PPD Reviews
78% would recommend to a friend
(3835 total reviews)
Marc Casper
80% approve of CEO
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Found 3,835 of over 4K reviews
Updated Dec 6, 2023
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "The pay is low compared to industry standards and also based on the amount of work given." (in 221 reviews)
- "Over a decade of poor management has led to a bureaucratic and operational nightmare in my department." (in 159 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of PPD and is not affected by filters.
- 5.0Sep 26, 2023Associate ScientistCurrent EmployeeMiddleton, WI
Pros
A lot of flexibility in your work schedule, Great people,
Cons
Low pay for the amount of work.
3 - 5.0Nov 30, 2023Clinical Team ManagerFormer EmployeeAtlanta, GA
Pros
At PPD, the opportunities for professional development are abundant, with a supportive atmosphere for learning and growth. The company offers exposure to a wide array of therapeutic areas, which enriches the experience. Moreover, working with dedicated and knowledgeable colleagues in a team-focused environment fosters a culture of collaboration. The global reach of PPD provides an excellent platform for understanding international clinical research landscapes and protocols.
Cons
While PPD offers many opportunities, the workload can be intense, often requiring long hours that may impact work-life balance.
- 4.0Dec 6, 2023Associate Group LeaderFormer Employee, more than 1 yearRichmond, VA
Pros
As most places of employment the people here are really great. The 6% match is a nice bonus for 401k.
Cons
Used to have flexibility during pandemic but this has gone away. Lack of support for the management team to be able to carry out every day activities. Absolutely no work life balance. Pay is a little underwhelming as well.
- 2.0Sep 18, 2023Senior ScientistCurrent Employee
Pros
The best part of this job is very balanced work-life. You get 1-2 days/week work from home days in average which is unthinkable in wet lab jobs. You get decent pay compared to the living expenses in the Madison/Middleton area. You get a lot of vacations (22 business days, 3 floating Holidays in addition to company holidays and volunteer time off). Management is very professional and friendly. Another big advantage is their extensive training program whoch is one of the best I think. No company will train you so much while paying you. Although this sometimes becomes boring and overwhelming. Also work hours are very flexible if you are in a good team. PPD was already a big company on its own, now being merged with a giant like Thermofisher Scientific allows that big company job security, stability and immigration benefits if you are an immigrant.
Cons
The biggest con is the extremely regulated environment and very limited say on what you will do. The whole company is about GMP testing. So you basically don't do any research. You just follow a set of methods blindly. This is bad for early career scientist who want to transition to big pharma R&D. Also scope of promotion is very limited. Pay is pretty much stagnant. No company shares offered. Bonus is ~5% which is very low.
2 - 4.0Dec 6, 2023Senior Country Approval SpecialistCurrent Employee, more than 5 yearsWilmington, NC
Pros
-Exposure to many activation activities. -Direct managers provide support and interested in your career.
Cons
-Work/ life balance is not great. -Holidays are not in line with industry standards (first company holiday of year is Memorial Day).
- 1.0Oct 5, 2023DirectorCurrent Employee, more than 8 yearsRaleigh, NC
Pros
You can work remote in some roles.
Cons
Thermo Fisher has brought this company back to the 80’s. $840 a MONTH for family health coverage JUST medical. Layoffs everywhere of staff with years of institutional knowledge in a toxic culture that just cares about the bottom line. This is not PPD from ten years ago. This is a money making machine with zero regard for you or your work life balance. The senior leaders are all jumping ship for a reason. Every process here is like a hundred steps and everyone needs to approve it’s very inefficient. No data is shared with leaders including pay I cannot see any of that information anymore. Pay for performance is the mantra so you have to take away from a successful employee to give more money to a highly successful employee. It’s just awful people are miserable and feel like cogs in a machine. It’s a shame it’s not the PPD I once knew and with sales not being met I’m guessing it will continue to get worse. Lack of resources when you reach out to HR it’s all a ticketing system with either no response or a response that doesn’t match your question. I could go on and on just do yourself a favor and look elsewhere sadly this isn’t a great place to work anymore.
18 - 5.0Nov 1, 2023Sr Learning SpecialistCurrent Employee
Pros
One of the best company cultures I have ever come across.
Cons
Slow career growth. People love the company so much that they stay for many years so there's limited options for growth within the same team. There are plenty of options within the company, but you usually have to switch to a different team.
- 5.0Nov 22, 2023Sr DirectorCurrent Employee
Pros
Old PPD had a fantastic culture of emphasis on onboarding, training, communication, collaboration.
Cons
Thermo Fisher Scientific acquisition changed the above.
- 3.0Sep 26, 2023Lab Admin AsistantCurrent Employee, less than 1 yearAustin, TX
Pros
- Easy work - Team members are nice - Rotating weekends - Differential pay for hours after 5pm and on weekends - Great for grads that just want to get experience and leave to another job
Cons
Night shift (2-10pm) is very boring, everything gets done on the morning shift so you're basically just stilling there all night. The pay is good but not enough to if you have to support other people or want to add to your savings account; it also not enough for me to be sitting there all night wasting my time and nothing to do. Management is nice but not the best, then need more training because if feels like you could walk over them.
- 5.0Nov 21, 2023Planning ManagerCurrent EmployeeSanta Ana, CA
Pros
Growth opportunity, friendly place to work
Cons
Not enough vacation given or days off
PPD Reviews FAQs
PPD has an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on over 4,394 reviews left anonymously by employees. 78% of employees would recommend working at PPD to a friend and 67% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -2% over the last 12 months.
78% of PPD employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated PPD 3.8 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.0 for culture and values and 3.7 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at PPD to be management, career development, benefits and the cons to be workplace .
