Roche FAQ

Okay salary, good benefits, good employee events, excellent pipeline and the right ethos. A lot of people say the right things and possibly even mean them.

People spend a lot of time talking in circles in meetings, get to the end, panic and try to fit in 1 hour of "meaningful" discussion and assigning actions into 5 minutes, and repeat every fortnight. Nobody actually does anything but are always busy! Productivity is much lower than it should be; very little self-motivation and use of initiative (gets overlooked by managers who are concerned with their own career progression more than anything else). The only pharma I know without a guaranteed flexible working policy. You're expected to be in the office in this dull town unless you have a specific reason agreed with your line manager beforehand - no working from home. Lots of bureaucracy hindering change and complex processes required to navigate simple tasks but that is the same in every large company. Very little opportunity for progression; excellent opportunities for personal development but it will mean nothing unless you are one of the chosen few (largely under-qualified folk who "look" the part). You will be constantly overlooked if you want to move up within the company. My advice is to get the Roche name on your CV and leave for greener pastures.

Practice what you preach when pledging diverse backgrounds and expertise for roles. You don't always have to look outside. Get rid of the people who aren't contributing any value. You know who they are and you let them get away with it.

Good work life balance, environment with people and collaboration in focus, agile process oriented, a lot of trust for the employees

A lot of tensions between parties over who's in charge over the process, messy hierarchy and structure for someone on contract, you will have a lot of "chiefs" to report to. Distributed responsibility. Long decision chains. Hazy requirements.

Good salary structure and incentives

long working hours and overtime

Listen to your employees

Colleagues are knowledgeable about the product and helpful Work schedule flexibility

The organization is complex, making change is very difficult and extremely slow The company has not implemented Agile, everything is a large waterfall planning Collaboration is very difficult with other groups because each one works inside its own organizational space, instead of working together Culture is very conservative

Implement changes