Alcon reviews

3.7

68% would recommend to a friend

(2,521 total reviews)
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David J Endicott

77% approve of CEO

64% positive business outlook

Alcon has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 2,521 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Alcon employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Farmacéutica y biotecnología industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
1.0
Dec 13, 2018

Be careful before joining company if you want growth and learning

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Quiet an easy work demand borderline laid back attitude - Salary payments are made on time and allowances are as per industry standards

Cons

- Business is driven by a global brand image however work culture is far from it. Very low on professionalism - Unstructured approach and inter-department communication opacity is rampant - Immproper hiring policies. The Company has no strategic direction and critical activities such as talent recruitment and planning are left to under qualified people - HR team is huge in number but unfortunately a lot of them are on contractual basis who have pathetic work attitude and ethics

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Alcon Response
7y
Thank you for your feedback, only with your insight can we improve.
5.0
Jul 16, 2017

Corporate America's finest

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent vision benefits. FREE contact lenses for full time employees and $100 credit for frames if you need glasses. Excellent medical benefits with $25 copay. Free options if you need counselling for therapy. Great place to start a career. Lots of departments to choose from in order to figure out where you want to go with your career. On campus cafeteria. ice cream truck comes in the summer time. Always having on campus activities to keep comraderie. Free employee only Six Flags day in the summer.

Cons

Headquarters is not located near anything related to Dallas. If you're a contractor, you're treated like a red headed step child with some access type things and not being able to participate in all things like full time employees.

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Alcon Response
8y
Thank you for your review and feedback.
2.0
Jun 17, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The total compensation package is still pretty good if you are a legacy Alcon employee (prior to being acquired by Novartis). New employees do not get the same benefit levels but it seems middle of the road competitive.

Cons

In the aftermath of the acquisition by Novartis, there has been layoff after layoff of the most experienced employees. Of course this is done in order to cut costs to boost quarterly earnings so that stock prices remain as high as possible. While that strategy is aimed at keeping investors happy and executive bonuses high, it ultimately costs the company valuable knowledge and expertise that they simply cannot replace with the low cost employees that are hired after each of these layoffs. Needless to say, the moral of the remaining employees is poor due to the atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, and having to do much more work with both fewer people and less experience. The Pharma division has already been absorbed by Novartis (the parts they wanted to keep anyway). It looks like Alcon will be divided and sold off piecemeal. I would guess that the device side of the company is being positioned for sale to another company and the OTC products such as lens care are on the block too. If that happens, there is not much need for the Fort Worth campus anymore.

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Alcon Response
9y
We appreciate your feedback and are sorry to hear of your negative experience. As Alcon has been around for over 70 years and we have recently gone through some changes, we strive to be the best, to value our employees and continue to be the leader in eye care. We are optimistic for the future and are grateful for the feedback we've been getting.
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Glassdoor has 3,494 Alcon reviews submitted anonymously by Alcon employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Alcon is right for you.