Bio-Rad Labs Reviews

Pros

No learning curve, all old products. CDG is doing well.

Cons

lower pay, more politics. Rural location for the headquarter. Danagerous and outdated facility at Richmond.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the gang to stay cool for another couple of years.

Pros

Stability, employee empowerment, tuition reimbursement, and educational encouragement. Bio-rad wants their employees to grow and they really promote growth within the company.

Cons

Uninteresting at times but very stable work environment. Even though it can be challenging when learning new things once mastered there is not much stress. This company is solid and for people who do not like stressful work environments.

Advice to Senior Management

None, management does a good job at communicating what is going on within the company. All managers pretty much have an open door policy and most of them encourage staff to ask questions and talk with them if they have concerns or problems.

Pros

Many opportunities move upward, gain experience and learn new technologies.

Cons

Pay is poor, work balance is poor. Generally people leave for better paying positions after gaining experience and skills. Company is too slow to fix issues when they cost money.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend the money on your people, products and logistics. Saves you customers and employees in the future

Pros

-Friendly Atmosphere
-Interesting People
-Non-stressful work environment

Cons

-Pay is ok at best

Advice to Senior Management

be less fiscally conservative
more fun activities

Pros

The company has a well-defined and executed talent recognition program. The objectives for employees are clearly defined during the annual performance - called "focal" reviews and are updated mid-year. You know you are in a good company if you feel there is concern for employees' needs that go beyond compensation, medical and well-being benefits but extend to support for need-to-give-back-to-society.

Cons

It is too good a company, employees stay. For the ambitious kind, it may mean waiting for the opportunity to open up.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more pro-active in embracing new philosophies - like six sigma, 360 degree evaluation, cross-functional employee deployment.

Pros

Good benefits
Stable company
Good growth opportunities if you are in corporate offices

Cons

Not a very innovative company
Many employees have a 9 to 5 mentality

Advice to Senior Management

Greater innovation will be necessary to maintain growth of life sciences business and penetrate pharma and biotech markets.

Pros

Seems like people don't seem to get fired or laid off particularly frequently

Cons

benefits and salary are not that great. Its location is far far away from everything

Advice to Senior Management

Bio-Rad needs to take some risks -- be more of an innovator instead of making more products that are exactly like everything out there already

Pros

Bio-Rad has access to industry-leading technology that could revolutionize healthcare for diabetes and autoimmune testing.

Cons

Bio-Rad is slow to capitalize on the IP it owns due to mismanagement and below-average in-house expertise.

Advice to Senior Management

The company is trying to grow faster than its capabilities allow. Customer perception of Bio-Rad is faltering because company resources are focused on new product development rather than ensuring customer satisfaction of existing products.

Pros

Growth of Company. Mom & Pop feel at Corporate. Great, friendly people. Good customer awareness and pride in service. Good salary. Lots of opportunities to improve things.

Cons

Getting way more political as it grows. Desperately need a COO. Old-fashioned and slow to react. Will never agree to new-fangled concepts like tele-working, or other benefits current in the marketplace. Need a Company strategy other than "double in size in 5 years". Little money to improve things. Need to be more "value" focused and less "cheap".

Advice to Senior Management

Get with the 21st Century. Hire some young talent into senior positions. We can't get to $5B by continuing to do the same things we've been doing for the last 57 years.

Pros

Team culture pervades the workplace. You know your colleagues are motivated and hard-working.

Cons

Workers like the company so much they generally stay long. This creates less opportunity for upward move from junior positions.

Advice to Senior Management

It is good to be fiscally conservative - but not too much.