Decent entry into Big Pharma - Anonymous employee AbbVie Employee Review

2.0
25 Jul 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Reputable Name Salary Benefits Great place to learn about Biopharma

Cons

Horrible Leadership! Culture has a long way to go due to poor HR departments. Many upper level employees do not respond to emails from employees who are not in a leadership position. Moving up is absolutely impossible, unless you are best friends with the right person. Recruiting process is a joke! Hard work is not rewarded, it is all about who you know, which is why almost 75% of the people landed a role within the organization because of an employee referral.

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AbbVie Response
8y
Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. We’re disappointed to hear this was your experience but appreciate sharing this with us as we continue to build our organization.

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5.0
27 Jun 2026
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CEO approval
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Pros

Great place to work. Competitive salary and benefits.

Cons

It has been a great experience for me.

1.0
3 Jul 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Big Pharma Name Recognition: Having Allergan/AbbVie on your resume provides industry visibility.

Cons

Extreme Governance & Bureaucracy: Allergan is paralyzed by red tape. There are far too many governance layers just to get basic regulatory strategies vetted out. Flawed Compliance Infrastructure: Product approvals are heavily dependent on documentation. However, current records are completely inadequate. Management fundamentally fails to understand how these systems are interlinked. Unqualified & Absentee Leadership: The leader with department oversight completely lacks the expected knowledge and experience for this level, making her a massive liability. She is rarely in the office but knows exactly how to work the system. She aggressively pushes for unnecessary, in-person regulatory meetings solely to accumulate personal travel points rather than to mitigate actual business risks. Disastrous Transition Management: The leadership transition wreaked total havoc across the department. Negligent HR Department: HR shows zero interest in investigating why good talent is leaving the company. Alarming Job Security Signs: It is a massive red flag when a leader encourages employees to apply for roles entirely unrelated to their expertise, or receiving automated AI notifications about job openings outside your department.

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