Silliker Reviews

I have been working at Silliker

Pros – This place is good for college students who want to get some industry experience in the field. You can be cross trained on various tests, and it is a resumé booster.

Cons – There is no such thing as free time at this place. There is no such thing as a personal life. Days off for sickness or vacation are frowned upon. If you want to learn something new, you have to beg constantly and consistently. Extra work is required, and there is no help for the impossible sample load. Once you learn something new, you are not praised for it, it is added to your normal work load, and still expected to finish within in the eight hour day.

Advice to Senior Management – Management needs to come down to the ground floor with the rest of the employees, so they can see and understand firsthand exactly how much work goes into one day. They need not be so disconnected with daily routines. Managers need to be more hands on, and care more for employees than for the work load. Bad management all around,

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Silliker

Pros – Good company to learn and advance your career. You will get out of your experience what you put into it. If you want a career and are willing to invest and take initiative to advance you will.

Cons – Schedules are not always steady.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't forget the people that get you those bottom line numbers.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Silliker

Pros – One of the leaders in the industry so a good job to learn the basics out of school. Learn initially than put into your role of doing repetitive work.

Cons – The learning process is slowed because of the required training process. The amount of work doesn't allow for you to be trained. Smokers do get excessive breaks which is not fair to non smokers. Work requires you to be on your feet for long periods of time and long hours which they don't tell you about in the interview.

Advice to Senior Management – Managers have meeting with employees to get individual feedback and respond accordingly. Managers take a real hands off approach in regards to workload.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Silliker

Pros – Pay was decent, Positive work is rewarded and acknowledged, Friendly co-workers, Paid training in Iowa

Cons – No work/life balance, Employees don't leave until all samples are processed for the day: shift ending times don't matter, Made to feel bad if you wanted time off even if you're very sick. Everyone smoked on team so they went on smoke breaks at least once per hour which leaves the nonsmoker to do their work.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't make employees feel guilty for needing time off whether for sickness or just feelling burnt out. Stricter smoking break policy.

I worked at Silliker full-time for more than a year

Pros – friendly coworkers who are willing to work hard

Cons – sets monthly workload budget too high compared to the understaffed team. Every budget period there is always high pressure from immediate supervisor to perform tests faster.

Management doesn't listen to complaints of understaffing and or even calls for required laboratory equipment. Unwilling to listen to suggestions to improve efficiency or result quality.

Punished for complaints to upper management regarding poor performance of immediate supervisor

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Silliker

Pros – Supervisors were knowledgeable about their field.
Great place to learn and gain experience to personally grow within your field (biology/chemistry/corporate office positions).
Great benefits packages.
Open lines of communication.
Great for your resume.

Cons – Depending at what location you are at, growing within the company is slow. It is the training grounds for other companies in the food industry.

Advice to Senior Management – Create more action plans for employee growth in the company, not simply having open dialogue about it.

I have been working at Silliker

Pros – Training and quality system experience

Cons – Work/Life balance is not adequate

Advice to Senior Management – Work on life balance

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Silliker

Pros – Great benefits and time off program

Cons – A high stress enviroment at times

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Silliker

Pros – my coworkers were awesome to work with
a good place to hone your skill set
pretty generous paid time off

Cons – overtime is pretty much mandatory (maybe this is a "pro" if you like overtime)
pay is pretty low compared to comparable positions

I worked at Silliker

Pros – Great people especially in the United States, very knowledgeable, committed and friendly people. As well as leadership which is very approachable.

Cons – Can sometimes be taxing at times

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend