Abbott Labs Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

felt good about working for a successful company focused on providing important technological advances and products for the improvement of others' health

Cons

during my time there, which was about two to three years ago, the company and diagnostics division appeared to be in a state of uncertainty to the future.

Advice to Senior Management

due to the uncertainty of the division's future and what would happen to employees regarding possible looming layoffs, this caused there to be a more difficult environment to work in, and thus it would be beneficial to be more forthcoming with employees during a state of change

Pros

Abbott has an extremely bright and talented workforce capable of driving hard to meet business goals.

Cons

Perfection is expected and failure to achieve it results in denigration. Micromanaging managers create a depressing and dour work environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Weed out poor managers and encourage a work environment where mistakes are seen as a sign of progress and creativity.

Pros

Great name recognition and account base for a sales person.

Cons

Abbott is very unflexible in their business dealings. It's a take it or leave it attitude with the sales people. It seemed to me they were not accountable for the quality of their analyzers.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit quitting corners with your analyzers and assays. The stock price has been flat since 2001.

Pros

Good benefits, though pay is low. Is a good resume builder if you want to continue to work in healthcare. Generally, people are good to work with.

Cons

Politics drive every decision, business or personnel. Don't really value the contributions of lower level employees, even high performing business personnel. Not very open to new ideas, only the way that it has been done, irrespective of its merit.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer real opportunities for advancement to talented individuals.

Pros

Benefits are better than most... salary, work/life

Cons

Hieararchy atmosphere.... grade levels rule! Very old school....too concious of grade levels instead of looking at what an individual can contribute. Employees are actually told where they are allowed to park, based on their grade levels. Directors/Managers promote individuals that they know and then "follow the rules" and post the position, after they have told someone that they have gotten or will get the position.

Advice to Senior Management

Employees at all grade levels should be looked at as equal contributers to the success of the organization. If we are truly going to be a Top 100 company, we need to ensure that it's not just notated in a magazine, but that we really are what we say we are.

Pros

The internship program is well established, especially at Abbott Park. Not only are interns paired with a manager, who generally acts as a mentor for the summer, but there are several intern-only social events run by the program. These allow for the interns to form a sense of community within Abbott in among themselves. Other events include a meet and greet session with senior level management from all divisions, a day of seminars on professional growth and ethics, and a dinner at the Abbott House where CEO Miles White speaks (and often stays for dinner and chats with the interns) and each table of interns has a VP or senior manager at the table. Networking is huge and is encouraged through the program. It's a great place to gain experience.

Cons

Expectations as far as working hours as not always explicitly stated and can be cause for either not enough time to finish projects or too much time sitting at the office for no reason. For permanent employees, there is little interaction with upper level management and the CEO, whereas the interns met him at least once over the summer. Abbott, like many employers, also tends to hire out of their current internship pool. Thus, if you intern with Abbott early in your college career but do not return to intern the following summers, the chances of you entering the Professional Development Program once you graduate tend to decrease.

Advice to Senior Management

Making yourselves visible to the summer interns does, indeed, make us feel worthwhile and integral to the company. However, some divisions need to consider setting up one-on-one meetings with the interns within their division in order to help the interns understand the broader scope of the company.

Pros

- Company has a strong track record of success
 - Many opportunities across businesses and geographies
 - Strong compensation package
 - Bright co-workers, who are genuinely fun to be around

Cons

- Large company, so it comes with a level of bureaucracy
 - Intense focus on achieving near-term financial commitments can trump long-term thinking

Advice to Senior Management

As I read through the reviews here, it's evident to me that in a company of this size, with as many different businesses and geographic locations, that it's impossible to generalize about the company. So my advice to anyone reading the reviews and thinking of Abbott as a prospective employer is to be careful about reading too much into any one review, be it positive or negative. There are vastly different cultures across this company of 75,000 employees, and particularly since many people joined Abbott through acquisitions of other companies, each retaining pieces of their own culture. Even within a certain area, an especially good or bad manager or co-worker can make a huge difference. So do yourself a favor and don't spend too much time concerned with such broad reviews of the company.

Pros

Good entry level pay (started at 52K as, now at 57K with 2 yrs of exp)
Good experience for entry level candidates
Good Benifits
Lots of places to move around when you want a new position

Cons

Old school environment gets old QUICK!
A lot of managers are ass holes and feel entitled to treat people like crap solely because of their' positions.
Long hours
The promo process is based strictly on experience and not actual quality of work
Depressing older culture

*Disclaimer
-I am unfortunately in a group with a manager who has a serious case of Napoleon syndrome. Therefore my opinion is slightly biast. There are quality managers. You just got to be lucky to find one.

Advice to Senior Management

Managers are there to help individuals grow, and not belittle them (which I have seen happen multiple times). Need to understand the old school environment does not work well with recent grads.

Pros

Good salary and benefits.
Great coworkers at the organization.
Some buildings at the company are very nice and great to work in.

Cons

Corporate politics are very difficult to navigate through in order to go above and beyond.
Employees shuffling around the company to different departments, buildings, desks, etc is very common.
So much red tape makes you feel like a fool when you suggest new ideas.

Advice to Senior Management

Overall, the pay and benefits are great, but this is just a downright depressing place to work because of the sludge of Politics and Bureaucracy.

Pros

Opportunity for growth, stable company, good benefits, work life balance* and training & development opportunities.

Cons

Pay is a bit lower than that of competitors (depends on what level you come in), work life balance - as long as noone needs anything from you, layers upon layers on management, highly political evironment.

Advice to Senior Management

Being a risk taking company can be expensive - but being a me-too company doesn't attrack top talent either - there needs to be a balance.