4.0
29 Oct 2011
Anonymous employee
Current employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
Genentech attracts people who're interested in its mission, not just making money. Being mission-driven, it's easy to argue for the right decision. But being non-hierarchical, it can take time to make those decisions.
Cons
Being owned by Roche, and no longer having profit sharing: Roche needed new life, and bought Genentech to save itself. Roche as many more developed corporate functions, but they get in the way of the mission of the company. Because of integration with Roche, there is much more confusion about corporate goals; in the past, you could print them on a T-shirt, and up to 70% of employees knew how their own jobs connected with corporate goals (US avg = 30%). Now, I'm sure it's less.