Novartis reviews

- The culture in the vaccines division is to overload / stretch employees forcing them to work extra hours/ from home/ weekends. If you resist this and try and keep a healthy balance it will show in your performance review as you'll never achieve more than an average rating. Employees who don't deliver get put onto a performance improvement plan and then if your performance doesn't improve to the level expected you're out. I have seen this route misused by managers and some good people have gone just because their bosses didn't like them. - Most events and initiatives are treated like a life threatening emergency because many of people who lead the division are fire fighter types who need the adrenalin rush and this gets cascaded downwards and impacts the stress levels of those of us who don't need panic and adrenalin to make us productive. - Work obsessed people who lack empathy and finesse tend to get the promotions these days as they bully their way to success at the expense of others. Results count more than how you get them at the end of the day and there are some hated people in some of the top jobs. - It comes down to luck if you get a good manager or not and if you have the bullying type you'd better make sure you play the game their way. If you get one of the few empathic and caring managers (and there are a few still about) Novartis can be a supportive and enjoyable place to work but these circumstances are becoming less frequent. - The vaccine division lacks real confidence and there is a culture of too many initiatives being implemented at once intended to help lead the company to world class status but this never seems to be achieved. Some of these initiatives are really good and have had a positive effect on the business however there are always too many of them and they tend to fall on the shoulders of the same people to deliver / take part in leading to the over work / extra hours situation mentioned in the first point.

Unfortunately it is a company of double standards, this is in particular true for upper management. It is a large company and you are simply only a number. The turnover of managers is very high You are working in environment of fear - people are afraid to raise their hands ... There is NO work/life balance.