St. Jude Medical Employee Reviews about "work life balance"

Pros

Excellent Work life balance and exposure to cutting edge medical devices

Cons

Not enough effort is put into innovation

Pros

SJM has been a great place to work in that you are always reminded of the benefit the medical devices and technology make in the lives of people. The annual Employee Appreciation Week is capped by a patient sharing their story about how our device saved or improved their life. Makes you feel that those consistent 50+ hours/week are worth it. SJM also compensates monetarily very well. People are rewarded for keeping up with new technology.

Cons

Work-life balance is a struggle and when your boss is working long hours and contributing to the scope creep of the project you're on, it makes it very difficult to complain about your consistently long hours. Scope and definition of projects is very fluid which impacts morale when people are urged to work long hours to meet a deadline but then the goalposts get moved. People who are busy meeting deadlines, working on compliance to regulatory and quality standards are not held in as high esteem as those who dabble in new technology. Both are important.

Pros

Good salary and benefits. Work/life balance. Peer coworkers.

Cons

Very poor choices in senior management. The entire company seems to operate with a sales mentality. Problem is, in a competitive arena, your people are your investment in the future. Sadly, over the past 3 years, many older and seasoned employees have been vanished through 'reduction in force' moves. I am certain this reduces the bottom line - people with 10, 15, and even 20 years tend to have higher salaries and benefits. Unfortunately, these senior people have been replaced by new college graduates who are cheaper but, as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. In a business environment driven by technology and customer relationships it is unbelievable to me St. Jude senior management has opted for cheap. In both sales, research, and development - in house and field - we have seen more of the doing more with less model. Truly sad because most of the talent lost have moved on and flourished. The same cannot be said for those of us left behind.

Pros

Very inovative and progressive medical products. State of the art facility.

Cons

Supossed to be a 4/10 schedule, but working 5/10's on a regular basis. Exhausting work load with no reconition from management,(be lucky to have a job attitude). Too much of the blame game here, no teamwork in the production area. No more bonuses. Work/Life balance none existant. Dictator like management thinking,(their way or the highway). ANS is a forbbiden word here. To much military like thinking. Very poor communication from top down, very eratic planning. Hire to many college grads with no experience in order to save money, letting go too many talented and experienced talent,(Like former ANS'ers). Very little hiring of contract workers.

Pros

Fast-paced environment with very little bureaucracy. Sure, it has it's share of politics - every big company does. But personal growth comes quickly to those willing to roll up their sleeves and get after it. Office culture is terrific - fun atmosphere.

Cons

Work-life balance is difficult to achieve, especially with consistent layoffs looming over everybody's heads (multiple layoffs in the past 2 years). Value for the shareholders has come each quarter at the expense of employee jobs. Value for the executives has come at the expense of special charges (which have allowed executives to achieve 100+% of their bonus each year).

Pros

Great place for a young engineer to start his/her career. Amazingly nice and helpful people. Management knows your strength and will give you projects based on them.

Cons

Lack of clear deadlines from upper management or lack of communication of those deadlines, so it's hard to plan project accordingly. Lack of employee growth within the company Lack of proper project prioritization Lack of motivation from management Extremely political environment: all about who you know if you want to move up or move out and not based on your qualifications lack of employee appreciation No work-life balance: the norm has become 10+ work hours, weekends, bring laptop home every night, answer work-related texts during personal time, work through company shutdown, taking vacation reflects badly on you

Pros

The best part of working for the company is the work/life balance and being able to help people. You may work long hours but the time spent is rewarding

Cons

I would say there are very few cons with this field. You are working in a fast paced and competitive environment so you better be ready to make changes on your feet.

Pros

Amazing products that help patients. Rating the CEO as positive because he's not legacy SJM. I am hopeful he will make the right changes to turn this company into a place people actually want to work.

Cons

Zero work life balance. Prepare to work at least 75 hours a week, more if you are competent. If you are looking to join this company, wait until the Abbott integration is completed. SJM culture is toxic and punitive. Abbott will make good changes, it will just take time. If you are interviewing, do NOT work for a legacy SJM manager. Their main concern is to protect each other throughout the integration and will not support you unless you fit into their agenda. Ask if they were legacy SJM and if yes, how long they worked there. If they are a lifer, avoid like the plague. If you are interviewing with an Abbott manager, you are in a better position.

Pros

Benefits are good, few good people to work for, good work-life balance for the most part.

Cons

They are Re-Active environment; it takes some type of event to make changes. Management is on a revolving door, upper management doesn't have a clear idea whats going on and lack clear vision. Seems like they give out Sr. Titles to anyone, however if your a good worker and don't have that title it takes time to move up. To much upper management to get a clear direction. To much politics involved, back stabbing in management as well. CIO keeps creating more and more silo's to match the business, however its all redundant and not needed and huge waste of money.