong asset if you are looking for advancement.

Cons

Like any large company they are very specialized. Because of this there is not a lot of room for cross-training. Also the advantage of applying internally is minimized since there are not a lot of relationships across departments.

Advice to Senior Management

Not use a helicpoter when the company is struggling to avoid layoffs?

Pros

Great industry that you can feel proud to be a part of, exciting, cutting edge. excellent benefits, pension, lots of opportunities and excellent bonus and options.

Cons

the external perception of the industry

Advice to Senior Management

keep up being cutting edge and industry leading. Need to streamline processes and information better and eliminate more needless reporting and last minute requests.

Pros

Wyeth greatly respects their employees and values their personal life. Wyeth offers compentive salaries and benefits. Vacation time and other work/life balance services are plentiful.

Cons

There are office politics in certain organizations, and hard work is not always rewarded properly. Additionally the performance appraisal process is lackluster, and there are obvious "favorites" within the company who unfairly get fast-tracked to success.

Advice to Senior Management

I would encourage more open communications with the common people. Vision and direction of Senior Management is not always communicated down the chain. However, the new CEO seems to show improvement in communication from his predecessor.

Pros

A large company with the resources to get what is necessary done. Some truly excellent people working here.

Cons

Lack of respect for employees. Unwillingness to allow for personal initiative. Too much of a holdback to the older ways of doing business. Far too much incompetence at more senior (but not executive) levels within the organization. An R&D strategy that simply did not work over the past 7 years, and a failure to recognize and act on it before it was too late. An overly optimistic perspective of the pipeline

Advice to Senior Management

Walk the talk. Recognize and encourage innovation amongst mid-levlel employee base.

Pros

Good pipeline, potential for groundbreaking drugs for serious diseases, hardworking and focused scientists, global operations and presenece, with potential for serious growth in emerging markets. Also a nice campus.

Cons

Very little focus on employee satisfaction, Lack of team spirit, too much control from each functional area does not allow good and frank team interactions. The overall governing structure and environment also does not encourage free discussion and dialogue.

Almost constant campaigns to improve processes and efficiency waste employee's time and energy, only to be scrapped when another "campaign" starts.

Too many senior managers have been there too long and are out of touch with new trends in the industry. Constant focus on draconian cost cutting creates a depressing environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Empower good teams, fire bad abusive manangers, focus on employee training and offering them professional growth. Let employees focus on doing what they do well, instead of wasting their time with task forces that lead nowhere. Show appreciation of employees hard work and efforts with an occasional appreciation event.

Pros

If you are successful, Wyeth treats you like an adult, and assumes you know what you are doing. If you are unsuccessful, Wyeth treats you like a young adult, and tries to guide you into proper behavior to make you successful.

Cons

It is incredibly difficult for Wyeth to cut loose dead wood. It appears that you have to break one of the written rules, selling samples, cheating on expenses, falsifying calls to get cut loose. It is frustrating to see less egregious behavior being tolerated.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep us informed about what your long term plans and goals are.

Pros

For the most part, great people to work with. I find most Wyeth employees to be honest, hard working people. There are quite a number of intelligent employees, and quite a few with winning personalities. Sometimes, the two meet. The benefits are quite good, overall. The salaries are high compared to to other industries, but this includes Pharma as a whole. I have found my managers to be interested in my development and career goals, alas, the opportunities in a down-sizing industry limit the opportunity for upward movement. I think Wyeth is interested in improving itself, and is taking strides to do so.

Cons

Uncertainty, lack of upward opportunity. The lack of communication in the last two down-sizings left many people in a prolonged state of anxiety for months. It is difficult to look ahead when you are constantly looking over your shoulder wondering if the axe will fall on your neck. Or looking for your next job while trying to perform the one you have because , again, you don't know if you will have a job. Knowing that the same consultants who were paid miliions in the 90's advocating expanded sales forces are now making millions recommending that the same sales forces be down sized.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more transparent with the when and why of changes. Get it over with. Like a band aid, it hurts less when it is just ripped off with one quick action, rather than dragging it out for years.

Pros

Talented colleagues. Good work-life balance.

Cons

The industry is facing countless challenges. Some of Wyeth's restructuring is short sighted. Priorities of new head of R&D are unclear at this time.

Advice to Senior Management

The "leadership" values being promoted by Senior Management are laudable. Ultimately, structural obstacles will need to be addressed to improve individual productivity.

Pros

Good people to work with. Decent pay and benefit package, but far from the best in the industry. Not located in Northern NJ like so much of the industry.

Cons

Morale low, communications during cut-backs poor, espouse respect for employees, but not shown on a regular basis, male dominated work environment with a definite glass ceiling for women if you are not in HR. Monthly contributions for health insurance have really been jumping with a decrease in benefit levels as well, sugar-coated to try to sound like improvements

Advice to Senior Management

Provide higher level of upper management support for flexible scheduling, flexible benefits, and diversity -- while the diversity programs are there on paper, the results are not there.

Pros

Salaries are very competitive. Pharma industry pays very well. Many salaries are based on North Jersey payscale. If you live in PA the cost of living is much less.

Cons

Forced distribution performance review systems incentivizes directors to keep the best ratings for themselves, and only a "token" few below director level receive the highest ratings. Career development is discussed, but rarely a priority for Senior Management.

Advice to Senior Management

Sr. Management takes responsibility for the success of the company in the form of higher compensation, but the employeesare punished for the failures in the form of layoffs. This is the best way to lose the best human capital and reduce productivity across the board. Very short term thinking.