Baxter Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

Independant working
Good pay
The management allows Work At Home and flex time.
Good obtainable bonus offering.
Worthy health benefits.

Cons

Understaffed areas where coverage is needed.
Goal oriented, effort is not appreciated.
Too many positions outsourced.
Work / Life balance is sometimes lost.

Pros

Pay, foot in the door of pharma. Learn about the basics of the industry and meet new people.

Cons

Lack of professionalism and guidance from management. Female dominated. If you work hard you may or may not get recognized. Management is inexperienced and it shows.

Advice to Senior Management

Support your team! Motivate your team! Don't show favoritism! Provide equal opportunity for career advancement and special projects!

Pros

Good for entry level for your next plan to be in the medical field.

Cons

Management does not care for individuals hard work. They should focused on people who was dedicated and not playing around.

Pros

opportunities to move around the company, reasonable work/life balance most of the time, good company reputation, good benefits and reasonable salary

Cons

more about who you know than what you know, senior management disconnected from employees, hard to get fair recognition for hard work

Advice to Senior Management

please listen to the concerns employees have about changing culture, please see money spent on team building and social interaction as valuable, please recognize people more often

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.

Pros

I learned a lot while I was at Baxter, both how to do things and not to do things. I think that it was a great stepping stone in my career, but not a company to grow with long term.

Cons

If you are not part of their Finance Development Program, your interviews for promotions will be courtesy only.

Pros

Its good company to work. People are very nice

Cons

Very slow advancement in career

Pros

Benefits are in line with other companies, locations are convienient from most parts of the Chicago area, facilities are decent, people for the most part are friendly.

Cons

Annual merit raises are becoming almost non-existent - in 2012 the raise for a "meets" expectations is only 1%. The company continues to have difficulty bringing new products to the market and is now turning to acquisitions to grow the top line. A large restructuring is currently going on, the company recently set aside 200 million dollars for "business optimization" - i.e. plant closures and layoffs. Layoffs have already occurred and will continue to occur in 2012 and 2013. There is almost no chance for promotion unless you are in the right "political clique". Even if you do get a promotion, the raise is only 3-4%.

Advice to Senior Management

There is a significant credibility gap developing in what senior management says to employees during townhalls, etc., and what is really going on at the company. For example, management continues to paint a bright picture, yet the company is setting aside 200 million dollars for layoffs and restructuring over the next two years. Of course, this is never spoken about to employees even though it is a matter of public record via the recent earnings release. Most of the senior management is either new to the company or new to their current role and therefore unproven. Most employees do not have confidence in senior management and this is slowly working its way down to lower levels of management as well. With the recent 1% raises, increasing numbers of employees are looking outside the company for other opportunities, and with the local job market improving, more are finding such opportunities.

Pros

Best group of engineers I have ever worked with who foster a welcome environment in the medication delivery business group.

Cons

Pace can be slow and the reorganization can cause a lot of confusion. HR and upper management are very disconnected from the engineers and their needs.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay more attention to the engineering that backs up the business. Be more in touch with the workers.

Pros

Work-life balance was the highest priority. Their benefits packages were great. They are very highly respected in the industry and the region.

Cons

The workplace was highly political. The company has had ongoing trouble with the FDA for over a decade. They are constantly trying to reorganize in order to address their issues. The management's intelligence and leadership ability is terrible. You will receive recognition for your successes, but that will not be translated into raises or tangible rewards. After your initial offer, do not expect to get many raises.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit. Your employees need to be paid competitively, or they will go to other companies in the area that do the same type of work and will pay them. You have been trying to fix your FDA issues for decades, and clearly, you do not know how to do it.