Dupont Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Relatively equitable salary and health benefits. I suppose as a research chemist in a large company, I was able over the years to command decent budgets for new equipment and supplies.
Generally, I was able to attend at least one scientific meeting per year, and interact with colleagues outside of the company on occasion. The facilities were on a par with other places I have worked (lab, equipment, library, computers, cafeteria etc).

Cons

Where do I begin? Support staff is the biggest disappointment. Dupont management is terrified of unionized technical help and will do anything to keep the techs happy. Consequently the PI's are at the mercy of the English major technician mafia, and God forbid if anyone tries to right the apple cart or complain in any way. Next I would fault senior management for allowing PI's to work on sophomoronic and impossible goals. But then, most managers are so as they were the least competent at science in the first place. They bring true meaning to the company's motto "Miracles of Science". Meanwhile Dupont's patent positions suffer in so many fields, further lowering morale.

Advice to Senior Management

At any job, the minimum one expects is to be treated with dignity and respect. I expect my manager to be honest, open, and fair. This I did not get at Dupont. My job became a nightmare and an experience I would not wish upon anyone. My advice to Ms Kullman is to install an outside scientific review panel and lose the senior level managers who have been lying their way to upper level positions as fast as she can. Set some realistic goals and projects which can bring the company out of their current product doldrums (TiO2 still?). Require professional expert training in management, and allow honest reverse (bottom up) appraisals of managers.

Pros

Great work/life balance, good sharing of information between employees, numerous resources available within the company, diverse portfolio, in charge of your own career (internal job postings for which anyone within the company can apply), diverse job opportunities

Cons

Would like more overseas opportunities

Advice to Senior Management

Work to promote more global experiences for employees.

Pros

There are some good benefits but they are going up in cost and the hours are good, outside of that the rest of the company woes cause more friction than good work and communication can justify as a good place to work.

Cons

Outsourcing, Outsourcing and more Outsourcing, at one of the worst economic meltdowns in history, the CEO of Dupont is currently trying to ship all the jobs from the Wilmington office, and not only send the jobs but her and the managers want to get rid of engineering all together, never mind that most engineers working for them know the work quality that you get from a US worker is unmatched by anyone outside of the USA, we have decades of quality work and experience, but Greed and the all mighty dollar are what drives the CEO to drive this company in the dirt, they will not last going in this direction, as a stockholder we all need to make this public and hold them accountable for their actions, including the board members.

Advice to Senior Management

There are not enough words to make any of these greedy managers listen, the direction is not forward, they need to think about the destruction that they are causing by this outsourcing, maybe we should outsource the mangers and the CEO, has anyone thought about this concept, maybe we would all get a raise instead of every penny made going to the CEO.
We need mangers with engineering experience and a the knowledge to bring this company back to what it once was, a global leader in specialty chemicals and fibers, a leader in Technology.

Pros

Work Life Balance is great. People are great.

Cons

Lack of long term focus and constantly shifting priorities. Approval processes are just plain broken. It takes for ever to get anything approved and then you have to hurry up and spend your funding before it is reallocated to another project. It takes a long time to get a decision made. The culture is very risk adverse.

Advice to Senior Management

Reward and encourage prudent risk taking. Stop micromanaging costs and focus on growth.

Pros

Bene's are very good, hours are good and many good people to work with

Cons

Management at the top are clueless when it comes to executing a project from start to finish, they only are interested in sending the work outside of the company, the work they get back is shody and incomplete with many many mistakes.

Advice to Senior Management

Bean counters run the company, my advice get rid of all the bean counters and bring in real engineering managers back to those positions and bring the work back to the people that care about the product that goes out the door, I am one who cares as are my peers about the company and the work and detail that goes into our projects, Greed is ruining this business, if you take the time to really see the bad quality of work that comes back 2nd and 3rd time for fixing you would see how muc money you really waste, was the cheap labor really worth all the rework?

Pros

Benefits, They too are going away though, more cost and less range of benefits

Cons

Managers are merely puppets, their whole purpose is to send as much work out of the states as possible, it does not matter how many times we have to fix and redesign the work here, they will hide the funds and hide all the mistakes, there are hundreds of jobs that could be put to good use here in the states, it is a shame that the company has no regard for the people here in the states and don't care about the company since the direction they are heading in will be their demise.

Advice to Senior Management

Find managers that know the chemical business not bean counters that only know how to count pennies and run a business in the ground based on their own selfish beliefs, the mentality must change for all speciality chemical companies or they will be no more, We brought this company to where it is now, technology, design, mentality and expertise, sending our jobs to a 3rd world country is absurd, and not in the interest of the working people, Ellen needs to undestand the dire situation of the jobs being sent outside, we have the expertise right here and they will do it right the first time with little direction, I don't know how any CEO that is doing this practice of sending jobs away can sleep at night, have you no shame or conscience.

Pros

Brand equity in the market
Working with smart people
Stability

Cons

What life-long "DuPonters" describe as a "collaborative" culture, really means that we will have a million meetings and never come to a decision
Pace is really slow and you are not rewarded for driving results
No longer have unique products

Advice to Senior Management

Stop focusing solely on reducing working capital and expenses and put in metrics (at least equally weighted) for growth.

Pros

job stability, work life balance

Cons

mediocre culture at best--- No upside/career progression for talented and ambitious individuals
a lot of complacency--- just do your job and collect your check...

Advice to Senior Management

take a careful look at the incentives to see if what these are setup to achieve high performance

Pros

Stability, flexibility (time & even sometimes you can telecommute, depending on your work). Teamwork encouraged.

Cons

Every year they keep nibbling away at our benefits. When there is attrition they frequently do not fill the job and just pass out more work, and then they forget that we're now doing the work of our former colleagues--and it is just assumed that everything we are doing is background so now we can do even more!

Advice to Senior Management

I'm just a peon, I have no advice!

Pros

there is barely over-time work, and working time is flexible as well. And pressure is low as well. Free coffee is excellent.

Cons

Like other big company, it is inefficient in many aspects. Some times it will take forever to get a approve from system.

Advice to Senior Management

it is a good place to work though. it would great if the company could focus more on employee's capacity, not degree.