Pros
Exposure to all aspects of pharma from R&D to manufacturing. The site is small enough for one to navigate the organizational structure.
Cons
Toxic environment. The leadership is morally & ethically challenged, and has a history of one-way career development. "Talent" is imported from Germany. It is never exported from the U.S. The Superior Race shall prevail. American scientists & engineers are simply 2nd class and rarely rise beyond a senior manager level - certainly never above director level. A culture of bad behavior is tolerated and encouraged, especially at the first management level (VS 1.3 and above). As a result, current and former employees pursue legal action - a combination of frivolous lawsuits originated by lazy employees seeking "easy" compensation, and good employees who are "shafted" by crooked management. Good talent goes unrecognized, creating an environment where "doing the right thing" is discouraged. Lack of performance is rewarded - people are promoted and moved to other parts of the organization to hide problems - (Quality organization has been blown up multiple times as the employees (who are not cronies) are haphazardly fired when the mood strikes, Maintenance & Reliability is ineffective and clueless (was party to the multi million dollar complete shut down of manufacturing in 2010 due to SOP violations and contamination). Promotions to director level are made shortly thereafter. Final product manufacturing leadership is a reflection of the union labor: snake-like behavior and time-clock watcher. Who at a leadership level checks out precisely at 3:30 pm like an hourly employee? Human Resources leadership = no people skills and no pulse on what is happening on the campus - intimidation is a performance management strategy; Warehouse & materials leadership evolved from HR and brings along a poor track record of union stewardship mentality - poor employment & performance record. The union labor "leadership" promotes mediocrity. Bayer "leadership" cannot stand up to demand quality work and hold people accountable because they don't expect to be held to similar standards themselves. Numerous safety-related incidents and OSHA recordables are tolerated because of a poor culture of not proactively partnering with labor to ensure a safe work environment is created and maintained. EH&S sets a poor example of role modeling both on the job as well as off the job. Good riddance for finally booting 2 leadership generations of dead weight. The only reason the Leverkusen Germany leadership has turned a blind eye to the poorly led site in Berkeley is because Kogenate is a cash cow that is too complex to go generic. When Germany completes the construction of their manufacturing facilities in Germany to handle the offshore production of Kogenate, Berkeley employees can kiss their coveted jobs goodbye and flood the job market with incompetent leeches looking for another free ride. Bayer Berkeley mentality: Intimidation and harassment shall motivate improved performance.