Alcon reviews

You will not get promoted inside, unless you are willing to move around the world. Much better to be someone hired from the outside than have a chance of promotion as existing employee. Divided management culture... Lots of old school managers just trying to hang on until retirement. But also many new managers (from outside or moved from other Novartis divisions) who don't understand what made Alcon so successful and so trusted. They are not well positioned to maintain leadership in vision care, so expect more layoffs as Novartis just looks at headcount.

For the bulk of my years at Alcon - morale was actually quite good - low turnover - people were regarded as important and significant and the workforce resource wasn't too lean - then the layoffs started (after the IPO and the pre-purchase period prior to the Novartis re-culture). Company morale, sufficient people resources and knowledgeable leadership took a strong nosedive and it hasn't recovered yet.