Agfa Healthcare Reviews in Kitchener, ON Area

Pros

providing a valuable service to Health-care

Cons

slower European bureaucracy makes being able to adapt to changing environment more challenging.

Advice to Senior Management

more input from within, rather than top down

Pros

- extremely proud of our product and that we make a direct difference in healthcare. Peers are amazing.
- interim R&D Manager well appointed & amazing. Ps keep her because she is amazing and NO one can pull together projects like she can. She "gets" it. Regional Health Manager remarkable and working toward a better product.

Cons

- totally agree with comments of March 2010 submission!
- 6.5 project plan unfair to other staff not on same project. Everyone works hard and long hours and not just select few should be compensated for overtime hours. Isn't that called "discrimination"?
- bonuses subject to bell curve: 15% needs - 70% meets - 15% exceeds. No matter what any manager says, it's based on favoritism. Everyone in R&D works incredibly yet they had to fill a quota. How insane is that? Managers based feedback on year end assessments soley to fit the placement, not the other way around. Some people never heard a negative word all year but got 15%. Good way to demotivate.
- No cost of living increases in 2 years (how can we convince anyone to work here with those stats)

Advice to Senior Management

Bring back the respectful days of Mitra and values we hear about. Why in the world do you keep some of most boorish, negative and incompetent Management staff? They don't even have the background, education or soft skills close to doing the job? They are costing HUGE dollars and causing irrepairable damage. And, they stab the good Managers in the back until they leave too.

Pros

-Culture that exists from previous company Mitra is one of mutual respect - for colleagues and ultimately for customers. Everyone works on a first name basis, and there are no Mahogany offices for the elite.
-We really do care about the patients that will benefit if our products are used properly and functioning properly. Everyone that works here has a personal committment and is proud of the work we do in HealthCare....this is one of the things that keeps us going! We can directly relate the efforts we take to real people....neighbors/friends/mothers/uncles/and strangers.
-Agfa is a good community player - charitable contributions and sponsorhip/participation in local activities - More and more each year which makes us proud to say we work for Agfa when our neighbors ask where we work
-Flexible hours and Health/Fitness focus allows a good work/life balance. Employees run fitness classes for each other for free, and we bring in a yoga instructor. Gym on site is a huge bonus that many employees take advantage of.
-Good benefits....especially the RRSP matching program. There is no other employer offerring such a good RRSP program in this area.
- Upper Management and company executives really do understand Software Development! (although that was a problem for a few crucial years that did cause alot of havoc)
- We have a Vision and we have a Strategy - although that was previously a problem for the company...the current management have roadmaps, strategies, focus, etc.

Cons

- HR local management- is a problem. They don't listen to employees, and are biased on the side of local management at all times. It is obvious who they work for and they can't be trusted. Why get into an HR role if you basically don't like people? (disclaimer - the people focusing on benefits have always been an asset to the HR team and are not included in this statement)
-Hiring - not sure if we have a weird process...but we can't seem to get the people in the door fast enough. We have positions to fill...and lots of local talent to draw from. Do we take too long? Do we do too many interviews with too many people in them? Do they get scared by our HR people?
- limited access to professional development - training - as budgets have been cut for last 5 years
- Middle Management - no accountability, busy saving their own skin and pointing the finger elsewhere. Sometimes promoted to roles they have no experience in...this will hurt the people depending on them eventually. They delegate and then take the credit for work they didn't do. For a few years they have created an atmosphere of fear about speaking up for what is right.....those people that did were effectively 'removed' or left to persue other opportunities.
-Retention - we have lost many very valuable people to other local organizations

Advice to Senior Management

Bravo! We see Upper Management taking responsibility and being Accountable...this needs to trickle down to the Middle Management.
Beware of what Middle Mgmt tell you - and what is really happening. This is a good area to consider listening to the people at the lower levels of the tree...and meeting with them more often

Pros

Agfa Healthcare has both a strong customer base and a global development centre in Canada. The Canadian organization leads the rest of the world in the adoption of digital technologies for medical imaging, which makes the work done by Agfa employees in Canada quite leading edge and innovative. The team is dynamic and dedicated to improving healthcare delivery for their customers across Canada.

Cons

Because Agfa globally is transitioning from an analog medical imaging model (film) to digital, and because Canada is leading this charge, it can be challenging to make the needs of the customer understood by those in the organization (head office in Europe) who are not facing similar challenges.

Advice to Senior Management

I give my feedback directly to Senior Management already, so will reserve comment here.