Pros

STERIS is a growing company in an emerging field that offers many opportunities for personal development while maintaining the security of a large organization. The FDA regulated environment is a highly marketable skill. The offices are located in potentially overlooked cities, but this yields a greater opportunity to stretch a salary while still enjoying the benefits of establish communities.

Cons

STERIS has yet to evolve into a cohesive company. While it 20 years old, it does not act like an established company in many respects, and lacks infrastructure to support running efficiently. The different locations each have different cultures, and act like the companies they were before STERIS purchased them. Employees will still complain and say the old days were better, or corporate has no idea how to run things, and only care about the stock price. Recent changes in upper management have contributed to a culture where no one is sure what will happen next, and while the changes may be positive and solve some of the above problems, it is difficult in a tough economy to wait and see, and this can cause the best employees to find jobs elsewhere, and the ones with less marketable skills to remain.

Advice to Senior Management

Address underlying differences in the culture between locations. Explain changes more effectively, through honest communications of good and bad results direct to th employees. Don't compare the company's benefits to only old style rust-belt manufacturers, or modern medical companies, as neither is an exact match. Recruit past the stereotypes of the locations, and make people want to join the company for positive reasons, not just because they're unemployed from a downsizing.