Pros
Genentech has excellent benefits to attract the best employees, a highly educated workforce, a lot of MD and PhD graduates create an intellectually stimulating environment and there is a lot of opportunity to travel internationally. The campus is beautiful and there are many free bus services to enable employees to get to work. The restaurants in SSF campus also supply a diverse selection of food although it is not free it is certainly very delicious. A lot of online learning tools and onsite classes available to improve skills. Its a great place to work if you are a new graduate fresh out of college as you can build a large network and get some excellent training. Everyone is friendly and nice and there is a lot of support for international colleagues from Roche who move to California for work.
Cons
The leadership team from legacy Genentech has mostly gone. Reducing cost of clinical trials is a priority within Product Development. Research and Early Development is where most of the innovation happens and Commercial is where most of the money is spent. Building relationships in a global organization is considered more important than knowledge by some managers. Communicating complex issues within a global organization can be a challenge at times as many employees (including managers) have English as a second language. Your relationship with your manager will directly influence your success and future career opportunities. The recruitment process can be slow at times. HR do not always have a good understanding of the job requirements or business of the departments they support. A lot of employees stay for the benefits but may be more productive or engaged if they were to seek new opportunities elsewhere. Some of the culture of innovation has been lost since Roche took over but Genentech is still a top employer in the Bay Area. A lot of Roche employees have taken the top management positions in SSF.