"Our company is being acquired" - a sentence that can strike fear in the hearts of employees, and rightfully so. I have worked for several companies that were acquired and I have seen some of the best and worst that can happen.
In both instances, some people were let go. It is almost an axiom that there will be some layoffs after an acquisition. Hopefully the acquiring company will be open early on about who is vulnerable, but likely they won't be. Hopefully those that are let go will receive a reasonable severance. There is no guarantee that they will. If your company is being acquired you likely want to have some kind of plan B and as much financial cushion as possible.
In this thread http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/threads/how-long-before-novartis-gets-r... users discuss Novartis's Alcon acquisition. They are not complimentary of how it has been managed. One post reads,
Alcon no longer exists... Only Novartis Ophthalmology/Optometric Division remains and Novartis deserves what they have. They should put more money into the Google Smart Lens, they need it badly to fix their management myopia. Maybe this is why they bought Alcon in the first place, hoping it can cure them of their myopia. I wouldn't hold my breath... it's not going to happen!
Novartis is apparently not ruling out selling the division http://www.reuters.com/article/us-novartis-m-a-alcon-idUSKCN11L1QX
In one situation when a company I worked for was acquired, we received generous raises, more marketable drugs to promote and better vacation allotments. If you weren't one of those who were let go, then things worked out pretty well for most employees. Though a lot of our employees complained all the same (most people don't like change after all), it was really a big improvement in the employment environment.
In another situation, we actually lost vacation time, we were subjected to much more onerous reporting, goals became unrealistic, etc. This was a big downgrade in employment. Unfortunately, it seems that we frequently hear mostly complaints about how acquisitions are handled.
In an upcoming article, we will interview a device rep for a company who was acquired. We will hear the rep's opinion of how things were handled and their effect on employees.