Forest Labs Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs

Pros – There is a lot of flexibility, but that is more a function of the position and your manager than the organization. The products are good. The company treats top performers exceptionally well.

Cons – Upward mobility is highly limited for sales representatives. Promotions are routinely handed out to friends of management (the typical corporate boys club). If you want to move outside the sales organization and into a corporate role, the only opportunities are in NYC, Long Island, and St. Louis.

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs

Pros – The new talent they hired from outside

Cons – -Workload is not realistic
-No sense of urgency
-Salary is not FMV
-Think innovatively

Advice to Senior Management – -Continue to hire from outside and get rid of the employees that are resistent to change

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs

Pros – small company
decent salary
decent benefits
good bonus and stock options

Cons – no advancement
no recognition
poor work life balance

Advice to Senior Management – Don't forget about the lab staff

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs

Pros – Very flexible work environment, Good people but occasionally slow from day to day. The work is quite stimulating when it is interesting.

Cons – The work is not project based, a number of time I had to hand over projects to other people in order to move on to something else.

Advice to Senior Management – It would be good to make sure the work is more project based and provide your employees the freedom to move on with other things.

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs

Pros – Growing organization means opportunities to stay longer - and hope to move up if you are really outstanding and catch the right group.

Cons – Disjoint and immature processes - no top-down approaches in many areas. Many are in their same position for 8-10 yrs or more.

Advice to Senior Management – Appoint a new CIO and a CISO

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs

Pros – The bonus structure is comparable to that of other pharmaceutical companies. Company car choices are nice. Ok, so those aren't really the greatest pros, but I am trying to be positive here.

Cons – Micro-management is the norm here at Forest Laboratories. The problem seems to start at the top and trickle down, and by the time it gets to the rep level, it is a landslide of fear and intimidation. Even if you have great numbers, as I do, you are made to fear for your job on an almost weekly basis. My team is on the cusp of making it to President's Club and my teammate was just let go for subpar performance! Are you kidding me?! The guy was in the top 25% of the company and they fired him for not "enhancing sales effectiveness". The problem with him was that he didn't buy into what our manager was selling. He wasn't vocal about it or anything, but you could tell that he wasn't into the whole kool-aid drinking culture here. They put him on a plan. His field ride scores, (which are very subjective, by the way), consistently went down over the course of his "performance improvement" plan. Then at the end of the period, he was let go. This is what they do here. Don't let the fact that there are no layoffs fool you into thinking that jobs at Forest are secure, because they truly are not. I have decided that I am leaving the company as soon as I can find anything with comparable compensation. I am so tired of this. I am a top performing rep and I am leaving on my own, before they cut me too.

Advice to Senior Management – My advice is more to human resources, and it is this: Pay attention to the high amount of turnover that is associated with specific managers and investigate it. This is not a coincidence. When these managers place a representative on a plan, it should be viewed with the utmost level of scrutiny. Great employees are being let go and or leaving on their own due to this mismanagement.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs

Pros – Its an OK place...depending on the department. Some departments allow you to grow and move into different areas while others do not.

Cons – Depending on the department, you are not "allowed" to move to other departments.

Advice to Senior Management – Allow your employees to move and grow in their career. This would be beneficial to them and your group as well. This would allow you to obtain new talent and fresh ideas while your former associate can grow into a new role within the company.

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs

Pros – good mix of personal and work life

Cons – no respect for loyalty and hard work.

Advice to Senior Management – give employees more recognition of work.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs

Pros – Good people, professional environment, high pay, great benefits

Cons – A bit micro-managed, long cycle for projects to complete, not very creative

Advice to Senior Management – N/A

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs

Pros – Small company with more responsibility and challenge; great cash position; strong pipeline

Cons – More workload per person compared to big pharma; tough timelines; micromanagement; raise and bonus are not appealing; too few vacation days

Advice to Senior Management – Establish leadership programs through which aspiring employess can swith functions within the company, thereby making greater contribution to the company.