MEMC Electronic Materials Reviews

Pros

well paid especially given location
good people
interesting work

Cons

volatile field and difficult to predict future
it is not clear if MEMC will continue to be a major player in semi field
MEMC has taken a markedly different direction recently by moving upstream in solar - which parts will it keep/shed/grow?

Pros

Great folks to work with. Nice and quiet location away from the hustle and bustle of the mainstream St. Louis work areas. Great pay if your a senior level executive.

Cons

IT has great people but no leadership. They have a great leader but they give him no power. Everyone can walk all over literally anyone in IT as they are treated like dirt. They don't spend a dime on IT. Projects are on and off again like changing your shoes. Same applies to IT budget/IT spend. Over a year to make a SharePoint decision. SAP decisions are a joke and not worth mentioning from the standpoint of executive leadership not having a clue and a half. Their SAP support people consist of six or seven people and literally support the world! They get no support, no thanks, are treated worst than, well, need I go further?

Advice to Senior Management

The MEMC CEO has got to go. He is completely missing the boat when it comes to IT. He won't be able to compete because he doesn't have a clue about the strategic or tactical nature that IT plays in moving the company forward. Stop cutting costs on IT. The new CFO also has no clue either. They're going to have to spend the money eventually. May as well do it right. The IT group needs to be elevated up in the food chain. Way up! Its a very poorly run company.

Pros

Competitive pay and a non-downtown Location

Cons

Everything is bad. There is a non-existent work-life balance. Terrible office conditions. Moral is horrific. Complete lack of training and unreasonable expectations. This place is a sweat shop. If you read this, RUN!!! I wish I had.

Advice to Senior Management

Change the culture and appreciate your employees by promoting a positive work-life balance and give them tools to succeed while setting attainable goals.

Pros

Growing company - if the stock analysts would wake up and realize that:
1) We make wafers that "chip" companies buy -- we are not a "chip" company.
2) We are not a semiconductor equipment company.
3) We are the only completely vertically integrated solar company there is - from making poly to selling solar power.

Cons

Executives are highly compensated, and get good contracts to pay them well if they get fired. Unfortunately, only Execs get the high salaries and perks, and the only way to become a VP or higher is to get hired in from current execs' companies, or to be lucky enough to be in the Execs' little circle of friends. For the rest of the Managers, Directors, and Senior Directors (new title made up to avoid letting you be a VP), you work tons of hours, have to fly coach all the time, and get small, shrinking bonuses based on impossible goals.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize and reward the middle management. We do most of the work, and you get all of the benefits.

Find the real root causes of errors and fix or eliminate the problem. There are too many scapegoats used to protect certain execs.

Remember that Manufacturing makes the bad products. Blame them for once!

Pros

management is brilliant and respected

Cons

work life balance is non existent across the board

Advice to Senior Management

invest in people and systems ... so people don't have to sacrifice life for results

Pros

Strong technical foundation and industry leader. Appears to be forward thinking again instead of playing for margins on the quarterly figures as old CEO did. Attempting to reestablish itself as the dominant semiconductor supplier again. Appears to have good strategy but execution is still not proven yet.

Cons

Company is in transition of senior management from two years earlier and is attempting to develop a new company culture but communication is poor in these efforts. Company attempts to infor it's employee's with news letters which is poor medium.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep your professional employee's informed. Little on company strategy and role in execution is revealed beloe the diector level.

Pros

very safe place to work
It's not digging ditches

Cons

Only fair pay and benefits as compared to the competition
This place is all about cost savings. Have had times when employees don't even have the supplies they need to perform their jobs
There is no advancement opportunity here

Advice to Senior Management

Improve communication, 'm sure you are moving the company in the right directon, just be nice to know what that direction is.

Pros

Overall the pay is pretty high, For salary people the overall work experience is satisfactory. It's pretty hard to get fired.

Cons

I would not work here as an hourly person. Sick days the first 2 are at no pay. The Pasadena site has a scary process.

Advice to Senior Management

Management knows they have a moral problem the turnover is pretty high especially for skilled craft. I really think management is trying to make MEMC a better place to work.

Pros

The actual employees, and generally first line supervisors, are all decent folks. Benefits (insurance, etc) were not too bad and the salary was competitive.

Cons

The regular shutdowns and forced PTO meant that it was crazy to go on vacation.

There was a complete lack of growth opportunity at MEMC, other than perhaps for some of the engineers But overall things were so bad that nobody advanced, nobody's career grew, nobody learned anything.

It boils down to total mismanagement by Nabeel and the upper management.

MEMC is just a horrible place to work overall. STAY AWAY.

Advice to Senior Management

Great job saving MEMC from bankruptcy, but don't you think it's time to ease up a bit?