Albemarle Reviews

Pros

Teaching oriented
Want you to succeed
Opportunity for growth

Cons

Results oriented, sometimes have to work overtime

Advice to Senior Management

More feedback to employees

Pros

Salary is respectable, if young employee,you will be valued more, they want youth as they push the more experienced (older) employees out the door. They have a lot of really good products and work hard to satisfy their paying customers.

Cons

They hide behind "Global" to take jobs that are best performed be in US to Budapest. They do not recognize when they have real problems and fix them, they say right words but action does not productively support corrections.

Advice to Senior Management

Be willing to say the truth or disagree-have "managerial courage" to your upper management.

Pros

Managers (including upper management) are very visible and available. The company is flexible in meeting personal needs. The company is healthy and job security is good.

Cons

There is often not much difference in opportunities/job security/compensation for those who work hard and those who don't. There are easily identifiable "golden child" employees who can do no wrong.

Advice to Senior Management

Consider your employees performance as rated by other departments at the site.

Pros

Almost all employees were kind and fun to be around.
Management had a hands-off style when it came to project management, which gave me a sense of purpose and responsibility
I was praised for meeting and exceeding expectations

Cons

Expectations were low, and I felt that my productivity suffered because of this
Management were often too busy to give work to their employees

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure supervisors have enough time for their employees, both to assign tasks and to review task progress
Have a more involved mentorship program for interns

Pros

Benifits package is better than that offered by most others in field.
Flexible scheduling for most positions
Solvent company with continuing expansion

Cons

There is no growth potential here unless you have a Ph D. They do not encourage employees to grow outside of their field. Accomplishments, work ethic, and performance reviews have nearly no bearing on employees' advancements. Of all places I have been at this company is by far the most over managed. Morale is at an all time low and turnover has gone up significantly. If you are looking for a place to grow your career, be allowed to think (instead of being told that you are just a set of hands), or a positive environment then look somewhere else.

Advice to Senior Management

Apply consistency across your sites and take the value that talented employees have to offer. Communicate with different departments instead of steamrolling through with changes. Respect your employees.

Pros

A lot of opportunities were afforded to me as a co-op. Great place to learn, laid back environment. Entry level pay and benefits are comparable to other chemical companies.

Cons

Doesn't retain new hires well.

Advice to Senior Management

More defined career development paths would be beneficial and implementation of more formalized training programs.

Pros

Talented and extremely helpful colleagues, especially in the R&D and manufacturing divisions. Innovative problem solving is recognized and valued. Opportunity to work on interesting projects. Since the company is involved in a wide range of products, there are never any dull moments.

Cons

After the 2009 workforce reductions, the pace of operations has quickened tremendously, however upper management has prevented the hiring of adequate support staff to insure that operations run smoothly.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to invest in technology to stay ahead of low cost manufacturers. Realize the importance of adequate staffing to maintain the pace of operations.

Pros

treat employees fairly and professionally

Cons

lots of traffic to commute to headquarters in downtown baton touge

Advice to Senior Management

training employees on albemarle practices would be helpful

Pros

The company has been very flexible in allowing me to set my priorities and work them how I see fit. Compensation is on the good side.

Cons

Very internally focussed, with little to no recognition of experience in regards to asking for advice or input into direction. As a public company, it is completely and unwaveringly focussed on quarter by quarter performance with little to no regard for long term success.

Advice to Senior Management

Utilize experience within the company. Take a longer term focus for success. Get away from being internally focussed and reassess what has made the company successful.

Pros

Overall, the company has great people to work with.

Cons

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of room for advancement for chemists.

Advice to Senior Management

Crosstraining employees in different areas would build a more knowlegable team and improve employee satisfaction.