Pros
-I made some lifelong friends on the manufacturing floor here. And I met my partner here, which I am endlessly thankful for. -I was able to get 2 years of cGMP pharmaceutical manufacturing experience on my resume while going to CSU, which gave me a huge leg up after graduation (compared to peers that either didn't work while in school or only did internships around campus). -Aseptic management was super understanding of the pressure I was under while in school, and let me have time off for exams/homework/etc without ever acting like I was inconveniencing anyone.
Cons
I don't even know where to start, there is a lot wrong at Tolmar. -There are many folks employed there that give their entire heart and soul (and physical well-being, if you're on of the ones that developed a repetitive motion injury from the job) continuously for the company, that are treated with very little respect from both upper management and HR in return. Each employee is required to answer a series of questions and report their emotional state on a program called 15Five every other week, and by participating in this you are essentially screaming into the void. Oftentimes your direct supervisor will talk with you about what you wrote, but very rarely does anything ever truly get addressed, whether it is about social conflicts at work or broken machinery on the floor or a concern that you have about the business practices on site. -The company as a whole (aside from technicians actually working on the floor) does not take sterility/aseptic technique as seriously as they should, especially for being an injectable cancer therapeutic company. I reported the probability of cuff tape (made from a papery fabric that dissolves/shreds when it gets wet) being the likely source for white fibers I found inside of syringes while I was inspecting them, and was told not to write down anything containing the words 'cuff tape' or to mention it out loud outside of that conversation with my supervisor. This is an integrity and transparency problem. Cuff tape was my guess as to the source of the contaminants in the syringes, because there was literally a hole in the wall inside of the syringe fill room that the maintenance team patched with white cuff tape. Regardless of if the tape turned out to be the culprit or not (I'll never know because they don't inform MFG staff of QC results when we flag possible contaminants for QC testing), tape should never have been used in that space to begin with AND production in that space should have been suspended until the hole was appropriately patched. Where is the concern for quality, for the patients? -Schedule changes broke us down into very small teams (our shift went from a team of 9 people to approximately 2), and there were no perceivable differences in upper management’s expectations for our level of production and performance. We were still scheduled for the same number of batches each week, and the pressure to perform became insurmountably high for several of us. Throughout that transition, I never once met my manager because they were scheduled days and had zero overlap with the night shift. -I told supervision that someone on our shift was preparing to quit, so that they could try to get a jump on hiring a replacement. The company decided that it was appropriate to then hold a giant meeting between all shifts to tell us to not feed into the "rumor mill" and not to believe anything that any techs or operators told us- only to believe management. Incredibly insulting and unnecessary. The operator did in fact quit, and the team was short staffed with any opportunity to perform damage control on the situation squandered. -They will also promise the ability to work your way up into other departments, but will in reality prevent any career growth whatsoever. You will be trapped in Aseptic if you join Aseptic, and will have to leave the company entirely if you wish to grow in any way. Which is great, if what you're looking for is the same job for a decade. Not so much if you're looking for a "foot in the door" for other career oaths in the industry. -The company will very flippantly make comments about how they would have to "send your job overseas" if they have to pay any more money for the work you do, even though Tolmar pays the absolute bottom of the barrel wages compared to similar companies. When I was hired in 2020 I had to borrow money to pay my rent until I got a promotion, and THEN I finally became financially stable to at least be considered "paycheck to paycheck". You will not thrive financially here, and even the supervisors get paid what mid-level technicians get paid at other companies. If you complain about it, they will straight up tell you to go find another job. -HR is not your friend. Upper management is not your friend. Do not expect to be taken care of here if you happen to, say, get pregnant. They will write you up for absolutely nothing and then you will be barred from being promoted for a YEAR.