Only work here if you can't get a job any place else - Anonymous employee Avantor Employee Review

1.0
Nov 2, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work-Life balance can be good for some positions – mostly those at the plants. Beyond that there isn’t much, unless you are a poor performer in which case they will likely just ignore you and give your responsibilities to one of the few people left that accomplish things.

Cons

There are too many negatives to list. The only reason to work here is that no one else will hire you. This company epitomizes what happens when private equity investors purchase a company with the sole purpose of reselling it. Too bad for the former Mallinckrodt Baker that they were purchased by incompetent amateurs. They did a poor job investigating what they were purchasing, and then failed horrible with their attempts at improvements. Their SAP implementation went belly-up and they made poor overseas investments. Since they can't improve the value of the company, they can now only make cuts to help increase profits. Working here, you will be underpaid and you will pay much more for benefits than you will at other companies. They reduced tuition reimbursement and are going to cut 401k contributions from 6% to 3%. The cost of benefits constantly goes up significantly, and the raises are pitiful. They removed bonuses for salary employees. Turnover here has to be astronomical. There are no training opportunities because they won’t pay for it, and there are no career growth prospects here. There is no stability here. The CEO’s leave constantly, which should tell you everything. Due to the poor financial performance of the company, almost no positions are refilled once someone resigns. The HR department is deplorable. They can’t even get interviews setup properly, and everyone in the company seems to have disdain for them. Most of them appear completely disinterested in the company. The HR rep didn’t even show up for my exit interview and sent her admin instead. My guess is they don’t want to be in a position where they would have to defend the company. It would have been funny to ask her what she thought the reason for such high turnover was. This group sent out an announcement that they were reducing severance packages from 2 weeks/yr service to one week/yr service...then the following week started doing lay offs. The previous year they did layoffs just before Christmas. This is a place that wants to be thought of as a high tech chemical company, but has no innovation, worthless IP, dilapidated assets, and no significant science or engineering work occurring. People with backgrounds in sales and marketing will be in charge of science and engineering related programs/departments.

Explore other reviews about Avantor

5.0
Aug 19, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Avantor has top-tier people you get to work with and around. The company does a great job focusing on people and their development. Over the past several years, the Company has continued to highlight its purpose and impact by enabling science and supporting our customers who do amazing things for humankind.

Cons

Since Avantor has similar value streams under different leaders, this tends to lead to redundancy or counterproductive activities.

3.0
Jun 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

starting pay and the ability to work independently.

Cons

There is a significant amount of workplace drama and unprofessional behavior within the team, which can make the environment feel more like a high school setting than a professional workplace. Management appears to have limited understanding of employees' day-to-day responsibilities and is often resistant to feedback or process improvement suggestions. Employees may feel discouraged from raising concerns or proposing changes. Advancement opportunities also seem limited, with promotions and career growth often perceived as being influenced by personal relationships rather than merit. Additionally, the annual performance review process can be frustrating, as employees may feel that the scoring system makes it difficult to achieve the highest ratings and corresponding compensation increases, regardless of performance. Finally, there are concerns about workload distribution, with some leadership positions appearing to have fewer responsibilities than other team members.

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