How to be successful at Roche and Genentech

[anonymous]

1) Make sure you understand that the Swiss culture is about passive aggression

2) Frequently visit HR, about 6-12 times a year and share your concerns about other colleagues, if there are no concerns make them up so you have something to blame. Note that the majority of your colleagues are doing this, so not doing it will make you look like the guilty party

3) Constantly confirm discussions and decisions in emails - remember, treat your job as if you are a lawyer and make powerpoint presentations of "he said, she said and this is how it made me feel"

4) Have private meetings with female co-workers in public spaces and make notes and send it to them. Roche is a highly overly sensitive emotional company - as a male you need to behave like a eunuch - castrate yourself and hang your balls on display to show you are not a threat to the female staff

5) When encouraged to speak up, DON'T, its Roche's way of deceitfully identifying those that don't fit in their fascist corporate culture to red flag you and then fire you 6 months later

6) When encouraged to be "Agile", don't, this is just another fad which will die out, instead nod in agreement with the endless and useless meetings and high five each other in the corridors, but make sure the females lead the way

7) Be prepared to see other people without the right skill sets to be promoted to balance gender, sexual, religious equality

8) Be prepared to have people you think are you allies to go behind your back and back-stab you and complain to your boss. Rule of thumb, don't be fooled by how they behave in 1:! meetings, but how they respond to you in public meetings

9) Take part in meaningless charity events and donate your $5 dollar donations. This makes Roche people feel like good people

 

[anonymous]

This is absolutely spot on!!! Add "be a public cheerleader when your boss says something".

 

[anonymous]

Ok Boomer

 

[anonymous]

Do you remember those emotionally challenged, bullied, immature idiots back at school? Now imagine them all grown up, working in pharma and with leadership positions. - especially the "nice guy who had many, many female friends but no real success with girlfriends"......

The Genentech campus has this atmosphere of backpack wearing, Starbucks coffee in my hand while I’m walking, hey my life’s in my laptop and its soooooo cool to do work on the Genentech bus……

Those with the courage to speak directly, with respect and with a truly innovative mindset, stay away from here. Any innovation apart from discovery of molecules is brought in by upper management from the outside, as the politics and the dirty games prevents anything real being discovered and developed from inside.

 

[anonymous]

Ok Boomer

Who's a boomer, I was born in 1979.......

 

[anonymous]

1) Make sure you understand that the Swiss culture is about passive aggression

2) Frequently visit HR, about 6-12 times a year and share your concerns about other colleagues, if there are no concerns make them up so you have something to blame. Note that the majority of your colleagues are doing this, so not doing it will make you look like the guilty party

3) Constantly confirm discussions and decisions in emails - remember, treat your job as if you are a lawyer and make powerpoint presentations of "he said, she said and this is how it made me feel"

4) Have private meetings with female co-workers in public spaces and make notes and send it to them. Roche is a highly overly sensitive emotional company - as a male you need to behave like a eunuch - castrate yourself and hang your balls on display to show you are not a threat to the female staff

5) When encouraged to speak up, DON'T, its Roche's way of deceitfully identifying those that don't fit in their fascist corporate culture to red flag you and then fire you 6 months later

6) When encouraged to be "Agile", don't, this is just another fad which will die out, instead nod in agreement with the endless and useless meetings and high five each other in the corridors, but make sure the females lead the way

7) Be prepared to see other people without the right skill sets to be promoted to balance gender, sexual, religious equality

8) Be prepared to have people you think are you allies to go behind your back and back-stab you and complain to your boss. Rule of thumb, don't be fooled by how they behave in 1:! meetings, but how they respond to you in public meetings

9) Take part in meaningless charity events and donate your $5 dollar donations. This makes Roche people feel like good people

Also spot on for Novartis. It is interesting how similar Swiss big pharma works.

 

[anonymous]

I wonder if Levi Garraway knows what he got himself into after he took over Sandra Horning’s organisation.

As he keeps referring to his obsession of college football, maybe he can tell some interesting stories of any interest in college football cheerleaders – I bet Gisela Paulson, Jen Foley would love that story. Even better, Michael Rosenblatt should love that story – he’s a great one who sneaks around the coffee breaks evesdropping on people’s conversations and then gives career wrecking feedback to their bosses.

If you’re a guy in clinical operations – you’re doomed.

 

[anonymous]

I wonder if Levi Garraway knows what he got himself into after he took over Sandra Horning’s organisation.

As he keeps referring to his obsession of college football, maybe he can tell some interesting stories of any interest in college football cheerleaders – I bet Gisela Paulson, Jen Foley would love that story. Even better, Michael Rosenblatt should love that story – he’s a great one who sneaks around the coffee breaks evesdropping on people’s conversations and then gives career wrecking feedback to their bosses.

If you’re a guy in clinical operations – you’re doomed.

F*** you Michael - you sell out.

 

[anonymous]

Don't work hard. If you are in PD, become gay or trans. Repeat the word "agile" over and over.

1) Make sure you understand that the Swiss culture is about passive aggression

2) Frequently visit HR, about 6-12 times a year and share your concerns about other colleagues, if there are no concerns make them up so you have something to blame. Note that the majority of your colleagues are doing this, so not doing it will make you look like the guilty party

3) Constantly confirm discussions and decisions in emails - remember, treat your job as if you are a lawyer and make powerpoint presentations of "he said, she said and this is how it made me feel"

4) Have private meetings with female co-workers in public spaces and make notes and send it to them. Roche is a highly overly sensitive emotional company - as a male you need to behave like a eunuch - castrate yourself and hang your balls on display to show you are not a threat to the female staff

5) When encouraged to speak up, DON'T, its Roche's way of deceitfully identifying those that don't fit in their fascist corporate culture to red flag you and then fire you 6 months later

6) When encouraged to be "Agile", don't, this is just another fad which will die out, instead nod in agreement with the endless and useless meetings and high five each other in the corridors, but make sure the females lead the way

7) Be prepared to see other people without the right skill sets to be promoted to balance gender, sexual, religious equality

8) Be prepared to have people you think are you allies to go behind your back and back-stab you and complain to your boss. Rule of thumb, don't be fooled by how they behave in 1:! meetings, but how they respond to you in public meetings

9) Take part in meaningless charity events and donate your $5 dollar donations. This makes Roche people feel like good people

 

[anonymous]

All very true. If you are prepared to do the baseline work and still get a great bonus (thanks to Pharma), this is the place to be. Walking dead is how I would describe half the folks there.

Having come from another Bay Area giant, all I ever heard at Roche is how hard the work is. People, you have no idea! I was bored, not challenged as all decisions are made elsewhere; usually Basel or in Indy.

While being a caring company is important, this is a problem because of the hesitation in exiting the underperformers in a timely manner. And the "speak up" value comes back to bit you constantly. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[anonymous]

Here are the cultures and what each pharma company is known for


Merck & Co., Inc., d.b.a. Merck Sharp & Dohme – Conservative, tweed-jacket wearing, male dominated management, legacy of the German process and hierarchical culture remains after the Americans hijacked the Germany company after the Nazis declared war on the US


Novartis – American-cultured Swiss company, psychopathic, two-faced back-stabbing, well-paid assholes


Sanofi – Old school French network, mediocrity rules, union rules, “let’s follow the crowd”, bitching all day and how everything is catastrophic, lack of travel budget for the non-French, Paris rules


Genentech – coffee drinking, backpack wearing, gender neutral, castrated males, female hysteria culture running the show. People run to HR more than the cups of the free Starbucks coffee they drink in the day.


Roche – passive aggressive, rule abiding, humourless, Swiss-German fascists


Pfizer – aggressive, suit wearing, cowboy, New-Yorker, machivellian marketeers


GSK – Colonial British mindset, underpaid Indian slaves executing tasks “Yes, Mr/Mrs Britisher, I will do it!”, mediocre culture, hundreds of 30 years old with a “Director” title which would be equivalent to Manager levels in other companies, surviving with the legacy of GSK’s historic monopoly in certain markets


Bayer – All the stereotypes are true: German fascists, male-dominated executive team process, detail, scapegoating, investigating “who’s fault it was”, viewing patients as entities of money, balancing the gender male-female in-balance in middle management by screwing over some males and overpaying underperforming females


Eisai – The most psychotic Japanese company, Japan has complete disconnect understanding the cultic and dysfunctional behaviours of the senior leaders in the USA and Europe


Alexion – Best paid professionals in the industry, but they sweat blood for it as the company is highly aggressive.


Eli Lilly – Another cultic, aggressive US company. Once you’re in Indianapolis you’re stuck forever.


Novo Nordisk – Danish culture but perhaps one of the best overall cultures in the pharma industry. Culture is always to ask “why” even to your boss.


Merck KGaA – A cross between the Bayer and the other Merck company culture with the legacy of the Serono-Italian legacy of nepotism.

 

[anonymous]

You make Roche sound better than Novartis in your post.
I used to work for Roche and think the culture is more like the Novartis culture that you describe.

 

[anonymous]

You make Roche sound better than Novartis in your post.
I used to work for Roche and think the culture is more like the Novartis culture that you describe.

Do you think "Swiss-German Fascists" sounds better than the Novartis culture? I have worked for both too as a 12 month consultant, Novartis can be more in your face whereas Roche is much more passive-aggressive - God forbid if there is a dispute between a male and a female, the female hysteria always wins in Roche.

 

[anonymous]

Do you think "Swiss-German Fascists" sounds better than the Novartis culture? I have worked for both too as a 12 month consultant, Novartis can be more in your face whereas Roche is much more passive-aggressive - God forbid if there is a dispute between a male and a female, the female hysteria always wins in Roche.

"God forbid if there is a dispute between a male and a female, the female hysteria always wins in Roche" - Ah no! I am a principal scientist with a relatively strong track record before I went to work for Roche. Please hear out about my experience.

There used to be this chump who is apparently retired now called Walter Koch. He once called himself the VP of global research. In reality, he is a complete dense-skulled, pea-brained white trash male who floated his little kingdom of old boys. The only criteria one needed to belong in his club was to be an old, incompetent male who threw their weight around (white preferably). He hired a r***** called Eugene Spier as the 'Director' of Bioinformatics. Both were great pals. That retarded Russian from Latvia called Eugene Spier was SO bad professionally that he would fabricate results on the research we did. Confront him, and he'd lie through his teeth. Spier mistreated women (even his peer director in another group) and thought that they weren't as smart as him. Lol! Several women complained about Eugene Spier to HR. Guess what happened - they were either asked to resign, or they left voluntarily because Walter Koch took care of his big boys' club members. Eugene Spier is still there and no woman works for him any longer.

Walter Koch openly gave preferential treatment to another white male who pretty much collects a free paycheck to his day. Too many people complained against these cowboys, but no one could touch them. And this is the real Roche for you.

 

[anonymous]

"God forbid if there is a dispute between a male and a female, the female hysteria always wins in Roche" - Ah no! I am a principal scientist with a relatively strong track record before I went to work for Roche. Please hear out about my experience.

There used to be this chump who is apparently retired now called Walter Koch. He once called himself the VP of global research. In reality, he is a complete dense-skulled, pea-brained white trash male who floated his little kingdom of old boys. The only criteria one needed to belong in his club was to be an old, incompetent male who threw their weight around (white preferably). He hired a r***** called Eugene Spier as the 'Director' of Bioinformatics. Both were great pals. That retarded Russian from Latvia called Eugene Spier was SO bad professionally that he would fabricate results on the research we did. Confront him, and he'd lie through his teeth. Spier mistreated women (even his peer director in another group) and thought that they weren't as smart as him. Lol! Several women complained about Eugene Spier to HR. Guess what happened - they were either asked to resign, or they left voluntarily because Walter Koch took care of his big boys' club members. Eugene Spier is still there and no woman works for him any longer.

Walter Koch openly gave preferential treatment to another white male who pretty much collects a free paycheck to his day. Too many people complained against these cowboys, but no one could touch them. And this is the real Roche for you.

Those types of incidents may have led to the pendulum swinging the other way, especially at Genentech in SF.

 

[anonymous]

Don't work hard. If you are in PD, become gay or trans. Repeat the word "agile" over and over.

How true… reached the middle-aged white male ceiling at that company. I am all for the best job for the best talent but when you are side-lined because you are not one color of the rainbow it makes you think “oh, ok, tables have turned- that’s how that feels, ok then, I guess I have to take one on the chin for team “privilege””. But you can change the optics as you like and unfortunately only optics it is. Roche/Genentech is really bad in allowing a wider variety of characters and opinions into their company. The stereotypical corporate manager and leader is the sophisticated version of the worker bee. The stereotypical managers and leaders have to run exactly to specification because otherwise the cooky-cutter processes would not work and their boss could be challenged and colleagues might get upset and that can’t be because every day is a Kellogg’s day and speak-up culture continues to be the best tool to identify those who speak up to root them out.
I decided to leave and by doing so found the growth that I was hoping for. All is good, I liked working at Roche and am grateful for all I got from the company. I just sometimes wished there could be more focus on what matters and what most people actually join pharma for- bringing damn good drugs to patients…

 

[anonymous]

Good for you. I am still stuck in PD and just drawing a paycheck with occasional bursts of productivity. Transformation has killed any belonging to this company. I feel disconnected from my coworkers, like a little island forgotten by the agile mapmakers. Problem is, if I don't do my job, science and data generation for future drugs is not happening or as smooth/fast as it should. But why would I, I am being slacked, coached and given more and more workflows that I don't have any background in or asked for and all the while the leadership team is "focused" on simplifying our work...yeah right. I have more work than I had pre-pandemic because half of my team quit or transitioned out of PD.
I have reached the ceiling, bitched about it for the past 4 years to ever-changing managers, now I don't even have that ability to vent, they don't care about employee feedback and my admin manager couldn't care less. Showing impact...nice and vague and in the eye of the beholder. I don't care for visibility anymore, will not volunteer for Working Groups that come up with "solutions" inside their Echo chamber and then quickly cancel or pull back the tools, since they don't work in the real world. What a big joke this organization has become.
I am the sole breadwinner so paycheck taking it is and I have to stuff my pride way down. I can get a fancy title and higher salary at a bunch of different small Biopharma places ..but stability is what I need and for now, even though benefits get worse every year, Roche/GENENTECH still delivers in that front. I am not concerned with being laid off because they have quietly fired/bullied half of my group out the door in the last 3 years. Perhaps the 3 day in the office push is the last attempt to cull the numbers a bit more.
I hope we buy some competitor soon otherwise this will continue to be a stagnant place to work for in the coming years...or I'll eventually take the easy way out and just find another place, preferably with better labor laws and a union. Maybe something in Germany, at a smaller Biotech...Pharma is a dirty business and I feel jaded and gross contributing to their Snake oil Pharma goals that just means to squeeze sick patients. Good money but moral dilemma...what a shit show.

 

[anonymous]

You make Roche sound better than Novartis in your post.
I used to work for Roche and think the culture is more like the Novartis culture that you describe.

Get a phucking clue, YES it is better than Novartis!

Roche has generations of people working for the company.

Across the river, Novartis eats their young and craps out the bones… Liars, scumbags, and the 'snake oil selling’ Indian CEO is the leader of the lame sycophants.

 

[anonymous]

Get a phucking clue, YES it is better than Novartis!

Roche has generations of people working for the company.

Across the river, Novartis eats their young and craps out the bones… Liars, scumbags, and the 'snake oil selling’ Indian CEO is the leader of the lame sycophants.

"Roche has generations of people working for the company." - yes, losers who can't get hired anywhere.
Roche (outside Genentech) is LOADED with really incompetent, grossly over-promoted, embarrassingly incompetent people. They are SO incompetent, that they cannot get hired anywhere else. That is why they stay.

 

[anonymous]

Roche and especially Genentech are examples of the woke, left-wing, male hating culture which is going rampant.