Pros

Shared values that are meaningful, like integrity and respect for people. Open communication, with suggestions taken seriously.

Cons

Would have liked to see more enthusiasm from employees in general. People seemed to be content but the environment lacked excitement.

Advice to Senior Management

Find ways to motivate people, including team-building events

Pros

Competitive compensation, oportunties for advancement, company's performance has improved significantly, company is respected by others.

Cons

High turnover, and as a result, there is more competitivemess than teamwork among the employees

Advice to Senior Management

Reducing turnover would improve teamwork and increase productivity.

Pros

I had a great supervisor who gave me a reasonable amount of work and recognized my accomplishments. My immediate co-workers were also excellent to work with and gave me support through hard times.

Cons

Upper management is full of nepotism and incompetance. Their idea of management is nitpicking the irrelevant and cutting costs at every opportunity. It feels like upper managers are here to lengthen their resume and do very little to improve the plant and work. Space is limited, yet there is no plans for expansion. Equipment is old and acquiring replacements is a lengthy process. Interaction between departments is scarce.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a minute to see who is actually improving the quality of culture at your plans. Look past the numbers and see workers

Pros

Helping people..at one time I was proud to be a part of this company.

Cons

A lot of cliches, you feel like your back in high school, backstabbing, promotions given to people mgmt favor, not the deserving. Baxter claims they have tuition assistance, however even if the degreee you are working towards should be covered by this, the mgr still has descretion and if he doesn't like you, he will deny.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of the heirachy!! You need to be in touch with the people on the lower level. I agree with another poster who said that upper mgmt has no idea on timelines on projects and expects miracles!! The guy I worked for was like that....he was always after my people wonder why things took so long..had he done it himself he would have known!

Pros

Baxter has a really decent benefits package. Depending on your location, there is an opportunity to develop some very good, collaborative relationships with your co-workers. In addition, there are opportunities to become familiar with the various roles within your team, enabling you to step outside of your comfort zone and learn new skills (i.e. wear many hats).

Cons

There are too many layers of management between those that actually do the work and the senior level executives to which the results are reported. There is a tendency to have unrealistic expectations or timelines by senior management because there is no comprehension of what processes a project might involve. There is also a significant lack of communication between Executive Management and associates which leads to mistrust and confusion.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more visible and open with your employees. Don't be afraid to communicate ideas, changes, etc., and be upfront about any potential concerns, issues, or upcoming changes. Do not sugarcoat your communications, this only leads to mistrust and unrest for your employees.

Pros

This company has great core values and at the executive level, business endeavors seem to planned and executed in a way that truly maximizes potential of company resources. Brilliant leaders of the company know what is important to employees - effective and timely communcation, work/life balance, recognition, and contributions to the community. Volunteer opportunities are plentiful. The company's commitment to sustainability is impressive.

Cons

What you see is not necessarily what you get. What may be happening at corporate HQ and touted on the website is not necessarily reality at all the locations. There is a lot of stale minds at Baxter and this stifles innovation and creativity at the senior management levels and below. The staleness of the workplace makes it hard to get new, creative juices flowing. Besides being a non-diverse work environment, rankism is the predominant injustice experienced. Promotions are not merit based but seniority based (i.e. whose been around the longest). This contributes to low morale. Managers are thrust into their positions with little to no manager experience or skill. Unfortunately, this creates an environment which does not nurture professional growth and development.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat everyone with respect. Take time to listen to others and keep an open mind. There is a lot that employees have to offer - whether they have been with the company for one year or twenty years. Everyone has something valuable to contribute. Recognize them all.

Pros

Encouragement of good work life balance-many people with children were encouraged to get home timely etc. Family values are very much respected - lots of people with children worked from home on Fridays.

Dress is business casual

There are numerous manufacturing sites to work with.

Lots of work is done in groups. Most people are nice to work with.

They encourage an open door policy.

The company has different divisions so you have the ability to do different things if you are so inclined.
There are a lot of people who have worked at the company for a very long time so they understand the history of the projects and understand the leadership.

Cons

Heavily matrixed to the detriment of the business, very much the old boy network, its predetermined who will succeed based on who is in.

They are very invested in continuing to be best in the market but there is intolerant attitude-there is more concern about who is delivering a message than what is being said.

Management is very siloed from the people below them. They do a lot of very special things for the management and provide a lot of light weight lip service to the people below them.

Communication is considered to be a valuable commodity and often you don't get the most important information to do your job unless you are on the inside.

They are very invested in keeping things as they are but say they want change. IF you espouse ideas which are not consistent with how things have always been done you are labelled someone who is not a team player. tough environment to come into if you are new - transistions are not eased into-they just throw you in.

For the most part nice people but the environment supports a lot of negative cliche activity.

Advice to Senior Management

You need to be genuine about your messages to those below the senior management.

Pros

It is an easy job. You don't actually need a degree to work this job, although it is required by the company. The management is personable and makes an effort to make everyone feel like a family. The pay is pretty reasonable for the position, but the benefits are the real treasure. The health plan is phenomenal.

Cons

It is an easy job, but very monotonous and stressful at times. Co-workers are mostly left to manage themselves and each other, which means there can be quite a bit of tension when a co-worker decides they are going to avoid work. Otherwise, the job is great, it is also in a good location.

Advice to Senior Management

Give more authority to Senior Techs and keep them on the floor. Sometimes people just need direct and specific orders.

Pros

I had a good experience working in the HR department at Baxter and I might even go back to work in HR if I get an opportunity. The best reason to work for baxter is- it is an established company in a growing field.

Cons

Not all managers care to sent the right tone and expectations. I had previously worked at Baxter in Round Lake and it was a bad experience. I was hired to work in Drug Delivery and when I went in to report to work on the first day, the manager called the security and had me escorte to work in the Penicilin fill room. This company has a difficult time keeping people working for them as they are not upfront & treuthful with their employees. I have seen employees walk out of there, not to return after working for half a day. One of the worst departments to work in at Baxter is its Credit and Collections department. My boss was the worst that I could have ever had.

Advice to Senior Management

Managers, should try to treat their employees in a fair and decent manner and understand that the hourly employees are also human beings and need to be treated with some amout of consideration. Remember that just because an employee is a temporary employee does not mean that they are any less human.

After all said and done, I will say that my manager in the HR department, where I worked breiefly worked was a very nice person, a great manager and very professional. I will go back to work for him in a heartbeat.

Pros

The people are friendly, and the company cares a lot about work/life balance. Compensation and benefits are excellent as compared to similar companies. Upper management is very accessible to the workforce. Many employees have worked at Baxter for many years which shows that the culture promotes careers within the company, and workers who stay are generally satisfied with the job and the lifestyle, etc. Healthcare is a generally stable industy and very attractive in times when the markets are unstable. All in all, it is a corporation that makes healthcare products, pays decently well, and tends to keep people around.

Cons

Although the social networks within the company are strong, Baxter oftentimes resembles high school with cliques and favorites. This is especially prevelent within the lower ranks and the development programs for first time hires. Those employees that are picked to be "favorites" often stay for many years and have to struggle within the terrible promotion structure. Baxter is a very conservative company with little excitement. If you are looking for someone to discuss market news with, this is not the place for you. Most people are concerned with punching the clock and then hurrying home to their respective suburbs. I got the impression that most of the people cared little about their jobs and stayed for many years because they were to lazy or scared to look into anything else.

Advice to Senior Management

Encourage employees to have more unique thoughts.