Pros
Compensation is fair and there is generally not a lot of overtime work required. There is a gym, a basketball court, and kitchen snacks.
Cons
BIOVIA, formerly Accelrys, is the re-branded result of an acquisition by Dassault Systèmes a few years ago. Accelrys was by no means a perfect company, but even the most entrenched BIOVIA employee will admit that things have gotten progressively worse post-acquisition. Employee stress is up, morale is on the decline, and the company has gone through several waves of attrition over the past few years. What little office culture that once existed is all but gone, and several key personnel have gone with it. From an R&D perspective the company has fallen into a pattern of customer-driven development, much to the frustration of staff. R&D isn't being given the time and space to innovate, but rather is being forced to adhere to customer-imposed requirements and deadlines. It is simply not a sustainable, let alone scaleable, way to do business. The current CEO, Leif Pederson, leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to a C-Level executive. He is someone you see once a month at the all-hands meeting. In several all-hands meetings he's commented that "if someone on the (customer) project needs coffee, go get them coffee". Probably a poor attempt at humor, but It's incredibly tacky, and it's clear to employees that in his mind you're simply a resource. Leif: perhaps you yourself should be walking around handing out coffee, and taking the time to get to know the people that work hard to ensure that you have a company to lead and product to sell. You appear out-of-touch and uncaring and you should work to address this. There is an employee happiness survey that employees are strongly encouraged (because Dassault wants it done) to take every year. You would be hard-pressed to find concrete examples of positive changes resulting from that survey. It simply feels like HR checking off a box. Career growth is practically non-existent. There is little investment in growing employees talents and skills, or helping employees progress their careers. The push by parent company Dassault towards their proprietary technology stack is met with little enthusiasm by the rank and file. Generally benefits are OK. Pay is close to market, but given the competition for talent in the area it's surprising the company doesn't do more to retain employees. No company equity, and the stock purchase program went away in the acquisition. No bonuses for non-sales employees aside from an incentive-based pay plan which holds back a portion of your salary until a once-a-year payout. That means no 401k match on that portion of your pay, and no partial payout if you leave the company during the year ahead of the payout. Employees can typically expect a 1-3% raise annually.
