Pros
The site is very modern and beautiful in design. There is a variety of free food & drinks available (chips, bars, yogurt, cheese, fruit, soda, water, coffee, seltzer, beer). There are also mini games spread sporadically throughout the building such as golf putting mats and foosball tables. Many company events (company events, social hours, etc.) that are open to all employee types (FTE, contractors, consultants, etc.), with occasional free swag giveaways. Collaborates with GrubHub in providing free lunches (FTE) or paid and delivered right to the cafeteria. Many science seminar meetings that occur on a weekly basis to learn something new every week. A nice gym located on the ground floor with many exercise and training classes that take place. Some very competitive benefits, such as free medical insurance, mobile phone discounts, gracious time off with a paid week off between Christmas and NYD (just like many other biotech’s), occasional mini-recharge in July (during 4th of July...depending on when the day is), and numerous holidays. Compensation is also highly competitive. Located near many of the other top-biotech companies in the Cambridge hub. Free parking provided to all employees in a nearby garage.
Cons
Though the pros listed above may seem like a long list, its worth-noting that many of items noted above are not the functional type, but more of just ‘perks’. Since BPM is still growing, its constantly experiencing growing pains just like many of the startup biotech’s out there. There is a complete lack of structure and organization, there is no communication among your teammates, and there is no communication among your department overall. Many times, you can be left in the dark, with no proper guidance on what you are responsible for, what your job duties are, etc. In short, like mentioned, a complete lack of structure and organization. There is even no new hire orientation, or something of similar, and instead just told to navigate the services and departments by yourself and get a feel for the company. They are many people who would be happy for your success, however, if you are one of the unfortunate people, then you will have a few who will be unhappy for your success and development (they will complain about you and make it seem like you are not doing any work). Management here is non-existent, as many times you will never have the chance to have normal one on one discussions, and even if they are scheduled, they will constantly be rescheduled or cancelled, and this can go on for a while! Additionally, travel is a big must here, which is something they don’t specify upfront. Be prepared to travel 80% of your time as soon as you start, as I’ve seen individuals who’ve started and within that week they had to travel internationally. I see many people get frustrated about the amount of travel that is required, part of the pain of being a totally “virtual” company. The company wants to be in commercial phase yet has no time to work on internal quality systems that are a must in any given biotech company. Management will occasionally hold team meetings on a bi-monthly or even quarterly frequency, and talk about projects that need to be done, but then once that meeting is over, so is the talk of the planned projects (meaning…they talk once about all that needs to happen but yet it simply gets lost in space and there is no mention of it ever again). High promises without any real commitment.