Syneos Health reviews

The PM II role is not very well defined in the organization. It can function as a true project lead with ALL the responsibility or as support staff doing an overwhelming amount of menial tasks. I did not have adequate training. In-part because I was assigned a project right away and was working before I even had the most basic access to systems, but I also think that I would not have felt like the training would have ever been enough because it is all "education" and not "training" which is just a repository of SOPs and an occasional video with a broken link. This works well for some people who are true self-learners, but I learn from speaking to an actual human being which will never happen in this sort of bureaucratic organization. Just consider what type of learner you are because there are a LOT of processes/systems you need to master and you will be on your own to figure them all out. PTO was extremely hard to take. The recommended notice period for PMs is something silly like 9 months (this can be different based on the project). I took a sick day and it was like the sky was falling. Unlimited PTO just means your support staff will be out a lot and you will do their job while they are gone. WLB balance was really bad for me.

Low morale fueled by poor management and lacklustre HR. Only the CEO and two levels below are allowed to travel in business class, everyone else despite the length of the flight and how often you do it have to travel cattle class. Telephone landline and internet not provided and only $30 reimbursed every month. This does not cover the cost and leaves all staff out of pocket. Issues (for which there are many) are never resolved as most issues stem from ineffective staff that are too entrenched in their jobs due to length of tenure as opposed to actually having the necessary skillset to do the job. Bullying, backstabbing and gossiping is commonplace. Snr management externally spouting how well the company is doing however freeze on headcount, pay cuts or no pay increases or no/low bonuses are a common theme and are due to “lower than expected performance from the company as a whole Quality staff are bullied out the door as their talent shows up managements lack of talent. No work/life balance. You will be required to attend calls at all sorts of strange hours and if you express concerns you are pegged as a person who isn’t serious about the job. Depending on your role you may be required to travel a lot. Don’t expect any thanks if you work weekends or spend weekends in foreign places away from home. No compensation, time in lieu is given to staff that literally put their personal lives on hold to deliver on projects. Horrible point system for recognising colleagues where managers are given 120 points to divide among 3 staff as a type of reward system. 1 point equals 30cents. Constant turnover as people get fed up with the way they are treated. Impossibly hard to hire staff into key roles so remaining staff are drowning in work. Most project managers and clinical team leaders are working at around 1.5 FTE in reality but not recognised by management as the ‘documented’ FTE is far lower than the actual. Anyone who complains is usually informed that they have time management issues when the reality is that most of the proposal forecasts are between 30-50%lower than where they should be but are lowered to reduce the cost to win the award. PMs are constantly harassed about not managing the budget when it is clear that the proposal does not have enough hours to cover the work. Carrot dangling is elevated to a new art form at Syneos. Promises of promotions are never delivered upon, usually financial reasons are given for holds on promotions.This happens every year. I could not think of a worse place to work, if you are offered a role here, think twice about leaving your current employer. Career prospects are minimal, they already have about three too many layers of oversight/management. Convoluted escalation pathways where nothing is ever truly resolved as most management keeps their head buried in the sand hoping that you will stop complaining.