Baxter Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Baxter full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Good benefits, products that sustain life

Cons – Too many Incompetents and disfunctIonal management at middle to highest levels. There are directors and VPs who lack the industry basic understanding that associates posses. Leadership flagrantly disregards regulatory requirements. It's all about making numbers look good, not doing the right thing. The vital behaviors are a joke: do the opposite if you want to succeed. The more incompetent a sycophant you are, the more likely you'll be promoted. Products are adulterated, supplier quality is clueless, validation is poorly understood, GMP is a mystery, change management is weak and cumbersome. A culture of shut up and keep your head down. Bullying and favoritism abound.

Advice to Senior Management – A lot of management who lack the appropriate experience and GMP understanding to work in this industry. Take the regulatory agency warnings, meeting requests, warning letters, and plant holds seriously: instead of writing BS responses to the 483s and Warning Letters, start DOING the right thing, stop blowing smoke. Hold yourself accountable. Unload all the incompetent leaders, stop rewarding for fulfillment at any cost, and start rewarding the right behaviors related to regulatory compliance for business profitability. Listen to and hire people who understand what GMP is, stop losing the good employees who see things as they are. Too many employees are joking about drinking the Koolaid. Why don't you see the biannual survey results for what they say?

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Baxter for more than a year

Pros – It's a job, nothing more.

Cons – Very difficult management team. avoid this place.

Current Employee – been working at Baxter full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – good cafeteria, a few good people. Ludwig trying to change culture for the better. Nice grounds. get your bonus every year- company grows due to growth OUTSIDE of U.S.

Cons – Toxic environment that marginalizes people with solid competencies! Old school way of thinking, lacks innovation. Many people act in unethical ways and continue to get promoted. This company will be stuck while others excel past Baxter. Ludwig trying to change culture to no avail.- all the good ole boys are keeping new ideas at bay. DO NOT WORK HERE!!!! I am so happy I left. The grass IS greener elsewhere.

Advice to Senior Management – Embrace change. Embrace innovation. Reward the good and the ethical people. STOP promoting and keeping unethical, non-compliant people in leadership positions. Definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome- STOP THE CYCLE!!!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – It is a good place to start a career in the industry. The benefits are good (they used to be better but they are still good). The salaries are great for the area. They are open to training you and have a lot of good in-house training available.

Cons – Management was not transparent with what their goals were. Beware: they slavishly follow the management trend of the month (and then apply it thoughtlessly, incorrectly or where it might not be appropriate). They give a lot of lip service to good job performance, sharing ideas, promoting from within, teamwork, ethics, but those are ignored when inconvenient. Outstanding performance is not rewarded. Whether you have work-life balance depends on whether your manager likes you or not.

Advice to Senior Management – It is important that one is able to trust management and that employees are able to trust each other.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Baxter full-time for more than a year

Pros – Baxter-Medina is a great place to work if you want to sit around like a bump on a log. It is just large enough employee activities and work initiatives aren't policed so a significant amount of white collared employees (@20%) go to work every day and produce nothing. If you're that type of person this is a great place for you.

Compensation is reasonably fair but I was given the runaround when my 20% annual bonus (in my employment contract) was due. So, don't count on any bonus if offered.

Cons – Baxter-Medina is in the middle of nowhere, so getting real talent in house is quite a challenge. It was a privately held company until April 2012. While privately held the sole purpose of its being was to create a selling proposition for Baxter. Because of this many people jumped into business roles that needed to be satisfied, although they had absolutely no skill or qualifications to do the job.

If you are real "talent", your ideas will be dismissed and scrutinized by those that I just previously mentioned. Because of the unqualified job holders, projects don't meet deadlines or goals (financial or time) but the company is financially stable enough to throw good money after bad.

Outsourcing is the software way here, so if you're looking for a development job the threat of being outsource looms in the background although is rarely implemented.

I've worked for some really good and bad companies before, this one without a doubt is on the very bottom of the bell curve. Worst company I've ever worked for period.

When I gave notice that I was leaving, they terminated me the next day (apparently is policy) WITHOUT PAY. Very un-classy, but what could one expect from a Medina company.

There is an attitude that because they are a "big fish" in such a small pond that employees would be lost without the leadership and security of the company.

If you like getting things done, being surrounded by talented counterparts, and fast paced environments, this is definitely NOT the place for you.

Advice to Senior Management – Mature from the privately held politics, listen to what your talent has to say...and don't assume they are just there to create a ruckus. Stop the assumptions because 90% of them were false in my observation.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Baxter

Pros – To get entry level experience in working with a variety of pharmaceutical products and instruments.

Cons – The management displays favoritism to its employees. The raises are unfair. the chances of moving into a new division is slim to none. The management blocks everyone from moving to other divisions in baxter, so there is no room to grow within the company.

Advice to Senior Management – The leadership at Baxter is so political. It is a shame that qualified individuals can not experience professional growth and development.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Baxter

Pros – Work / Life balance is good

Cons – Promotions and recognition given randomly. No rhyme or reason to who is promoted.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Baxter

Pros – - I got a lot of experience very quickly. If you are willing to work hard, you can build a good resume.
- Experience in FDA controlled environment

Cons – - long hours for salary employees with no comp time
- high pressure to succeed but no appreciation or recognition for success
- rate of production is valued over quality of product
- aggressive and political environment
- lack of committment to decisions
- try to resolve problems through repetitive meetings instead of taking action
- no work / life balance

Advice to Senior Management – - Listen to your employees when they tell you that they are worn out
- Make timley decisions and stick to them.
- Communicate more honestly with employees

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Baxter

Pros – Baxter is a world class corporation with a tremendous presence across the globe. Its standing in the healthcare industry and scientific community is very encouraging and inspiring as an employee.

Cons – Locally, the actions by management at some levels can best be described as misguided. The tone and attitude with which the workforce is addressed can be stunningly rude, abrasive, and dismissive.

Advice to Senior Management – My best advice would be to make a better attempt to adhere to the leadership expectations and shared values as they are described and detailed on the corporate intranet. Currently, the Buffalo Grove site is plagued by the hubris of some and the cowardice and complicity of others.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Baxter

Pros – you got paid for doing nothing

Cons – they set their objectives too high and didnt support your efforts

Advice to Senior Management – listen to your reps

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend