Vantaggi
Great work-life balance Smart colleagues with diverse backgrounds Friendly environment where people always greet each other, even if they don't know you Lots of kitchenettes all around with free coffee, hot-chocolate, and ~20 flavors of tea Kind managers - people generally have good relationships with their managers Research budgets are pretty generous, and labs are nicely equipped
Svantaggi
CIBA likes to do a lot of hiring through temp agencies. The temps are usually continually renewed, but are rarely hired on permanently. Temps are given quite a bit of responsibility, and are well respected within the lab/group, but upper management does not understand how knowledgeable and important the temps are. Also, the temps (even ones who have worked there for 3 to 6 years) are not invited to the Christmas parties or company picnics, etc. Another downside of working here has been the lack of communication from management during the merger with Alcon. I agree with a previous post that cited the lack of availability of a career ladder and/or organizational structure. It does make it hard to know what opportunities are out there. It is unfortanate that many people were asked to relocate to Texas and/or leave the company; however, I believe these employees were treated fairly. Now that most of the re-organization/merger has been completed, and the company has made plans to invest $200 million into the manufacturing facility here in Duluth, morale is improving a lot.