chemist

technician

process engineer

quality assurance inspector

maintenance engineer

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc.

I used to enjoy working here: the office culture, people, and balance was what really sold me for about the first 2 years. However, after working here for ~4 years, I'm starting to resent choosing this place as a long term place of employment. Although I still enjoy the work/life balance and flexibility, it doesn't outweigh the negative aspects of this job. 

Job Pay: As far as pay goes, unless you are a supervisor or higher, you are not going to make much working here. It is not the industry standard and is honestly disrespectful to all the hard working employees. Getting promoted to only a lead position seems to be a mystery in of itself; you can consistently do excellent work and will not be properly recognized. Raises are rare and your annual raise will only be to combat inflation. I have not seen a raise based off my performance, even though my annual review is always glowing with recognition. A "good job, keep up the great work" does not pay the bills.

Management: From my own experience, there are a few supervisors/managers that do a great job and are natural leaders, but for the rest, they are either in their position due to nepotism or due to seniority. The saying "it's all about who you know" is a sad reality at Amphastar. The amount of times I've had to correct managers is embarrassing and it really makes you think how they got to their position.

Job security: As product continues to be developed, there will always be work readily available. However, you will not see any of the profits in the form a raise.

Work/Life Balance: One thing I appreciate, and this may differ based on your department, is the job flexibility. For the most part, everyone seems to be okay if you need to take some days off or have to call in sick. I have not been denied vacation and there is always someone available to cover for me. Again, this is my personal experience and may differ from other departments.

Job Culture: There are plenty of people who really enjoy their job and look forward to work, but there are also plenty who view this place as just another paycheck. And it is evident in how they work. But this doesn't bother me because who really wants to work? Especially if you are under paid. This also contributes to the high turnover rate. Just remember, if you are in a normal, non-salaried position, then you are expendable and will easily be replaced if need be.

That being said, the experience is what people come here for. From what I've been told from former employees and prospective employers, Amphastar looks good on your resumé and is one of the only reasons why I choose to continue working here, in addition to the work/life balance.

With the development and launch of new products , I hope that the company increases the base pay for normal employees.

Understaffed. Has a temp agency who "hears" your concerns but don't address them if you're hired. The production manager is a high horse riding, no hand washing after the restroom using, egotistical, "problem solving", dirtbag. Depending on the coworkers, they'll either invite you to join them if they like you or talk behind your back if they don't. Sooner throw you under the bus than admit they made a mistake. Overall, it is just a joke of a "professional" company. The workers complain about other shifts not picking up the slack even though each shift has its issues but would rather report it than work on it. The people with seniority complex are just the older folks who think they can speak to you however they want.  And if you address anyone's faults and mistakes, be prepared to lose face as they'll make it their mission to report you for any mistake you do working forward. Just work. Keep your head down and prepare to be another cog in the pharmaceutical machine. Until management gets its head outta its "better than thou" butt. Nothings gonna change. But I heard the quarterly was nice. A couple million. Rock on Corporate.

If you need a job it’s there but I highly recommend looking somewhere else if you want to start a career in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing. Extremely toxic work environment all the way from management to employees. The agency that works with them are constantly changing their name and representatives. Super unorganized in the way they hire and train new employees. Confuses new employees on who to report to and who is in charge. Some people that I worked with were great but I suggest keeping your personal life apart from work. No advancement through the agency nor the company. If hired by the agency good luck on getting hired by the company once you reach your “hours”. 
The only positive qualities I can think of was that they were responsive during the COVID 19 pandemic and increased the pay rate. Still, there are more companies out there that offer better and are organized.

what a bad experience, I believe work can be managed way better, we all love to do some overtime to make extra money, but when it becomes everyday till 4 or 5 am and working every weekend some times 7 days a week, this is too much, the bigger problem that makes working here a real nightmare is you never know when your shift is gonna be over, you just stay working until they tell you you are good to go home, even an inmate knows when gonna be released, and the big joke is the weekends, you can't have any plans for the weekend because you don't know if you'll be working or not, they let you know by a text message couple hours before the shift begins or maybe less, and it might be wasting your day off for only 3 or 4 hours of overtime or it might be 12 hours or more, you never know
Absolutely no Work/Life Balance
Supervisors and leads have bad attitude, no actually very very bad ATTITUDE

Typical day at work: Do the work left behind by coworkers who abandon their workstations.

Learned: I learned to trust no one. Coworkers WILL stalk & harass you by taking photos of you on your lunch, then claiming you are stealing company time. 

Management: Gaslights complainants into submission. The supervisors are unreliable: hard-to-reach via work email & prone to establishing cliques. This leads to intradepartmental conflict that reduces morale.

Culture: Gossip & backstabbing between cliques creates a hostile work environment & those who refuse to engage in drama tend to leave the workforce first.

Hardest part of job: remaining independent of any cliques, & handling the subsequent false rumors made against you for not "picking sides".

Most enjoyable part of the job: knowing that despite the false rumors, your work is documented & the paper trail will vindicate you!

Where do I start? The company is growing and growing fast but the road to get to an established state has been rocky, to put it lightly. The company moves from crises to crises and just can't seem to get into any kind of comfort zone. There also seems to be a fractured culture where various departments are at each others throats and quick to blame one another for problems arising. In short there is no synergy at all. There doesn't seem to be any company pride either where most employees lack morale and any confidence in the operations of the company. On a positive note, there is an opportunity to learn about the industry with this company as entry level positions require little to no experience.

Pay scale is on the low end. Management is unable or unwilling to plan work properly to keep everyone busy, and then gets upset when employees aren't busy. The work, when we had it, was a combination of interesting and menial/repetitive tasks.

Vacation time doesn't accrue until after first year of employment, and they are restrictive about using unpaid time off.  I asked in February for unpaid time to take my son's Scout troop to summer camp in July and the request was denied two days before we were scheduled to leave. I went anyway to maintain my commitment to the Troop (I was Scoutmaster), and upon my return I was written up for poor attendance.

At that time I initiated a search for a new job, found one, and left the company.

The organization's primary advantage appears to be its benefits package, however, the overall work environment is overwhelmingly negative, potentially contributing to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
The company's hierarchical structure fosters a culture of blame, with responsibility being passed down from management to supervisors and ultimately to the workforce.
Despite the stated open-door policy, employees who raise concerns often experience harassment and discomfort, with further escalation through HR resulting in increased targeting and pressure to leave the company. The compensation structure is uncompetitive, with pay increases primarily benefiting favored employees, while others receive minimal adjustments that do not reflect a genuine raise.

You don’t get the essential tools you need to learn your job properly. Management for EM talked down to you. No encouragement very unprofessional. Everyone is rude that works there they are Group together so they make sure you feel unwanted.  Half of the staff doesn’t speak any English. I’m not sure what management does they sit in that office all day. They’re biased, need to be humbled. This company needs to be restructured on how they train and how they talk to people the work environment etc. All the old people have been there way too long they lost Their  passion for what the company provides to the community. Very unfortunate that I experience people like this.  It makes me feel like I need counseling after working at this job.

Working in HR has been a very rewarding experience! I enjoy assisting employees by answering questions about vacation time, benefits, and other aspects of their employment. I collaborate with a great, supportive team that works together to create a better experience for all our employees. My supervisor and manager are a constant example of how to lead through their knowledge and dedication to their positions. We are consistently looking for ways to improve our on-boarding process and encourage employee morale.

As with any company, we have short-comings, but we strive to make this place a great company to work for.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Chemist 11 salaries reported	$32.02 per hour
Technician 2 salaries reported	$26.40 per hour
Process engineer 6 salaries reported	$31.14 per hour
Quality assurance inspector 2 salaries reported	$20.90 per hour
Maintenance engineer 4 salaries reported	$38.00 per hour

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