Toxic managers, low pay compared to industry - Anonymous employee AbbVie Employee Review

1.0
14 Sept 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great for medical science liaisons who are starting off in their careers, but only because this is all they would know and because new MSLs are only what the company can hire.

Cons

Reiterating what other people have mentioned in previous comments, because they are spot on: (1) Poor leadership is tolerated, which creates a toxic environment for that group. These leaders continue to be advanced and their high rates of turnover are ignored. AbbVie is bleeding talent because of poor leadership. Employee Relations is useless and only protects the leader. The company talks a big talk about not being a “lone wolf,” yet these are the only people who are promoted. (2) Promotion is highly political and based on who you know rather than who does the best job or has the best skills. (3) Decisions for some scientific functions are completely unethical/non-compliant yet everyone looks the other way. People who do speak up are reprimanded or it's held against them and those who are non-compliant and who inflate their metrics are promoted. (4) Lowball in pay, which is why they can only recruit new MSLs and shift existing MSLs to different departments. Lateral hires are turning down positions due to lowball pay.

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AbbVie Response
6y
Thank you for taking the time to voice your concerns. We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all and employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications. At AbbVie, conducting business ethically and in compliance with the law is one of our highest priorities. We would like to hear more about your concerns, anonymously if you prefer. Please feel free to reach out to us at oec@abbvie.com or HRCentral.UnitedStates@abbvie.com.

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Cons

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Pros

Big Pharma Name Recognition: Having Allergan/AbbVie on your resume provides industry visibility.

Cons

Extreme Governance & Bureaucracy: Allergan is paralyzed by red tape. There are far too many governance layers just to get basic regulatory strategies vetted out. Flawed Compliance Infrastructure: Product approvals are heavily dependent on documentation. However, current records are completely inadequate. Management fundamentally fails to understand how these systems are interlinked. Unqualified & Absentee Leadership: The leader with department oversight completely lacks the expected knowledge and experience for this level, making her a massive liability. She is rarely in the office but knows exactly how to work the system. She aggressively pushes for unnecessary, in-person regulatory meetings solely to accumulate personal travel points rather than to mitigate actual business risks. Disastrous Transition Management: The leadership transition wreaked total havoc across the department. Negligent HR Department: HR shows zero interest in investigating why good talent is leaving the company. Alarming Job Security Signs: It is a massive red flag when a leader encourages employees to apply for roles entirely unrelated to their expertise, or receiving automated AI notifications about job openings outside your department.

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