Forest Labs Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs full-time for more than a year

Pros – Pay isn't the highest by any means but if you have a decent territory, you can make 100k and have a company car. Great learning experience and they like to hire reps with little to no experience which will lead to many other opportunities, once you decide to advance your career. Intially, you work with some great people but the company culture will quickly change both yourself and peers for the worse.

Cons – The main problem at Forest is the sheer number of reps and the fact we need 70% sampling, 80% 'A' targets, and lots of lunches. This means that docs are seeing 2-3 Forest reps with basically the same products every week and you will need to leave 1 box of meds in their already overflowing bins just for the sig. This basically forces your teammates to trash you and do whatever it takes to get in all offices for their sigs before you do.

On the plus side, you will quickly see no one works and you will be able to get your sigs and calls in within a few hours and still be far out working your team. Stick it out as long as possible, volunteer for good causes and start a side business to get some meaning to your working life, and collect the pay check.

Don't take things too seriously or try to make a difference because you will hate it here. Learn the company culture quickly and confirm to their robotic ways even quicker. The more you smile, the more you say yes, the happier you will be. Managers will praise you and sometimes skip monthy field rides and you can even get promoted but never trust anyone.

Advice to Senior Management – Really, I can't blame the middle to upper middle management. All the direction comes from the top so managers have to push for you to hit your goals and the better friends you become, the more tips and advice managers will give you for hitting goals.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs full-time

Pros – Relaxed atmosphere, but still very professional and effective.

Cons – Bad coffee in the smaller break rooms,

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – There are smart, dedicated, hard-working co-workers at Forest.

Cons – The company used to be very authoritarian. Some leaders seem to try to change the authoritarian culture, but whether it will become a constructive, open, positive place to work is uncertain in this difficult time for the company. Information is generally not shared. Reviews are either only a formality, or used to criticize or blame. You're either on the good side, or the bad.

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – .....having a car, but that's an industry standard so...

Cons – In my opinion Forest is a place that a person should plan as using as a stepping stone to better places in the Pharmaceutical industry. The company so mishandles their representatives in almost every way imaginable that it is hard to know where to begin a review of the sales side of Forest.

Pharmaceutical sales at Forest would and could a place where one can grow both professionally and personally. A job where one can acquire the tools to turn problems into solutions. It could be a place where much can be accomplished with the proper approach and mentality. Where the focus ISN'T on what you have to say as the rep, but what the doctor and patient NEEDS help with. To quote the late, great ZigZiglar: "You can get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want."

The measure of success at Forest is getting 80% signatures for samples from supposed "A" customers. However, this culture leads to reps falling over one another to get their call quotas in for the day. I can only compare my experience at Forest with that of my experience at AstraZeneca (LAID OFF), which was infinitely an better company to work for. This likely why they only hire candidates with little to no pharma experience.

The culture here is unbelievably poor-lack of professionalism, tact, & awareness. Back-Stabbing and Back-Biting is rampant..supposed team members trying to outdo each other, withholding information, ect. Instead of working together as one unit to be successful and bring value to an office. Sorry, but this is my honest evaluation. I typically can see the good in a bad situation but this time it was not possible.

Advice to Senior Management – Make a true investment in managed care, improve the culture, value your reps.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs full-time for less than a year

Pros – ok to work. good benefits.

Cons – not good company to do work/family life balance. work from home not available. management is new and doesn't know what she is doing. Don't allow enough time to finish projects. Feel like rush to everything.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs full-time for less than a year

Pros – Good products, good partners to work with

Cons – Very pushy management, only very concerned with "top 50%" #s even when some is unrealistic due to factors outside of your control.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Good business model still going thru growing pain.

Cons – Still going thru growing pain. Disorganized projects/departments and favoritism/unfair/unreasonable rewarding system. No one really knows who does what. R&D is filled with uninspired Pigeon holed workers who are self satisfied and doesn't even know what challenge means. Where is the growth?

Advice to Senior Management – Take the time to read the actual reviews not the numbers/names only. You can not roll a dice on a list of names. When you don't value or recognize real talents nor hard workers they leave. It is simple as 123. If you have no time for a fair evaluation, get someone to do FOR You! And the stories between dealing 2-3 pipeline and 9+ are quite different. Idle job fillers need some wake up calls as standard of workers/work has gone down significantly compared to 7-10 years ago. Restructuring is inevitable. Otherwise future is bleak after the retiring of Lexapro.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Forest Labs full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good salary - starting is 53k. Bonus varies from 2k - 14k. Company car.

Cons – Micro-managing. Want everyone to be a puppet and fit the same mold. Pods are issues b/c some people don't work.

Advice to Senior Management – Teach the managers how to let go of their micro-managing and employee retention may be better. Reps can think for themselves and have a true pulse of the territory, so let them do their job.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs full-time

Pros – The company is very savvy at selecting great products and great people in the marketing department. The atmosphere is friendly and focused on the work. Pay is somewhat above average but in line with NYC location. Incentive compensation (options, restricted stock) can be very rewarding if you stay long term.

Cons – Management does not allow a lot of new thinking and essentially is stuck in the past. This is the main problem at an otherwise solid company.

Advice to Senior Management – Empower executive directors and other middle brand management to really own their businesses and make decisions on their own.

Current Employee – been working at Forest Labs full-time for more than a year

Pros – work culture and environment. No pressure or tension.

Cons – Must adopt new techniques and methodologies.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend