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Ascend Performance Materials

Engaged Employer

Ascend Performance Materials reviews

3.0

35% would recommend to a friend

(386 total reviews)

Patrick Schumacher

16% approve of CEO

6% positive business outlook

Ascend Performance Materials has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 386 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Ascend Performance Materials employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

386 reviews
5.0
Jun 12, 2014

Culture is positive and jobs are impactful

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Broad, challenging jobs which offer great career growth. Company cares about employees and the communities where they operate. The first week in June, 2014, small groups of employees at all six U.S.-based sites were given $1,000 and told to do good in the community that day. Some handed out lunch to the homeless and others selected specific individuals who needed financial assistance. I have never worked for a company that would even consider something like this!!

Cons

Company is still defining business processes and structure is limited. Great for some, highly ambiguous and sometimes frustrating for others.

2.0
Jun 5, 2014

Hope Things Improve

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Operations and contractors folks keep the business afloat and are paid at average to keep up with market. Company tends to bring good professionals but management keeps them from performing in the best interest of the business. 3-4 years ago, company made lots of money and our bonus was around 140% of target; thanks to Invista that had quality issues and their clients switched over to Ascend.

Cons

Egos are a big issue and play a big role in company's culture. People spend significant time navigating through politics. Perform your role in the best interest of the business, but not in the best interest of personal interests and you will be singled out and, possibly, let go. Co-employment is a big issue since the Monsanto time, we were communicated that a project to address co-employment was on the works but the HR associate managing the project left, IT re-took it; however IT is not co-employment expert. Co-employment issue has increased in the past 1.5 years with new HR team starting treating contractors as employees. Management doesn't communicate well with owners when setting bonus goals, and while company tends to have good earnings, the paid bonuses have been at 50% or below in the past 2 years. Work hard long hours for owners to make cash but expect to be paid at 40% of your target bonus. There is a culture to have small wins, get the low hanging fruit with no high impact on the business, rather than addressing achievable high impact results for the business. Sad to experience that some management members feel they belong to a different class and treat non-management members disrespectfully. Superficial-highly political relationships and finger pointing is a must. HR headcount is large and results are yet to be seen for the past 4-5 years. HR head and team have been promising for years, but no deliverables yet. 3 new and very good corporate HR guys have already left the company; not so good corporate HR guys stayed. Finance team members look at each other as enemies; no collaboration, finance managers use management by fear with their directs. Management by fear is embedded in the company's DNA. Management knows the company has quality issues and top management tends to blame the client's processes to cover own quality issues. Some clients have terminated contracts because of quality issues. Heard from new hires that during the interview and selection process they were told the company was great, when they join they get disappointed. President left, or was let go last week. Big expansion project is now frozen due to forced-by-top-management unrealistic expectations.

4.0
Apr 16, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

High standards Continuous improvement Reward for Hard Work and Imagination Talented and Experienced Workforce

Cons

Billion $$ start-up.....Employees must have expertise to thrive in ambiguity Constant visibility and pressure to perform......this place is great for brave hearts

Viewing 358 - 360 of 386 Reviews

Glassdoor has 465 Ascend Performance Materials reviews submitted anonymously by Ascend Performance Materials employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Ascend Performance Materials is right for you.