Covidien Reviews

Pros

Learned proficiency with Visual Basic and SQL
Learned basic skills necessary to succeed in a professional environment

Cons

At specific Distribution Center site, potential to work with new programs was somewhat limited.

Advice to Senior Management

Great Co-Op program, should be offered at more sites and at the corporate level.

Pros

Good product line, stable customer base, loyal sales force

Cons

Too many changes happen at the top and every change comes with a new direction

Advice to Senior Management

Stay with one direction for a while to make sure the result is what you want

Pros

Good engineers. Good work / life balance. Good facilities.

Cons

As a whole, upper management is not so impressive. Very few show real leadership abilities. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a a very political environment and they don't seem to even realize it. It seems like the recent merging of different units was good in concept, but really poor in execution. Hard to make your goals when you don't even have a boss yet (product of the poor execution of the merger, with lots of people being adversely affected). Only certain people seem to get promoted and it often times seems based on who "talks the talk" the best.

Advice to Senior Management

Please pay more attention to people and not just profits. Try to understand how political the environment has gotten in the past 4 years or so and figure out a way to eliminate it.

Pros

- Working level people are friendly and try to do the best job they can with very limited resources and management support
- Company has a pretty good line of products from past aquisitions, so there is potential for profitability if managed properly

Cons

Upper management is a revolving door; middle management just tries to stay entrenched; Company would like to be a big player in Pharma but is unwilling to spend the money on qualified talent and resources to develop new products

Advice to Senior Management

Either spend the money to be a true leader in the Pharma arena, or be realistic and be content to be profitable in the third or fourth tier of generic pharmaceutical manufacturers

Pros

Covidien Respiratory & Monitoring Solutions in Boulder has Great cafeteria and good Gym. People are nice but dull. Most people don't work more than 8 hrs.

Cons

Work is slow paced and can get monotonous. It is a very indecisive environment. I find myself going to meeting after meeting talking about the same decsions which need to be made with no decsion ever taken. Its also not very innovative, its OK to shoot ideas & solutions down yet not actually offer up any, this doesn't fly in most modern companies any longer. Managers also push major decisions down to reports and offer little support. Employee medical insurance contributions are costly considerting this is a medical care company.

I wouldn't relocate for a postion here. To Covidien you are just a headcount, you could easily be laid off within a year without any consideration of your situation. If your local to the Denver area and not very driven then I would recommend it. The Boulder office and surroundings is a pleasant place to work.

Advice to Senior Management

Put more ownership on managers and get them to provide more support to their direct reports.

Pros

Autonomy to run territory without micromanaging
Above average benefits for industry
Exceptional budgets for conducting business, no spending cuts
Most who sell for Covidien are people I would hang out with outside of work

Cons

Total earning ability leaves a lot to be desired and below average
Comp structure is confusing and very general to entire US, not territory specific
Significant lack of innovation in product development and acquisition

Advice to Senior Management

Need a more competitive comp plan that is less confusing and doesn't require an algorithm to decipher your paychecks.
Step out of commodity products and in to technologies for the future

Pros

Covidien hires great people that are talented as well as good fits culturally. And you will always feel like your personal life is respected and a priority as management takes great care of their employees.

There's a big push for innovation at Covidien, which makes it an exciting place to be right now.

Cons

Covidien is a big company and although it is a new entity it has decades of roots in biomedicine. It can often be hard and frustrating to achieve innovation and progress without feeling like you're bumping up against the core products and company direction.

Pros

There are a number of good co-workers that I was able to learn from. The benefits are in par with other companies. I still have friends in the company that I continue to speak with to get company updates.

Cons

The senior management team was a tough group to deal with. Over the years, there have been much turnover at the manager and director levels. It gets worst at the Mexican plants and the support they receive from the division support.

Advice to Senior Management

The senior management team needs to look at the reason for the turnover. Get rid of the old Kendall network (good old boy).

Pros

Solid products offer some stability. However, there is concern for the future, no funnel of new products.
I am from St. Louis, so it is nice to have the opportunity to move up and stay in town. Many choose travel vs. relocation.
Company does spend money to try and keep the plants in good working conditions

Cons

20 Monkeys with typewriters could put together more constructive feedback than many of the managers in my department.
Too much holding the cards and secrets from the masses or in many cases the Project Engineers and Managers that can actually improve your decisions.

Advice to Senior Management

Please get rid of the last remnants of the Mallinckrodt guard that keep us stuck in the mud.

Pros

The Products the company makes are generally very well designed and made. In general the sales force is extremely motivated and possibly the best trained in the medical community.

Cons

The Marketing Strategy is very disjointed, product line to product line, product to product, or even month to month. There was a lot of turnover among senior leadership, and with each change comes a new culture. Rather than building up and enhancing a brand to boost sales, the company consistenty chooses layoffs for cost containment.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote from within and build consistency of culture; try to keep the same strategy for at least a year before changing course. Price products competitively.