AstraZeneca reviews

4.0

79% would recommend to a friend

(7,921 total reviews)
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Pascal Soriot

89% approve of CEO

79% positive business outlook

AstraZeneca has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 7,921 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The AstraZeneca employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmazeutika & Biotechnologie industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

8K reviews
1.0
Feb 19, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A big company, robust pipeline, good learning tools & technology, good benefits.

Cons

Environment is polluted by some immature micromanagers very fixated on their opinions. You get a feeling as if you are working for your manager and not for the organization. HR seems to be missing from the scene, no significant efforts for engaging with employees or toward mental well-being of the employees. The entire focus seems to be on annual project targets; sadly, passion & purpose of doing science to help people seem to be missing among managers.

3.0
Mar 28, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Competitive salary, bonuses can be phenomenal, generous stock grants, great healthcare plans

Cons

Performance Management system, retirement savings plan for those hired after 12/31/2017 (massive cuts to benefits for those hired afterward). Forced ranking performance management system requires 10%-15% of the workforce to be told they are not performing in their jobs each year. This typically results in no stock award and bonus cut in half. Very political system. Forced ranking does not work in a lean organization that does not want attrition. Stifles collaboration as employees need to compete with each other for bonus and stock money instead of focusing on the mission. Discourages teamwork.

2.0
Mar 5, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible working is very good in my experience Plenty of opportunities to try new career paths Good for building an entry level career, lots of exposure to novel technology

Cons

Too many to mention but here's a short list (in no particular order): Senior leaders have managed to create a fear culture that permeates most of the company. You can see this most in governance interactions, which are more like a Victorian schoolroom rather than an environment where all viewpoints are valued. The AZ values are quite a decent framework of behaviour that all employees should follow. Unfortunately these values seem to be for underlings only, don't expect them to be displayed by senior leaders in the majority of cases. Workload in many functions is quite frankly ridiculous. If you don't work on evenings and weekends you apparently aren't performing your role effectively. I've worked for many companies over two decades and I have to say that the frequency of individuals with massive egos is by far the most I've seen. This makes doing your day job all that more difficult. To be fair there are some great people too (all suffering). ZERO pension contributions from the company (you have to contribute it all yourself). Bonus is calculated on a lower 'base salary' value and not on what you would consider your normal salary. Performance review process is onerous and it can and will be used to unfairly beat you with by certain managers (usually those with the massive egos). Turnover of staff is unmanageable, the 'revolving door' just won't stop. This adds to workload, reduces project knowledge and makes resourcing almost impossible. The lack of process is astonishing. Good if you are a free thinking spirit who likes to make it up as you go along but bad if you need to learn the job and work in a highly regulated environment.

Viewing 52 - 54 of 7,921 Reviews

Glassdoor has 10,190 AstraZeneca reviews submitted anonymously by AstraZeneca employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if AstraZeneca is right for you.