Case Study : Dealing with Stress the

Genentech Way
Group -9

Presented by
Vineet Baral
Kunal Joshi
Kalvacharla Varun Kumar
Dev Vashisth (98)
 HISTORY 2

Genentech, founded in 1976 by Dr. Herbert W. Boyer, a biochemist, and Robert A. Swanson,
a venture capitalist. Headquartered in South San
Francisco, California, Genentech.

What Followed…
 It has a mission “to be the
leading biotechnology company,
using human genetic
information to discover,
develop, manufacture and
commercialize medicines to
treat people with serious or life-
threatening medical conditions.
 The company manufactures and
markets biotherapeutic
products in the areas of
oncology, immunology, and
Dr. Herbert W. Boyer Robert A. Swanson disorders of tissue growth and
repair.
Over the years Genentech has become a leading biotechnology company, noted
as much for its human resources programs as for its development and commercialization of
new products.
 3

Important Points From the Case Study

In 2007, Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson said, “
The management philosophy and corporate
we place a huge emphasis on making
culture of Genentech play important roles in the
Genentech a great place to work. Eight or nine
company’s human resource policies and practices
years ago, we didn’t appear on many lists of
the best places [to work]. ‘What do you
like; and more importantly, what do you not like
about the company? What bothers you?’”
The impacts of
Genentech’s programs
towards employee’s
well being.
In early 2009, Fortune magazine included Genentech on
its list of the “100 Best Companies to Genentech has numerous programs that provide
employees with a unique workplace as well
Work For” . In September 2008, Working Mother
magazine as diverse opportunities to enhance their personal
learning, achieve personal and professional goals,
identified the company as one of the “100 Best
and enable them to manage the sometimes
Companies for Working Mothers”.. Also in late 2008,
difficult task of juggling their work lives and
Science magazine tagged Genentech as “the top
personal lives
employer in the biopharmaceutical industry”

Genentech’s Programs
1 Connection Culture
Genentech also promotes
emotional health.
This connection culture
involves bringing cancer
patients into the company’s
facilities to meet with
employees.
It creates an emotional bond
among members that leads to
greater trust and cooperation
It improves health, boosts
creativity and problem-
solving ability, and increases
the feeling of satisfaction in
life.
Tuition-Assistance Program
2 3
This program provides up to
$10,000 annually to cover
educational expenses.
The program is an important
aid in attracting, keeping, and
developing talented scientists
4
Fostering creativity Emphasis on work/life
4
Group Discussion
and innovation balance
Genentech has allowed its It provides a culture that
researchers to publish their enhances work/life balance
findings in academic journals. for every employee.
Genentech can compete with It provides a physical “work
the Harvard and Stanford environment that promotes
universities of the world collaboration and knowledge
when recruiting top scientists transfer, both face-to-face
and via e-communication
 Questions Answers
1. Would you characterize Genentech’s employees as experiencing distress or eustress?
Distress is the type of stress that has
negative implications, whereas
eustress has a positive form of stress,
usually related to desirable events in
someone’s life.
5
Therefore, we would characterize the Genentech’s
employees as experiencing eustress. For example, all
these programs that Genentech offers to its
employees make life less stressful. The employees,
who work for Genentech, enjoy working and they are
proud of the cancer-fighting drugs their company
produce.
This connection culture involves bringing cancer
patients into the company’s facilities to meet with
employees this creates an emotional bond among
members that leads to greater trust and cooperation.
 Questions Answers 6

2. How can the Yerkes–Dodson law be related to the impact of Genentech’s programs that
are aimed at enhancing employee well-being?

The company maintains a corporate culture that fosters

The Yerkes – Dodson Law suggests
that performance and arousal are
directly related. In simpler terms,
increase in arousal to a certain level
can help to boost performance. Once
the arousal crosses the optimal level,
performance of the individual starts to
diminish.
creativity and innovation. Therefore, the company allows its
researches to publish their findings in academic journals.
Genentech also promotes emotional health among its
employees by creating a connection culture, for example,
bringing cancer patients into the company’s facilities.
Another way that the company promotes the well-being of
its employees is the availability of its tuition-assistance
program to cover educational expenses of its employees.
And another important initiative and well-being for
Genentech is helping its employees maintain balance
between their work lives and personal lives. As a result,
Genentech’s employees claim that they love what they do
because they know their job has a meaning.
 Questions Answers 7

3. How do Genentech’s basic management philosophy and the key features of its culture set
the stage for the company’s concern about their employees’ well-being?

Genentech’s Web site states, “We don’t
wonder about the purpose of our jobs at
Genentech. Helping people with difficult-to-
treat diseases provides a common mission
for all of us and drives us to work hard and
with a sense of urgency. We focus our drug
discovery efforts on unmet medical needs—
serious or life-threatening illnesses.
We place great importance on our
employees, and we strive to make each
individual feel valued for his/her
contributions to the company’s mission.
Fostering creativity and innovation : Genentech has
allowed its researchers to publish their findings in
academic journals.
Connection Culture : This connection culture involves
bringing cancer patients into the company’s facilities
to meet with employees.
Tuition-Assistance Program : This program provides up
to $10,000 annually to cover educational expenses.
Emphasis on work/life balance : It provides a culture
that enhances work/life balance for every employee.
It provides a physical “work environment that
promotes collaboration and knowledge transfer, both
face-to-face and via e-communication.
 Questions Answers 8

4. What might be accomplished by Genentech’s programs with respect to enabling

employees to better deal with workplace stress or its consequences?

All these programs deal with Consequently, Genentech employees consistently

employee stress and or well-being at refer to the opportunity to make a difference in the
workplace, and are aimed at making lives of patients as the primary reason they work for
life less stressful. Genentech. Genentech’s development products
continue to grow, with multiple promising projects in
the following area: oncology, immunology,
metabolism, neuroscience and infectious diseases.
As a result, Genentech can compete with the Harvard
and Stanford universities of the world when recruiting
top scientists.
It results in higher productivity, profitability,
shareholder returns, customer satisfaction, and
employee retention.
 Questions Answers
5. Four specific programs that target employee well-being in one way or another are 9

mentioned: a culture fostering creativity and innovation, a connection culture, tuition

assistance, and emphasis on work/life balance. Which of these four programs do you
think holds the most promise for being effectively emulated by other companies? Explain
the reasoning behind your answer.

Emphasis on work/life balance : It The Society for Human Resource Management

provides a culture that enhances
work/life balance for every employee.
 It provides a physical “work
environment that promotes
collaboration and knowledge transfer,
both face-to-face and via e-
communication.
(SHRM) forecasts that “work/life balance will be one
of the top 10 trends influencing the workplace in the
next decade.”
Research by the American Society of Interior
Designers (ASID) identified workplace environment as
“one of the top three factors influencing an
employee’s decision to accept or stay in a job—just
behind compensation and benefits.
 Questions Answers 10

6. What are the individual and organizational consequences that likely can be attributed to
Genentech’s various programs?

Individual Consequences : Organizational Consequences :

Fostering creativity and innovation, Genentech
has allowed its researchers to publish their
findings in academic journals.
Connection Culture, It improves health, boosts
creativity and problem-solving ability, and
increases the feeling of satisfaction in life.
Tuition-Assistance Program, The program is an
important aid in attracting, keeping, and
developing talented scientists.
Emphasis on work/life balance, It provides a
physical “work environment that promotes
collaboration and knowledge transfer, both face-
to-face and via e-communication
Fostering creativity and innovation, Genentech can
compete with the Harvard and Stanford universities of the
world when recruiting top scientists.
Connection Culture , It results in higher productivity,
profitability, shareholder returns, customer satisfaction, and
employee retention.
Tuition-Assistance Program, these supported educational
opportunities contribute to the excitement of working
there.
Emphasis on work/life balance, Fortune magazine included
Genentech on its list of the “100 Best Companies to Work
For”. Working Mother magazine identified the company as
one of the “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers”.
Thanks You