scientist

senior associate scientist

quality assurance analyst

manufacturing associate

associate scientist

Catalent Pharma Solutions

My company offers no work-life balance due to a deeply ingrained culture of overwork, unrealistic expectations, and poor management of time and resources. Despite frequent talks about valuing employee well-being, the reality is that deadlines are consistently aggressive, workloads are excessive, and there is little to no regard for the personal lives of employees. The leadership sets a tone that success is measured by how many extra hours one is willing to put in, rather than by the quality or efficiency of the work being done. This results in employees feeling the need to be “always on,” answering emails late at night, logging in on weekends, and sacrificing personal time just to keep up. There is no clear boundary between professional and personal life, as expectations often bleed into after-hours communication, last-minute meetings, and unrealistic turnaround times. Additionally, management tends to reward those who overextend themselves, unintentionally reinforcing a toxic cycle of burnout and exhaustion. PTO is discouraged implicitly, and even when time off is taken, employees often feel guilty or fear falling behind due to a lack of backup planning or proper coverage. There’s a persistent fear of being seen as uncommitted or lazy if one tries to establish boundaries or push back against the constant pressure. Many team members carry the workload of multiple roles due to understaffing or budget constraints, making it impossible to complete tasks within normal business hours. Furthermore, the lack of flexibility, such as rigid schedules and a resistance to remote or hybrid models, adds to the difficulty of managing personal obligations alongside professional ones. The company prioritizes productivity and profit over human sustainability, ignoring clear signs of employee burnout, disengagement, and mental health issues. Feedback loops are either non-existent or ineffective — when employees voice concerns, they are often met with vague promises or no change at all. There’s a performative layer to wellness initiatives — such as occasional wellness webinars or “mental health days” — but these are surface-level and do not address the core structural issues that create the imbalance in the first place. At its root, the company equates long hours with loyalty and output with value, disregarding modern understandings of healthy, sustainable work environments. The result is high turnover, low morale, and a growing divide between what the company says and how it operates. People are tired, overextended, and increasingly disengaged — not because they don’t care about the work, but because the environment has made it impossible to thrive without sacrificing everything else. Until the company acknowledges that true productivity comes from balance, support, and trust — not burnout and fear — the culture will continue to suffer, and so will the people in it.

Typical day at work

A typical day involved supporting QA Operations activities across manufacturing and laboratory functions. This included reviewing batch records, deviations, change controls, CAPAs, validation documentation, and providing QA support to operations as needed. Days were often dynamic, requiring prioritization based on production schedules, investigations, and compliance timelines.

What I learned

I gained strong hands-on experience in cGMP quality systems, including deviation management, root cause analysis, change control, process validation (PPQ/CPV), and inspection readiness. I also learned how to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and adapt to evolving regulatory and business requirements, especially during periods of organizational change.

Management

Management was knowledgeable and supportive of quality and compliance objectives. Expectations were clearly communicated, and there was an emphasis on meeting regulatory standards while supporting business needs. Like many growing organizations, priorities could shift, but leadership remained focused on maintaining compliance and product quality.

Workplace culture

The workplace culture emphasized teamwork, accountability, and compliance. Colleagues were generally collaborative and willing to share knowledge, especially across QA, Manufacturing, QC, and Engineering. The environment was fast-paced and required flexibility, particularly during audits, inspections, and peak production periods.

The hardest part of the job

The most challenging aspect was balancing multiple priorities in a fast-paced GMP environment, especially when supporting investigations, audits, and tight manufacturing timelines simultaneously. Managing workload during inspection readiness periods required strong organization and time management skills.

The most enjoyable part of the job

The most enjoyable part was contributing to product quality and compliance while working closely with cross-functional teams. Supporting successful audits, resolving quality issues, and ensuring compliant product release provided a strong sense of accomplishment and professional growth.

Division of labor at Catalent was taken to its extreme. Everyone was only interested in what they were paid to do without caring for anything or anyone else. There was very poor communication about what is actually happening in production, and management was ignorant about the problems.  It was very difficult and stressful to work for the company. HR department only stated that they have open door policy, but it was only fictitious and a facade. It was an open door, but closed email policy. Any time there was a problem that needs to be address and only the HR area manager could fix it, it was completely impossible to reach him. He never answers to emails and he was known to be very busy and not having time for employees. The company completely lacks leadership and desire for any improvement. There was a lot of fake propaganda going on there. They have a program called “Patients First” and always tried to sell it to the employees. Company’s policy is rather patients first and employees last. Unfortunately, the scary part was that the ignored employees were the ones who make the drugs for the patients and everything depends on their motivation. 
  If anyone is looking just for a job in order to waste their life somewhere, this company is not such a bad place for this purpose. But if anyone thinks that they will get any satisfaction from their job at Catalent, you better look for more responsible company. Nobody listens in this company. Administration says employees should talk to their supervisors. The supervisors don’t have the mentality and education, and they only pay attention to the manufacturing and not employees. Everyone lives in their own world at this place and if you are not their boss they do not feel any obligation to pay attention to you. There is a huge gap between administration and production and employees are always misinformed about their jobs and responsibilities. There is a lot of frustration going on and moral was at its lowest due to constant miscommunication. It was very stressful on a daily basis due to lack of cooperation between departments and constant misinformation of employees in production. Supervisors were constantly miscommunicating with employees in order to exercise superiority.

I worked at the company for years. In the beginning it was just the next job for me and everyone was very nice to the new employees. Then, being there for a year, I started to see the real culture of the company.  There was no formal training at all. There were a couple of attempts for orientation for a week, but it changed several times, and every new change made the initial training more useless than the last one. This initial orientation was just general stuff and no one knew what they were talking about. After the orientation, everyone was thrown to the wolves. We were not pushed to do much immediately, because we could make mistakes and making drugs is a serious matter. This is where the new employee formal training stopped. I worked normal shifts and it was a nightmare. Every day the supervisor sent us to work to a different place, instead of keeping us at the same one, where we can learn fast. It was like the supervisors hated the company and they tried their best to sabotage the employees by shuffling them around.  Every night I was assigned to a new room leader, who did not have any idea what I learned so far. This was extremely frustrating. Room leaders protect their jobs and knowledge and they are not very motivated and paid to constantly teach new employees, so the result was a very slow to non-existent training. What I could learn in six months, took me almost two years, because no one cared, especially the supervisors. Having in mind that this is a pharmaceutical company, I can’t imagine what kind of medicine leaves its doors with poorly trained employees.  The major phrase in the company was “I don’t care”, and neither supervisors nor HR or training department were doing anything to improve the situation. My manager even said once that he wasn’t the one making the big money, so he never even attempted to listen to the employees and always ignored our requests for improvement. The general manager of the facility was told several times about the training issue, but he was never motivated to do anything other than looking for more business to improve the profitability at the expense of the patients who will take the medication this company produces with ignorant employees.

Working at Catalent is a great place to get a foot in the biomanufacturing industry. There are always opportunities to learn something new, and the company is growing like crazy. The compensation is decent for the Madison area, especially for entry level employees, and the overtime adds up. There are also some amazing folks working at Catalent who put so much effort into bettering the company and helping their team. The variety of the work and fast pace make manufacturing interesting and a great place to gain experience -if you can handle the stress. 

The work life balance at Catalent is terrible - people get burnt out quickly. The turnover rate is high, which is part of the reason there's always learning opportunities, but it puts pressure on already overworked employees to help train others. Although there are a handful of incredible supervisors and managers, many don't seem to have a good understanding of what their employees actually do, or they don't seem to care.The better employees in management end up having to work harder to compensate. Unfortunately, these less than desirable managers tend to have a lot of decision-making power and often don't make realistic policy choices to help out employees. On top of all the other issues, manufacturing has been short on both necessary materials AND equipment during COVID. Combine that with the lack of trained staff, and it's a stressful scramble to get work done.

Once the newest additions are completed in manufacturing, the company needs to take break from all the expansion and improve the work environment. Start giving employees the resources they need to do their jobs effectively. These "growing pains" are chronic issues that Catalent needs to get a handle on - they're starting to give the company a reputation amongst the local biotech community as being a less desirable place to work at.  It'd also be helpful to have a stronger recruiting process, especially for leadership roles, to gain some needed direct experience in the commercial biopharmaceutical industry. 

To be fair, manufacturing ops under the Cell and Gene umbrella is always a challenge - long hours, unpredictable schedules, and a lot of pressure to deliver for patients... 

that being said - I've never experienced a level of toxicity to this degree within such a short time frame. 

Within three months of onboarding, there was no set schedule. You were on call indefinitely. After a twelve hour overnight, you may remain another two hours to update supervisors once you exit the lab. 

You may be called back six hours later. 

If you need a doctor or dentist appointment, your only recourse is to take the day off. 

For some employees, sleeping in their cars for a few hours before leaving was common-place to avoid nodding off behind the wheel during their commutes home. 

A lack of maturity, experience, and cohesion at the supervisory level. Supervisors did not get along with each other. Unfortunately, whether intentional or not - this promoted division among the team. Receiving contradictory orders from supervisors was common-place. 

Within one week seven of the eight-person team members were written up - not for insubordination or deviation from protocol, but for what appeared to be human error that was indicative of people working overnight in a lab environment for 12-plus hours at a time. 

Having members of other departments with no authority over operators "recommend" that individuals be written up was also very common.
 
One employee was instructed to deviate from written protocol by their supervisor. When the supervisor was held accountable by upper management, they in turn wrote up the employee for deviating from protocol as they instructed. 

Most people whom I've met within the biologics' environment will gladly sacrifice/endure a lot of personal challenges when they feel supported.

 It t the isn't the case at Catalent in Princeton. It was the most divisive and hypocritical environment I've ever experienced. 



I started there 20+ years ago when it was R.P. Scherer, N.A. They had a great management team that realized their employees were very instrumental in the success of the company. The benefits, wages and management interaction reflected that ideal. Top management knew your name and came to the production and shop floors to talk and asked opinions on how to better the processes and procedures. Raises were regular and layoffs were almost non- existent. When business was slow, employees would be assigned other duties to allow them to work and avoid any layoffs. The company valued the skills of their people! Then Cardinal Health bought the company and the takeaways began under the guise of aligning benefits with the new owners. That's corporate bull for cutting your benefits. Then part of the company broke off and became Catalent. Pharma. The demise of a workplace! As time wore on through business trickery and wording, job titles were changed and realigned which allowed management to hire new people at much lower wages as people were replaced. The underhanded part is that it wasn't normal attrition. Management seemed to go out of their way to target  employees with suspect offenses and disciplines many of whom were long term employees. There's no doubt that with trivial offenses and threats' they  were trying to make people so fearful they would leave so their accrued benefits weren't endangered. I'm one of them. I wasn't ready to retire, but I was tired of being the target of these managerial snakes. I should have gotten an attorney just to be a thorn in their side, but money is a very large issue for me so I didn't. As another reviewer said this company is a model for a "watch your back"," Be afraid, be very afraid" workplace. There are cameras everywhere, so I'm betting there's a highly paid exec. that does nothing but watch cameras to get dirt on someone. Full of corporate slogans and double talk, but don't trust them!

Catalent has become an extremely difficult place to work due to the complete lack of strong, consistent leadership. There is little to no clear direction from upper management, and decisions often feel reactive rather than strategic. Employees are left to navigate constant uncertainty without support, guidance, or a clear vision for the future.

Layoffs have become frequent and seem to happen without transparency or accountability. Instead of addressing the root causes of operational issues, leadership often shifts blame onto employees. Teams are expected to deliver results while dealing with understaffing, unclear expectations, and constantly changing priorities. This creates an environment where employees feel disposable rather than valued.

Morale across teams has suffered significantly. Many talented, hardworking individuals have been let go, while those remaining are left to carry increased workloads without recognition or reassurance. It feels like there is no stability or long-term future within the company, which makes it difficult to stay motivated or invested.

What is most frustrating is the lack of ownership from leadership. Rather than acknowledging structural and organizational failures, employees are often blamed for problems that stem from poor planning, lack of communication, and inconsistent management decisions. This erodes trust and creates a culture of fear and uncertainty.

Catalent has the potential to be a strong organization, but without accountable leadership, clear direction, and genuine support for employees, it continues to decline. Until leadership takes responsibility and prioritizes transparency, stability, and employee well-being, it will remain a challenging and discouraging place to work

Most employees are getting paid on a large scale that ranges from $16 - $30 hour for the same production position. Therefore experienced technicians are training other technicians making double their pay. Or doing the same job as the person next to you plus more and they are making more money than you. Your experience is needed for productivity so they will hold you back from promotions or advancements if it’s not in your current department.  

Once hired for a shift you are stuck. If your lifestyle changes you should just find another job that will fit your schedule. You will get strung along with hopes of them being true to their word, however it never happen. 

This company is no longer promoting within. No advancements. 

New Management hired at least 8 people/friends from a previous company and put them in positions technicians have been training to be promoted to for years. This job requires experience. If you previously was in a higher position at another company(lead,manager,supervisor)  it’s irrelevant, as this company has a vast majority of changing work flows that requires knowledge and skill from hands on experience.  
Therefore upsetting workers who have this knowledge and who want the position but are forced to train others (friends of management) to do the job, they are working to achieve. 

People are horrible. Everyone seems friendly and caring, but everyone is constantly gossiping behind everyone’s back.

 This job is all about how much you are liked and not for your work ethic or your skill value. 

Don’t expect to be rewarded for going above and beyond and trying to do your absolute best.

Don’t be the ghost I am at this company. Working hard and doing triple the work as coworkers making double my pay. Or the one in the lab working to meet all expectations to make your lab leads metrics look amazing as they stroll around and sit and do nothing but reap your rewards, and bark orders at you. 


What is the best part of working at the company?
The company used to give cookies and fruit on Thursdays, but someone complained about the cookies being unhealthy so now there are no morale-boosting treats of any sort.  This is typical of management reaction at Catalent.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Absolutely terrible management.  Favoritism, no concern for issues raised by lab staff, low pay, coerced long hours, threats to rescind vacation already approved, little concern for employee health, virtue signally run amok.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Most peers are great, but oppressive micro-management makes the day a misery.  Extremely woke culture loaded with virtue signaling, but with implicit bias.  Take a look at the pic above their Workday page - lots of diversity, but guess who the only two people are wearing a mask so that you can't see their faces (hint: the background color of this text).  I pointed out an instance of age discrimination in their training materials over a year ago and it is still there.  Supposedly a "Patient First" mindset, but in meetings management makes it very clear that "Dollars First" is the real mindset.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
First you start with threats and cajoling by management at the morning meeting.  Then long hours toiling away with reporting minor OOS/OOT/deviations in TrackWise.  It took 5 weeks for me to get a report thru QA for a deviation which was discovered and corrected in 2 hours.  QA recommends 6 MONTHS to get a Change Control for something as minor as retiring an instrument thru the TrackWise system.  If you do generate lab data that has OOS/OOT/deviation, expect to spend 3-5X as long reporting the issue in TrackWise as it took to generate the data.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
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Manufacturing associate 3 salaries reported	$29.00 per hour
Associate scientist 1 salary reported	$17.50 per hour

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