maintenance mechanic

research associate

warehouse associate

instrument technician

packaging operator

Cabot Corporation

Lots of smart people in the R&D groups.  I worked in corporate engineering supporting projects all around the world.  At times the travel could become excessive with expectations to spend weeks or even months at a time away from home.  However, it was fun to visit places like Scotland, Argentina, Germany and China for free.

Management was often more worried about short-term quarterly profits rather than long-term spending.  This could result in delayed spending for things like maintenance that would result in bigger losses when equipment broke down.  It was frustrating because the company would take shortcuts to save money on projects instead of spending the extra money to do things right in the first place.  For some reason, middle management was afraid to tell senior management how much stuff would really cost.

The benefits and salary were above average.  There was lots of flexibility to work from home or shift your work schedule as needed.

The company would talk about doing the right things with regards to safety, the environment and work-life balance, but often it was more talk than action.  The company would do thorough investigations of safety incidents and recommend fixes, but then put off spending the money to actually make changes for years.  Very frustrating.

The Billerica site was a little out of the way, but it was a pretty location with a small onsite cafeteria.  Some people would eat at their desk, but a lot of people would socialize in the cafeteria at lunch, which was nice.

I worked in Boston for Cabot at their corp. offices in the Seaport District.  The staff and most of the management were professional, top notch hardworking people who knew that Cabot was a great place to work.  It is. 
My issues with upper management came to light when I noticed the hiring of what I would term several spoiled, high maintenance executives who have lead extremely privileged lives and their attitudes towards staff and their own work ethic shows this. Typical of the above was the EVP of Reinforcement Materials. I had the "privilege" of working near this person and witnessed first hand their inability to engage with and understand the non-privileged lives of regular every day working people.  I overhead that he had to take a non-First Class Seat from Boston to LaGuardia and honestly, he complained about it to anyone who would listen for a full week.  There were several other "new hires" with the same issue in the C Suite and just below.  Very spoiled, superior, needy and incapable of handling tasks that a junior assistant knows how to do.  
I mean, if you're going all out to hire someone at the executive level, make sure they can interact NORMALLY with other executives and staff at the company.  No matter how smart you are, weird, rich and spoiled does not equal good by any means and should be avoided at all costs.  They need to rethink their entire hiring process in the top tier.

Cabot is a leading specialty chemical and materials firm.  As such, it is highly dependent upon the "value add" proposition gaining traction to the customer.  This business model, when applied universally, translates to better margins especially in growth markets seeking more efficient product solutions.  However, in a stagnant World economy as we are currently experiencing, customer decisions shift to overweight economics compared to value.  This paradigm will over time lead to purchasing decisions being viewed as more commodity based especially in price sensitive markets such as energy.  

In a Technically based Sales function, proving the efficacy of one product versus the other is difficult.  Especially when the customer views minor points of differentiation between your offered material and the competitors product as minor and has data to prove it.  It becomes a price and service competition with price being the key entry and decision point.  We struggled to compete on price as it ran counter to our business model.  Unfortunately, the market does not discriminate toward models and eventually reaches equilibrium.  This led to major conflicts internally culminating in Operational Cost cutting.  This required massive lay offs.

Cabot is a global manufacturer of specialty chemicals, with more than 40 manufacturing plants worldwide.  It is headquartered in Boston, in the Seaport District.  The company has been in business for approximately 130 years.

The company produces carbon black, activated carbon, fumed silica, and a variety of other products.  Carbon black accounts for at least 75% of their revenues, activated carbon and silica account for almost all the rest.  These are commodity products, meaning they must product large volumes to earn profits.  They are at a fundamental disadvantage to some of their competitors, which are far larger and better capitalized.  Nevertheless, the company maintains relatively strong market positions.

Cabot owes its success to a commitment to being superior to their competitors in engineering and R&D.  Unfortunately, the current management does not seem to value this nearly as much as their predecessors.  They have made a series of mistakes in acquisitions and divestments, which have put their viability in some jeopardy.

Cabot is a very nice place to work in many ways, they pay well, and you can learn a great deal about business life there.  But there is a constant state of tension there.  People seem to get fired on a continuous basis.  The management is very anxious to promote their values in their words but their actions don't often match their words.

A great place to learn. Exposure to many departments and fields through teamwork and collaboration. The work is very manual and human dependent. Aside from the actual production process all of work is very manual. High level management are too far away from the production to really make a difference. Mid level managers are mostly overworked to the point that progress work is outweighed by making up for the manual work issues. A majority of the working class are hard working with a few that make many wonder why they have a job.The pay and benefits are good but have dropped in quality over the years. Depending on the department the pay may not reflect the hours put in in comparison with other departments. The culture is very meeting heavy where a lot can go on in one day. It will take a certain type of person to be able to work for Cabot. There is a high turnover rate by the company and also by personal choice.

What is the best part of working at the company?
For the most part, I was satisfied with my time there. Management tends to focus on short term solutions instead of long term.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working with or for unqualified people. Benefits erosion over the years.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Some managers/supervisors do not focus on what is best for the company. Too many politics.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I had to constantly multi-task, i was on call 24/7/365. Normally this is not an issue, but I had no backup in my position, so I had very little time off, scheduling any vacation took an act of God. Rarely time for lunch or any breaks. I ate on the job I was working on, in the field. Breaks were a rare thing. If I did not know how to do something, I had no training and had to learn it on my own.

Cabot is constantly challenging itself to be better, based on both the needs of the company, customers and the collective needs of the employees. The business conduct does vary across locations around the company but I am thrilled on the progress of the 3 Massachusetts sites. I truly feel they are working to be a diverse and choice employer. We all need chemicals to live. The workload can be challenging but it all depends on how you respond. I personally use the opportunity to be more efficient with my work. Check out the sustainability report on the corporate page to see the progress being made within the company, the community and the environment. 

A typical workday involves me engaging in physically demanding job. While the Supervisor Primarily focuses on computer-based activities, taking numerous breaks throughout the day. It appears that the Supervisor breaks are primarily eating and browsing the internet all day. With minimal involvement in providing assistance or support. Unfortunately, this work environment has not facilitated any significant learning opportunities the lack of support from the supervisor poses a significant challenge as the workload must be managed independently without any assistance the most satisfying moment of the jobs occurred during lunch breaks and at the end of the day when it's time to leave.

Cabot is a great company to work for. My skills were utilized and I felt challenged everyday.

The people made the job enjoyable. All levels interact directly and there is advancement available in most departments.

I learned more about Accounts Payable at Cabot which put me in a "super users" category using the JD Edwards finance system. With this knowledge I was able to train new employees on the system and help when needed.

The hardest part of the job was the inconsistent workload.

Event planning was also a job task that I enjoyed. Several times/year there were large meetings and events planned at our site that required customization and attention to details. This was the "fun" part of my job.

I process 1590 – 1700 invoices monthly.  Though many people find change difficult to handle, I understand how to handle it with ease. We have a very fast paced environment and I understand how to navigate the changes and provide high quality work.  Over the 12 years I continue to remain nimble and adapt to changing circumstances.    I find it easy to be energetic and ready to start work in the morning. I have strong motivation in my responsibilities throughout the day. As the AP lead I work to keep a positive attitude and help motivate others in my department to do the same.  My attitude toward positive change is one of enthusiasm, and I consistently put forth an effort to improve myself and my surroundings.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance mechanic 6 salaries reported	$38.53 per hour
Research associate 3 salaries reported	$72,000 per year
Warehouse associate 2 salaries reported	$23.22 per hour
Instrument technician 2 salaries reported	$35.00 per hour
Packaging operator 1 salary reported	$27.03 per hour

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