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10 Warning Signs That Your Biotech Company Is Going Under |
If you are working for a biotech company and have that feeling that the company is going under, here are ten reasons that you mit be right.
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By and large, biotechnology jobs are fairly stable. However, there is a lot of biotech start up companies, and start ups are, by their very nature, unstable. We all know what happened to the dot.coms.
On the other hand, those start ups are where the really good opportunities are. You could wind up making a lot of money, or doing something really important professionally.
How do you know? How do you know if the biotech company you are working for (or considering working for) is going under? Here are ten warning signs:
- The company is overtrading or growing too fast. Uncontrolled growth may be a precursor to collapse.
- Inadequate cost controls. When spending is uncontrolled, it’s a good indicator that no one is paying enough attention to the bottom line. It’s a recipe for disaster.
- Low employee morale. Low morale is always a sign that something is wrong. Low morale causes productivity to drop, too, and that initiates a vicious cycle that can destroy an already wobbling company.
- Lack of employee rewards and recognition. When management ceases to understand what motivates employees, the company is in trouble. People rarely work just for the money, and good workers need recognition for what they do. Lack of recognition and reward for good work simply reinforces sloppy work, and that discourages productivity.
- Initiative and flexibility are replaced by rigid procedures. When leadership stops encouraging initiative—when things get rule-bound, the company is transitioning from being a start up to some other type of business. The company may not make it through the transition, and if it does survive, it will no longer have the creative atmosphere of a start up.
- Management is isolated. When management remove themselves from the worker environment, they lose touch with what is really going on with the company.
- The growth of hierarchies and bureaucracy. The more hoops and layers an idea has to go through, the less likely it is to be implemented. Ideas are what stimulate growth in the biotech industry, so when ideas are impeded, managed and stifled; the company is on its way down.
- Internal documents leak. Happy employees do not leak internal documents. Employees who see the writing on the wall and are looking to make an opportunity for themselves somewhere else do leak internal documents. Document leaks also indicate sloppy security and make you suspect that other business practices are sloppy as well.
- Employee turnover is high. When employees start to walk, it is a sign that the company is becoming unstable. The best people are often the firs to go, and that increases the downward spiral.
- Top executives leave. When the top execs start to bail, the company is in trouble. You can bet that restructuring, layoffs and cost cutting measures will soon follow.
Subtle changes in employee morale, in procedural rigidity and in management practices may signal financial instability in a company. Some of those changes catalyze a spiral downward that can contribute to the collapse of the company. Lay offs, cost cutting measures and restructuring are often sound business practices that strengthen a weak company. When you see top execs leaving the company, however, it’s a good indicator that this is more than just a minor turndown. The company may be on its way to the tech company graveyard.
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