Pros

Depending on department bosses are good. Good place to start career. They give opportunity to entry levels and train them accordingly. They wish to retain their team members. Great Mentors. Good learning curve.

Cons

Compensation is very less for the to the bone job done. Over worked. Less opportunity for growth. Majority of the management has been their for ages and refuses to give up management position to new comers. It will take years before you will be promoted from Tech to Scientist which still does not guarantee a good pay.

Advice to Senior Management

Market compatible Salary.
opportunity for growth.

Pros

- great internship program (with very competitive wages for interns)
- great programs for early career engineers and sales-people
- a lot of opportunity for personal and professional learning, no matter what your job function
- good opportunity for a driven person to shine (or a lazy person to slack)
- very understanding of personal/family needs
- everyone is really friendly-- I've chatted in the halls with everyone from janitors to VPs

Cons

- widespread low morale and work ethic (not in every department)
- after a certain point, all advancement is in management-- no opportunity to advance as a technical expert. This takes good engineers/scientists and makes them into bad managers.
- can be cliquey
- very different culture between sites

Advice to Senior Management

Choose managers who can manage and lead-- a manager should inspire the team, not drag it down.

Pros

Large, stable company. Great new training center. Company in general offers a lot of flexibility to deal with personal matters. Benefits package is good.

Cons

Poor leadership. Decision makers don't get buy in from stakeholders. Tendency to manage by crisis. No opportunities for professional growth. Run more like a high school than a professional training center. Low morale. Low pay. Heavy workload.

Advice to Senior Management

Get out your chair and lead.

Pros

Depending on your supervisor, you can work from home and there is some workplace flexibility. If you are a card carrying member of the good ole boys club this is the place to work.

Cons

If you are a minority or female I suggest you keep records from day one if you are thinking about joining this company. The engineering group is especially a hostile environment. Find allies early and be ready to sue when you fail to get equal pay and equal treatment. You will also need to be judged by different standards during reviews and when you need time off. I read reviews that this company was hostile to minorities and thought those people were just a bunch of complainers, but I learned the hard way that BEC is not a welcoming company. They hire a few affirmative action minorities then treat them like crap until they can't take it anymore and quit or shutdown. If you have any other options, go somewhere else.

Advice to Senior Management

Be ready because you are a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.

Pros

benefits, flxibility of job, company car

Cons

new management approach not good, making employees not happy with the company starting to micro manage by putting gps in our car and having dispacts tell us were to go. Very bad idea, people here are leaving.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't try to micro-manage

Pros

- Hours are flexible
- Onsite nurse
- Using technology that's up to date (OBIEE for analytics)

Cons

- Not much company culture
- Coworkers are reserved and are not advocates of knowledge sharing
- Brought on contractors from SoftMaster who are not as knowledgeable as they should be and have slow turnaround time

Advice to Senior Management

- Should select contractors that are easier to work with and can provide technical expertise

Pros

Smart and passionate employees. Strong ethics, values, and mission. Good benefits including medical, savings, and tuition reimbursement. Encouraged to take on responsibility and accomplish meaningful and challenging work. Good business model. Recession tolerant industry. Opportunities to live and work in many geographies. Frugal and rational decision making.

Cons

Average to sub-par PTO, salary, bonus, and long term incentives versus talent expectations. Slow to formally recognize career growth leading to over commitment and under compensation. Poor communication of strategic vision to encourage involvement at all levels. Growth by acquisition has led to multiple geographic silos of culture. Can be penny wise and pound foolish.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest more in talent management across all levels of experience. Invest in newer information technology to improve collaboration and lower barriers to productivity.

Pros

I suppose their benefits package is on par with major competing firms, personal development programs are a plus. Relative freedom to do the work allocated within a set timeframe.

Cons

Pretty much lack of guidance from the senior management. The company is very formal and old-fashioned, resistant to any kind of change or initiative. People in general appear dis-interested in what they are doing, and leadership fails to provide sufficient motivation. Not a very good environment for a young, imaginative person. Possibly a much better match for a detail-oriented, experienced engineer-type. Dont expect to make a fast career, or receive industry-grade compensation, unless you are willing to spend 5 years at the company just establishing yourself.

Advice to Senior Management

In order for the company to have a future, encouragement of young talent and initiative is necessary.

Pros

I was an engineering intern and I actually did some cool engineering work. A lot of other internships will have you slaving over paperwork or documentation or microsoft software. While you will do paperwork you will also have the chance to work on actual problems that take thought. We were also given opportunities to present our work to senior management at the end of the internship which was great. I was also able to speak with my managers to decide when I could conclude my internship. They allowed me to work right up until the start of school which was ideal for me.

Cons

I felt like a there was a lot of downtime and no rush to really finish projects. People seemed to take more time than necessary to finish projects because there was no point in hustling. I was definitely the only young person walking into meetings and to that point it was hard to find a mentor closer to me in age. If you don't speak up you can be put on documentation or compliance projects with government agencies which are extremely boring. It is a big matrix organization so it is hard to see your work come to fruition or feel like you made a difference.

Advice to Senior Management

Challenge your interns a bit more

Pros

Working at Beckman Coulter was an enriching experience (approx 20 years). There was a feeling of community and family. The environment (culture) lended itself to long term employment and stability which is why so many people had a long and satisfying career at BCI. Loyalty was recognized and rewarded, which in turn made me want to deliver and excel for Beckman Coulter and the customer. Varied experiences in multiple organizations ensured a well rounded understanding of how BCI worked. Knoweldge gained was invaluable. Beckman is an excellent learning ground for a well rounded future in other markets. Has been a Great Place to work.

Cons

The Executive Management team is taking the Corporation in a much needed direction. And I agree for the most part with the direction they are taking. Making wide sweeping changes are never easy and change is always hard to pull off smoothly. With that said, Executive Managent needs to ensure that they balance the necessary changes with opportunity for all employees who have developed themselves actively. The vast knowledge base at Beckman Coulter is a valuable asset and should be considered when the changes are made. A mixture of new ideas and seasoned experience would balance the changes that need to come to keep the company heading into the future.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in your employees. This includes delivery against goals as well as loyalty/commitment.