Alphatec Spine Reviews

Pros

I like the people who I work with, I'm getting more authority to make decisions about my projects and Alphatec is continuing to grow and change quickly which means that my work stays interesting and challenging. The company also now seems to be on the right track with regard to focusing on fewer things (and the right things) to increase our profitability.

Cons

Historically Marketing hasn't had as much influence over project prioritization and other decisions as they should have had (although this seems to be changing somewhat), it sometimes feels like there's a little too much drama when changes occur, and communication could still be improved throughout the organization.

Advice to Senior Management

Involve us more in strategic decisions that the company is making -- there's a lot of insight that people at the product manager level can offer. Also, keep improving organizational communication.

Pros

Intimate customer knowledge and support, specialized products for spine, blend of operational and strategic in a start up company

Cons

IT and intranet infrastructure requires manual processes. Once funds are avaiable this will make life much easier for all employees

Advice to Senior Management

Ensure decisions being made are inclusive of middle management.

Pros

Access to a wide variety of surgeons that regularly place implants. These people know what works and will certainly educate anyone willing to listen. They are the market. It's a very dynamic environment with dramatic successes and equally dramatic failures. Eighty percent of all startups fail. Alphatec's demonstrated ability to generate revenue indicates there is more than a chance for success with hard work as the foundation.

I suspect most of the negative posts were placed by former employees whose employment was terminated by the company. The rest are from people who just want a job. A word of advice to the latter: EDCO and Waste Management are always looking for people that just want a job...

You want your six years back? You should have payed attention in high school and went to college.

Cons

There's no magic wand that can be waved to make your project succeed. You actually have to get in front of the project and make it happen. Seriously the biggest issue at the company has to be the diminished expectations of our client base due to previous poor performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Know your opportunities. Carve out a selection of conservative no-brainer revenue generating projects balanced with an array of aggressive, new, big earning options.

Pros

Great location in Carlsbad, decent benefits compared to others in the industry, many of the people below management level are great to work with.

Cons

High turnover rate. Employees are expected to work long hours with little to no reward. Upper Management is out of touch with employees. Very little consideration given to employees not of management level. Moral is at rock bottom.

Advice to Senior Management

The entire upper management structure has been replaced in the past two years. Seems to be a trend, replacing upper management on a regular basis versus addressing the real problems. Hopefully the current team can improve the atmospher at the company.

Pros

well, they were in the area so the commute wasn't horrible. Decent product line for a spine company.

Cons

culture, culture, culture - they have a bad one. The company tends to position everything in a negative light, and all issues require someone to be blamed. Not a culture of identify and fix issues, rather just figure out where to point the finger.

Advice to Senior Management

Improve morale - reduced retention will make it more likely to complete projects, continue product development and achieve stated milestones.

Pros

Challenging, the weather is fabulous, no micro managment

Cons

Poor upper management, lots of wasted money, cryonisim, very poor communication

Advice to Senior Management

Lose the ego, invest in your employees and more promotion from within

Pros

Salaries are pretty good. But I think that is how they entice people to come here. Other than that, there is nothing good.

Cons

Poor communication, work hard with no rewards. Some of us work harder than others, while manner screw around. A lot of buck passing going on, people try to get out of doing their own job.

But senior management is the biggest problem... Especially the CEO. He's had 4 years to make something of this company and all he's done is drive the stock price down. They don't seem to learn from their mistakes. They keep trying to whip the employees like sled dogs to work harder, expecting to get more out of them. Everyone is understaffed. The only way to get more, is to hire more employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Maybe hire more Indians, less Chiefs. There are too many Senior VPs running around, and no one to actually do all the work.

Pros

Carlsbad is a nice place to work. There is always parking. There is a fun committee that tries to boost morale.

Cons

Senior management is incapable of providing clear priorities for the company which results in projects competing for resources. There is a high turnover because nobody like to be held to impossible timelines that one has repeatedly provided feedback that the timeline is not feasible and senior management refuses to accept the reality that timelines cannot be based on best case scenario.

Advice to Senior Management

Give employees the respect that they are capable and how long it takes to complete the tasks. There needs to be clear priorities so projects are not competing for the same resources which the teams had identified as risks.

Pros

It's apart of the medical device industry, so if you're interested in that field you can get some good experience. It's located in Carlsbad, a quiet town with plenty of parking, so it's easy to get in and out of.

There's a social committee that puts on small events to try to lift morale.

Cons

I've been with the company for almost 2 years and people come and go every week. It's hard to have any momentum when you have new people that are learning the business everywhere.

No energy in the office, doesn't seem like people care and the veterans seem to have stopped caring. Seems like people view this place as somewhere to hang out while looking for something better.

People aren't very social, maybe it's the engineering culture in parts of the building, but people here rarely acknowledge others existence, don't say hello. Some are just plain rude. Could be low morale due to people disappearing all the time.

Employees don't know what the goals are. Who runs the show? Is it Management or HealthPoint?

I've never heard anyone say they like working here.

Advice to Senior Management

You gotta bring in young potential, fresh untainted blood. The current focus of hiring industry veterans is not working, seems like we're hiring other company's problems. Successful employees rarely jump around to other companies, we need to grow our own stars.

Pros

Carlsbad is a nice area. Non management employees are easy to work with.

Cons

High turnover rate. Culture = work long hours with little to no reward. No true direction for the company. Upper Management is out of touch with employees. Management is allowed to terminate employees with little to no justification.

Advice to Senior Management

Value the employees, they are the key to the success of any company.