Gilead Sciences Employee Reviews about "work life balance"
75% would recommend to a friend
(232 total reviews)
Daniel O’Day
87% approve of CEO
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Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "There is no work life balance and you're physically and mentally exhausted every day." (in 121 reviews)
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Found 232 of over 2K reviews
Updated Nov 25, 2023
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Reviews about "work life balance"
Return to all Reviews- 5.0Feb 24, 2021Manager, Statistical ProgrammingCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsFoster City, CA
Pros
good benefits, work from home
Cons
work-life balance and routine work
- 3.0Mar 6, 2017Senior ManagerCurrent Employee
Pros
the wonderful work they do, the opportunity to wear many hats in a role, competitive salary
Cons
the work life balance is poor and you are expected to work many more hours above your contract. The expectation to always be available is stressful and you never really have a holiday. it is very US centric which can be frustrating in Europe. Lack of leadership in some depts.
- 3.0Jan 16, 2016Associate DirectorCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearFoster City, CA
Pros
Stable company compared to other pharma companies. The cafeterias are pretty good and the stock plan is the best benefit you will receive from Gilead. There is a pro and con regarding work life balance. You gain ton of experience because you are able to work on multiply projects and different roles.
Cons
The biggest issue with Gilead is half of the employees have been with the company for 10 plus years and do not understand it's not the same small HIV biotech anymore. Their are not very strategic and majority of the time resistant to new ideas or changes. Science runs the entire company which is great however its still on publicly traded company and they need to ramp up their commercial capabilities to play with the experienced big pharma powerhouses. Its a very competitive environment, turf wars, and stakeholders that are extremely immature to the point they will sabotage your career for the sake of keeping the status quo. And they are not kidding when they say its lean. There is no work life balance at all this is that old way of thinking mandated by the CEO
23 - 2.0Jun 5, 2019Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee
Pros
Excellent benefits, great 401k matching and medical options, lots of work to do and great learning experiences, "flex" days where you can work from home.
Cons
Running too 'lean' leads to poor work life balance for the 'worker bees'. There are protections in place for poor performers that bring down the rest of the team and results in appearance of favoritism. There is room for growth but only if you are willing to conform to the culture of your group and appears to be based on the same favoritism mentioned above. Some parts of the organization don't let you use the 'flex' days that they promote as a benefit even within that part of the organization. Disassociation from the top down creates inconsistent messaging between the different levels of management. Employee retention rates are not great.
4 - 4.0Dec 19, 2017Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 1 year
Pros
-Good managers and no micromanaging management style is appreciated. -Coworkers are always willing to help -Cross training options are available
Cons
Corporate environment where work/life balance can get compromised when work gets busy (audits can last longer than a full day of work)
- 3.0Oct 28, 2021Validation EngineerFormer Contractor, more than 3 yearsLa Verne, CA
Pros
organized work culture, good place for learning
Cons
very bad work and life balance
- 3.0Feb 10, 2017IT Senior ManagerCurrent Employee, more than 5 yearsLondon, England
Pros
The fundamental purpose of the company is unquestionably good
Cons
Poor work / life balance is prevalent
- 2.0Jan 20, 2016Anonymous EmployeeCurrent EmployeeFoster City, CA
Pros
You get to work on multiple projects and you learn a lot about clinical operations. The people are wonderful and are very helpful. The products make a huge impact on patients' lives so you feel good about what you do at the end of the day knowing you are making a difference.
Cons
It is very fast-paced. The pay is not very competitive and you are juggling 10 things at once. There is no work life balance and you're physically and mentally exhausted every day. You have to love what you do otherwise this is not a company for you because you will not be able to live in the bay area with this salary.
6 - 1.0Aug 4, 2022Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee, more than 5 years
Pros
Fantastic benefits were rolled out over time.
Cons
Hiring based on race/ethnicity to hit CEO’s diversity initiatives rather than if the candidate can do the job. Work life balance issues as new people could not/refused to take on job responsibilities of predecessors so it fell on those that were capable.
2 - 3.0Jun 30, 2012Associate ManagerCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsFoster City, CA
Pros
Gilead is a company that really makes a difference with their products. They also have many great benefits though not anything extremely special. Gilead has some of the most talented individuals I have ever worked with. The work life balance is quite good and they have multiple events every year that include family.
Cons
While Gilead has some great resources, IT doesn't know how to keep them. To get promoted you have to leave and come back a year or two later. The IT department also has new leadership that has no problem splitting hairs by saying what you want to hear but hiding the negatives they know they are going to do. The company line is "we run lean" but in IT it is more like anorexic and because they drive away their top talent it makes it worse since there tends to be a large portion of the resources that are still ramping up.
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