You'd think with all the pros listed above, I wouldn't have anything to complain about, right? Wrong. There's a reason the benefits are so good - they wouldn't be able to keep most of their employees otherwise.
* Heavily regulated industry creates impenetrable, needless overkill bureaucracy that crushes productivity, innovation, and any possibility of good morale.
* No career path for non-management positions - either become a PM, or wait for your job to be sent to India.
* The stagnant career mentioned above also translated into stagnant pay - laughable raises, if any, which do not keep up with the cost of living.
* Unmet site goals used as an excuse to keep raises at laughable level. One could be the most motivated, productive employee of all time, but if the site you are at doesn't reach some unobtainable goal set by executive leadership, you get the same crappy raise or non-raise as any mediocre performing employee.
* Constant "moving of the goal posts" when trying to comply with processes and procedures, as everyone seems to have a different interpretation of compliance requirements.
* If your are in Finance, IT, or HR, have fun worrying about your future in 2015 as you become part of NBS - the new "service company" split off from Novartis under the veil of "enabling Novartis to focus on pharma". Translation - we're going to have more RIFFs, ship even more jobs to India, and probably just outright sell your position off to third party companies, turning you into contractors with little to no benefits. But thank you, former employee for your sacrifice and contribution to the success of Novartis! (They actually had the nerve to say something like this to survivors of the last mass layoff)
Overall, it isn't horrible if you have no ambition and have the temperament to deal with a suffocating bureaucracy and stagnate career. Benefits are outstanding and it is generally a good place to work - you could do much worse than Alcon. However, the future under Novartis/NBS is unclear.
