Pros
Great facilities to work in, on-site Starbucks and fitness center available for employees only. Campus has grocery and drug store. Pantries on each floor with refrigerators, microwaves, and free coffee, tea, hot chocolate. Sick/Mother's room on each floor. Training programs offered internally for employees. Flexible start times with early off Fridays if you get your hours in. Days off for volunteer activities. Depending on what group you work in, you may be able to work at home periodically. Public transportation stop On-site. Depending on business unit you work in, (not APGD) there are external team building events for employees (Cubs, bowling, etc.) Company sponsors float in Chicago Gay Pride parade. Internal program for recognizing employee performance. Opportunity to interact with Japanese and Dutch cultures.
Cons
Organization is siloed in some areas/functions and there is a need to continue globalization of processes and functions. While the company promotes work life balance, in many cases it's lacking unless you work in HR or a similar business unit. Average work week for me is 80 hours. Plan on taking your laptop home every night and on vacations and sick days. If your business unit interacts with Japan or the EU, plan on very early/late meetings to accommodate different time zones. Work environment and corporate culture has changed greatly in the past 5 years; less interactive and collegiate. Astellas is dependent upon contract staff for clerical and key staff positions. They are extremely concerned with issues related to common law employees, sometimes to absurdity. They even have different color name tags on their doors/cubes! A scarlet letter so to speak! Contractors are excluded from many things which impacts overall morale, team environment, and work objectives. The following comments apply to APGD/ Clinical: Contractors are viewed as disposable, so having to continually train people in a complex environment is challenging. Management in Clinical did not want contractors (some with more relevant experience than employees) performing certain duties but in most cases there are more contractors than permanent staff In a department. Results in divisive environment. Many meetings to attend so plan on getting work done after hours regardless of what they say. APGD / Clinical Development is very political and territorial. Individual performance ratings are presented to management team and "defended" - so information you might think is confidential from co-workers isn't. I have seen individual metrics posted publicly on bulletin boards for everyone to see (supposed to foster accountabilty and productivity). Low morale in Clinical Development where we were told we could not celebrate co-workers "life events" (birhdays etc.); Holiday parties and departmental pot lucks are a thing of the past (although exist elsewhere in the company). No team building activities. Lots of drama amongst senior management even after intervention with external conultants. Management by fear and intimidation in some functions. Interdepartmental cooperation not always promoted or endorsed, especially with compliance and quality functions. I was told that we don't "air our dirty laundry" after seeking input/expertise from another department. HR ineffective in dealing with bullying in the work environment. Well documented complaints by staff bullied by one manager not addressed. Eventual solution was to reward individual by promoting to an even more senior management position in another department. Hiring of staff sometimes a result of who you know rather than experience and credentials. There are certain long term employees HR seems to be afraid of handling contributing to the current environment.