My coworkers are the only thing that make this job bearable
In my interview for this position I specifically asked how easy it is to move within/upwards in the company. The response I received was that the management team goes out of their way to expose you to experiences that will assist you in finding the right position for you within PPD. In reality, they do the exact opposite, trying to ensure you remain in the same position you were hired into. Many times I have sought assistance in gaining exposure to other roles (i.e. quality monitoring, pharmacovigilance, etc), but have been told "we just don't have time" and "we need to meet client needs, so we can't facilitate that." I understand they "need to meet client needs," but 1) I was told that this exposure would be easy to accomplish and 2) they fail to meet the needs of their employees and then wonder why the turn over rate is so high. Each day I dread coming to work because I know I will be greeted with new emails outlining even more work that I am responsible for. The policies that are in place are vague, at best, and management frequently sends out emails to clarify employee responsibility, only to send out another email two hours later contradicting their earlier statements (this is not an exaggeration; this happened twice last week, alone). It is a very difficult environment to work in, since you are never clear what your responsibilities are and they are continually adding more for nurses and pharmacists to do. Lately, they have even started taking away break and lunch times
ProsGreat coworkers
ConsLowest pay rate in the industry, lack of break/lunches, expectation to accomplish 50 hours of work in a 40 hour work week
Some of PPD's greatest hits of 2018:
- Dissolution of the quality control department.
- Discontinuation of the company parties and events.
- Reduction of rolled-over PTO from 4 weeks to 2 weeks.
- Implementation of an emergency communication system AFTER there was a workplace shooting down the road.
- Implementation of a "suggestion box" to combat poor retention, only to be unmanned and ignored a couple of months later.
- Silenced exits of a director and managers.
- Ran out of parking spots and refused to implement any bike or bus commuter benefits.
- Expected employees to drive into work after damaging floods that made national news.
- A mandatory raise for the lab to combat poor retention, which either shows how little the lab was getting paid or how little the company values all of the other departments.
The overall message that the executives send to the employees is this:
- You are dispensable and what you think doesn't matter.
The previous VP cared about her employees. We all knew we had low pay compared to other pharma companies in the area, but we accepted it because of the company culture and flexibility.
Fast forward to the end of 2018 and PPD has grown extensively, but at the expense of the employees.
Entire departments are dissolved on a whim with almost no warning. Good managers, who were well-liked and respected, are let go without any announcement or acknowledgement of the contributions, despite being part of the company for over a dec
Flexible, diverse (people and opportunities), balanced company
PPD has a great commitment to job work/life balance. If needed my hours could be flexible and I truly felt I did not have to choice between work and my family. I felt that I had many opportunities for transitioning laterally as well as advance. Even when I had my two children (only 13 months apart) I never feared losing my job and never feared consequences for taking time off post partum. I also enjoyed the diverse group of individuals that I worked with throughout my time there.
I was able to adjust my arrival and departure times each day depending on my needs. On most days for the majority of my day I was able to work independently and complete my work without interruption. Deadlines for when work was to be completed was fair (and flexible depending on the circumstances).
There was a tendency for certain areas to have managers who micromanaged their staff and focused more on negative outcomes versus positive and negative. However, both of these items were being addressed and seemed to be making improvement.
I became very close with my colleagues and had the opportunity to get to know diverse individuals and cultures. Although there were numerous individuals in my department, we all worked together daily and therefore many relationships were formed.
The hardest part of the job was the commute to and from work (especially if you lived outside of the city) and at times feeling like your concerns were generally not being heard (or that nothing was being done in
ProsFlexible, Healthcare, Career growth opportunities, Diverse, Partial compensation on gym membership
Working here will SIGNIFICANTLY reduce your life expectancy!
Worse company I've ever worked for in my 20+ years in Pharmaceuticals. Amazing the FDA hasn't closed this place down yet. Adverse events are routinely overlooked and the frequency of changes in SOPs and reporting guidelines make it easy for employees to confuse what is and isn't a product complaint or an Adverse event. It's a sham and a shame to say the least. They purposely create more cumbersome and complex procedures to complicate the workflow in order to justify increases in staff and billable hours to milk their clients for more money. Big pharma must be loaded because no one has caught on to this except PPD and some of the smarter employees. However, management is fully aware of these tricks. In the Medcom department, statistics and metrics and manipulated to paint a pretty picture or ask the client for more money depending on the order of the day. They encourage the use of IM which employees use to discuss personal issues and send rude and oftentimes inappropriate messages. If someone were to check the nature of some of these communications, as someone from their IT department once put it, 80% of management and staff would be terminated. The degree of micromanaging in some projects makes it very difficult to perform your job efficiently and they treat everyone like you are in preschool. Giving them cookies and non-compensatory tokens to avoid any actual pay increases. They hire you to work on one or 2 products and by the 4-6 months they start to pile on more and more w
ProsSome job security if you make it past the first year.
After graduating from NC State, I started with PPDi a year after graduation and this was my first corporate job. I have the desire for continued growth and advancement. Within my first 4 years of the company I was promoted into a new role and was one of the youngest managers within my department once I transitioned into that role.
I have managed up to 25 direct reports at a given time and have learned a variety of skills during my 8 years with PPDi. I have learned how to manage and communicate with different clients, work directly with executive management, and play an integral part in being a customer advocate. I am passionate in working in the health care industry and really enjoy working with people. I thrive working in a team environment and have an excellent worth ethic if working on my own. I have learned to be extremely flexible due to the evolving changes within my program and the department. Prioritizing my day has helped me excel in my role and ensures that deadlines are met not only for internal clients but our external clients as well.
A typical day is 9-12 hours of working on various tasks that keep me extremely busy to where the day goes by very fast. I enjoy working in a fast paced environment with a variety of tasks. The hardest part of the job is work life balance - there is often not enough time in the day to complete all the daily responsibilities which has me working from home frequently just to stay caught up.
I am looking for a new opportu
ProsGreat Health Benefits, Vacation Time
ConsWork Life Balance, Long Hours, High Workload, minimal opportunity for advancement once in the mangement role
Insane Company Growth (At the Expense of the Employee)
PPD has built a reputation of being a great starting place for beginners in Clinical Research due to excellent training resources and seemingly endless opportunities. However, the company has grown astronomically since COVID and is continuing to grow at an alarming rate, but it is sacrificing quality and employee satisfaction in order to do so. Training has been significantly reduced for new employees, the workload continues to increase, and a severe lack of communication has led to mass confusion and frustration across the board. The turnover rate is insane; study teams are constantly changing due to employees leaving, and there are not enough people to manage the work being taken on by the department. This phenomenon is being seen with all major CROs, but the biggest problem is that PPD continues to pay well below industry standards despite their growth. The department continues to pile on responsibilities for the Country Approval Associate/Specialist role, yet no pay increase or adequate support is being provided, leading to a serious lack of morale and causing most employees to seek higher paying opportunities at other companies. Whereas previously it may have been worth it to take a pay decrease in order to have access to the training and resources at PPD, their decision to cut training has made this sacrifice void and null.
ProsJob Security, Flexible Hours, Decent Benefits, People, Cutting Edge Technology, Training Resources, Opportunities to Learn
ConsLow Pay, Heavy Workload, Unreleastic Deadlines, Escalation Culture, Lack of Open Communucation, High Turnover Rate, Senior Management
Great supervisors and local team, poor HR and compensation advancement.
I have never had a more competent supervisor than my current ones. I have been recognized by them as needing a promotion for my skill and quality of work and was also reviewed to meet or exceed expectations in all metrics of performance review. HR refused my promotion. HR was also rude and disconnected when my wife's employer took her and my child off of their health coverage when my wife went from full-time to part-time after the birth of my child. A person in HR then tried to blame me for not understanding a qualified event, which it was. My wife and child did get health coverage and we all were covered every day of the year, but the experience was very stressful for a new father, and HR tried to put the blame on me. Overall, my opinion of the work environment, team mates, supervisors are all excellent. The compensation for 10 years of analytical experience is borderline fair to poor, and HR stifling my hopes to a reasonable compensation package with the promotion proposed by my supervisors plus the difficulties I had with HR over the health coverage make it interesting to look for other opportunities. It is really too bad, because the work environment and the biopharmaceuticals management team / cGMP group are both excellent. There are a wide variety of methods, techniques, software, and instruments that you can learn to use. The work can be challenging and some of it is with impressive technologies, which for the cGMP field is pretty good.
ProsExcellent leadership in biopharm, challenging work
Consdisconnected HR, advancement issues with HR, and low compensation for skill.
I worked in the Sample Management department as a Sample Coordinator and my experience was fine when I first started working there but after a while it became the most appalling place I've ever worked at. First off the manager is very rude and she doesn't like when people voice their opinions on issues going on in the department. She disliked some of the employees for no reason, she always talked to her employees with an attitude,she doesn't like change for the better in her department, it's her way or no way, basically her management skills are very poor and I don't know how she got promoted to this position. Also the supervisors are lazy, unorganized and unprofessional. At least five people have quit in this department in the year in a half that I've been there, that should speak volumes for sample management and to corporate. There is no room for growth in this department and I wouldn't recommend anyone working there... Now I will talk about the co-workers and work in general. Co-workers are fine for most part, had a few slackers and some that are very drama-filled, the work is very easy and gets repetitive and old after a while. Hardest part of my job was dealing with the unprofessionalism of management, favoritism, at times work load, organization and work schedule and I didn't enjoy anything but the pay while working here... Just want to make this clear that my issues in the Sample Management department does not affect this company as a whole because PPD isn't a bad com
Great company to work for. Work/life balance can be a little tricky if you don't stay on top of it. The work volume is certainly there, strong time/resource/project management is a must. If you put in the time, produce the results and maintain positive visibility by the right people at the right time, the recognition is awarded. Not always the case, but in recent years fantastic opportunities for personal and professional growth via online training and certification tools and programs, (the key is finding the time to actually engage in these offerings). Internal job transfer process is a definite plus, with full advocacy by local management and HR in helping employees find the right fit. Experience with management over the years has been positive all around. Performance management process could be fleshed out more and adhered to more seriously, but continuous improvements are made in this area. Employees seem genuinely engaged and sincere about contributing towards common goals. Most difficult part of the job in recent years is just understanding the direction of the organization since being acquired by private equity and where each service and product offering across the company's portfolio fit into that overall grand picture.
ProsRewarding work, flexible work schedule, job mobility, compensation package
ConsWork/life balance can be tricky, on-premise facilities for coffee/water/vending, technology management and oversight needs to be prioritized more
This is a strong company with integrity that continues to improve and expand. In the past few years, the focus on personnel has changed from being personal to production based. Additionally, production expectation has skyrocketed while continued perfection in quality is maintained. Thus, meeting timelines is quite stressful and work/life balance has increasingly been dominated by work into the evenings and on the weekends. This is a sad change from the department atmosphere where employees and management had time for socialization to improve team and department attitudes, share work ideas, and improve work performance.
My experience with management was plagued with poor mentorship, lack of assistance for advancement, and finally, misguidedly pre-judged into a specific category. There are excellent managers in our department. Unfortunately, I was not assigned to one.
PPD offers a variety of activities for employees and many self improvement classes for those who have the time to take advantage of them.
Finally, I had several awesome co-workers/team members who willingly shared others workload and were always available to discuss problem issues. Unfortunately, there are many others who will "throw you under the bus" to appear more efficient and impress management. This is par in most companies now and a sad reflection of job performance evaluations.
ProsBenefits, Co-Workers, IT Support
ConsWork/Life Balance, Management
4.0
Clinical Research Associate | Taguig | Jan 5, 2013
Productive workplace that invites growth and carreer advancement.
I am ahome based CRA, although the company has a local office which we may visit whenever we need to file and review essential documents. I start the day by reading emails and since all of our studies are done globally, I would expect mails from diffrent places around the globe and the the culture barrier seems not evident. Everybody is very polite and objective. All of us are very much knowledgeble of the company's goals and each decison that we make are always based on the reaching our goals and metrics. The management are very supportive and motivates us to work better and provided objective criticism with a suggestion that are really helpful. One thing I have learned from PPD is how to manage time better and prioritize each tasks based on its urgency and importance. As I am handling 3 studies at the same time and managing a total of 18 sites, it is very important that none of them are left out as all sponsors are equally important and relevant to the company. Also , Ihave learned to work independently as it is required from me, being a Home based CRA. The hardest part of the job, I guess, was managing hand over clinical trials which have ran for several years before it was passed on. It was difficult because when you find issues that should have been picked up earlier, sites would always come back to you and ask , why this deviaton/ issue was only picked up now. However, I have learned to stand beyond all of these and have explained to the sites about the quality manageme
Prosgood compensation and benefits, productive and objective workplace.
Consvery high workload, very much driven by the financial goals vs the quality of the trial
Questions And Answers about PPD
What is PPD sick leave policy? How many sick days do you get per year?
Asked Nov 9, 2016
Flexible and understanding when it comes to sick days.
Answered Sep 18, 2021
They had a generous PTO accrual. Far better than most companies.
Answered Mar 20, 2021
What tips or advice would you give to someone interviewing at PPD?
Asked Nov 9, 2016
Do not accept any sign on bonus, without reading the small print.
Answered Sep 18, 2021
There are three interviews. The first one is around 10 minutes with the recruiter asking about your background. The second one is around 20 minutes and it is with the manager introducing the company and what the job entails. The third interview is two hours and 15 minutes. It consists of three people that interview you for 45 minutes each. This was a remote interview. They ask situational based questions such as a mistake you fixed and challenges you faced. Make sure to have both success stories as well as failure stories that your learned from.
Answered Nov 5, 2020
On average, how many hours do you work a day at PPD?
Asked Oct 15, 2016
8-10 depending on project work.
Answered Jan 12, 2021
It depends on the daily schedule
maybe 5-7 per day
Answered Feb 5, 2018
What is the interview process like at PPD?
Asked Jan 20, 2018
There is an initial interview with an HR recruiter, that takes about 30 minutes. If the decision is to move forward, there are two, hour long interviews, via video call (Teams).
Answered Jan 27, 2021
It consist of three interviews. The first is with the recruiter. The second with a manager. The third is around two hours and is with three different people. They are situational based questions so be prepared with your answers. They may ask about a previous job before the current job you have. Overall, it went smoothly as long as you are prepared and have the experience of the position.
Answered Nov 5, 2020
What is the most stressful part about working at PPD?
Asked Feb 5, 2018
Making sure the job is done right, cut,trim and strip, inspection, pack and load label and ship. Long hours lots of over time.
Answered Feb 25, 2020
Rapidly changing priorities and often there is little to no encouragement or support from immediate supervisors
