machine operator

controls engineer

chemist

bench technician

production lead

Johnson Matthey

When first working here, I was optimistic about the company. But, as the many years progressed, especially recently, the scales seemed to have fallen off my eyes and I see everything differently. I’m not sure about the other Johnson Matthey sites, but the West Deptford Chemicals and Refining plant is a very callous environment and because of no accountability paired with upper management’s lack of knowledge of what truly happens, there is always someone pointing a blaming finger and that usually leads to someone being let go or even forced to early retirement. Don’t count on your many years/seniority working there, because if one mistake is made they are very spiteful and will dismiss you (unless you have close ties with people like HR, you can essentially get away with murder.)

There is very unhealthy treatment to the people they should be valuing, especially to the union employees: health insurance is not as comprehensive as salary’s; as of currently, when first working there, they are not given paid vacation until after working there a full year and only given 5 days of which you are forced to use 3 of the 5 days for the company’s yearly shutdown/maintenance; the safety aspect is truly disappointing (there is a belief that many areas of the plant are safe, but if you take a closer look, you realize that it’s all an illusion); and they work in extreme temperatures (they have no system to effectively cool or heat up the plant).  The only benefit for union is you have the potential of a higher pay, usually more than the wage of salary employees.  Due to lack of dispensing proper knowledge to those in training, as well as employee shortages, has forced many salary workers to put in a considerable amount of hours over the 40 hour work week without those extra hours being paid (this is common practice in departments, such as engineering or IT where usual work weeks consist of 50-60+ hour work weeks).  With all the money this company makes, you would think working hard has its benefits, but raises are not given to deserving employees and some past salary employees have been forced into early retirement.

HR does little in helping the employees and many feel they cannot truly confide in the department without any repercussions (more like the Department of Corrections).  They should stop focusing on what new food event (wing off, bake off, meatball challenge, etc) they can come up with and start focusing on why many departments have high turnover (union production workers, quality control lab, security, etc). Honestly, times were better with the previous HR manager.

As mentioned previously, Upper Management really requires more knowledge as to what is truly occurring in their site rather than just sitting at their desks strategizing- the best way is to immerse themselves in every department’s environment. If they want to make safety a priority, they need more involvement because as of now, although there is talk of safety being top priority there is inadequate action to improving it. 

Those with little knowledge base/experience are placed into decision making roles, such as supervisors/managers, and their choices usually are not the best.  Overall, there is insufficient training for most of the departments.

The pros working at this company- some of the benefits and if you are fortunate to have a good team you work with of which I am very grateful for. 

In closing, it’s very interesting that several employees just this past year, have left. But, with all the problems that have evolved, I am not at all surprised.

     This used to be a GREAT place to work. Communication was never it's strong point, however at one point, before the new upper management took over, one felt as though they not only had a voice but their opinion and work ethic mattered because it did. Employees used to love coming to work because it felt like a family environment, they treated you so well and they cared far more about safety as opposed to production (which was still important and, given the general morale of the plant, was booming with great customer satisfaction numbers as well). 
     Then the new regime came in. 
     They started small, taking away gym memberships, cancelling the company picnic, cancelling the Christmas party, getting rid of retirement parties. They then moved on to forcing us to schedule all of our vacation time at the beginning of the year with no leeway as well as no more shift changes. Vacation time is also now accrued over the year under this new ruling (you can't use your vacation whenever you want, you have to schedule it based on your accrual). We have a lot of off shift people here that depend on these days to see their kids plays/baseball games/birthday parties/graduations etc most of which cannot be scheduled at the beginning of the year, essentially cancelling family time for many people. 
     They also started disciplining people for showing up late on heavy snow days regardless of how early they left and howany times they notified management of their situation. When the employees asked about cutting us a break we were told "well, you chose where you live." I personally witnessed a man crash through a telephone pole that day because it was so bad out. 
     They then cut all of our breaks by 5 minutes, which does not allow for much eating/talking to the family you don't get to see being on an off shift, and forced us to stay an extra 20 past our original leave time.
     People are being fired for the smallest of infractions and the company is using layoffs due to the coronavirus to move people around the shop to where they desire them to be. They openly ignore the union contract multiple times in order to tie the union reps up in so many grievances that it's hard to fight them all. 
     They also refused to pay a man, who had multiple surgeries and was out for the recommended amount of time, the sick time he deserved while also refusing to give him his vacation time because they said he "didn't accrue it." They openly ignore safety protocols now in the name of production and ignore several legitimate safety concerns of the employees. 
     Morale is so low it's immeasurable. Not one employee is happy here, in fact, several are leaving/retiring due to this regime. The only thing keeping people here is the pay, which is ok, but considering the politics and the atmosphere, it's not really worth it.
     There are so many other things I wish to say here, but I don't have the time. 
     It truly is a shame to see how such a good and family oriented company could turn into this cold, iron fisted, dickensian, toxic work place that it has become.  I truly thought I was going to retire here, but now I'm really not sure. 


Management is full of certified smoke-blowers. 

My schedule was changed 5 times in 16 months, from the day of orientation. Terrible schedule instability, if you have children at home. Overnights get no support, but you're expected to cover another position and their emails. We switched to a 5-day work-week, just to have management say we're still working Saturdays and Sundays. Often given little time to prepare for these changes. (was also asked on a Friday to switch to a new schedule by Monday)

My last straw was management making promises about my schedule and making promises about my career growth that they ended up retracting. Constantly asked me for compromises, but gave me nothing in return.

They don't call you a supervisor because that's a title that pays too much money, but that's exactly what you do and who you are. Training was dreadful. The job is too high-stress to dedicate time to training. I knew from the jump I was only going to be told something once. I knew more about my responsibilities than my own boss.

Day-to-day job responsibilities were more stressful than your typical warehouse supervisor position. You were responsible for outbounds, inbounds, and transfers, and sometimes would have to cover "material control" when that supervisor was not in. Things could get away from you if you weren't already "on top of everything". You would often get asked "if you have time" for things that you never have time for. Management is fully aware that we don't even have the manpower to complete basic functions of the warehouse like restocking inventory, correcting damages, or inventory control inaccuracies, but then act surprised when side-projects they ask us to do, don't get completed. Oftentimes, you'd have quality engineers, IT, contractors, inspectors, auditors arrive on your shift that management did not prepare you for.

Communication between departments is severely lacking. I'd resend emails every day, as people were just often unresponsive. Purchasing and Customer Service departments never coordinate, so you may get slammed with 8 inbounds and 15 outbounds in a single 8-hour shift, while you only have 3 warehouse operators. (These can take up to an hour each)

This company has its drawbacks and its benefits. Overall, it was a good experience and the company is strong. They produce an excellent product and have hired outstanding, competent employees that respect management and each other. However, it has one glaring weakness. Their decision to promote a technician into supervisory role. He goes by the initials JWJ, but he refers to himself as the Axman. He refers to himself as such because he has only one talent - telling is underlings they are doing a good job while surreptitiously plotting ways to remove them. It is a blatant attempt to cement his authority within the company by undermining the hard work of others. He somehow finds time to formulate this scheme between his disturbing stories about how much alcohol he can consume.

By some of his colleagues he is known by another name - insert synonym for Buttman. That in itself isn't a fault I suppose. Many people in this country struggle with their weight. But when it causes you to sit in your office all day and not assist your co-workers, then it becomes a larger problem for the company as a whole.

From what I could tell, he spends the majority of his shift listening to music and watching dirty movies on his mobile phone. In my opinion this greatly reduces the productivity of the shift he oversees, which is unfortunate because he has been given excellent employees to preside over.

Johnson Matthey is teetering on calamity with this dishonest (he is also known to steal from worker lockers) individual. As a disappointed former employee, you need to understand that I am biased. But there is no dispute among the rank-in-file, that if this individual lingers in a leadership role with this company any longer, it would be detrimental to the soundness of Johnson Matthey's bottom line. They are opening themselves to lawsuits on many fronts if this individual is not dealt with immediately.

Finally, I also write this review because I believe this time tested company does not deserve to be represented in this way. It can only be helpful in the long run. It would serve Johnson Matthey well to confront this former roofer before they themselves start to cave.

Hired after many years as a process operator.  1 week of book training was worthless.  Piggybacked for many months.  The position is operating, packaging and maintenance.  It takes a few years to learn the jobs.  The equipment used is old and dangerous.  We requested new hoses used everyday for transferring product.  Ok’d By management and never received.  Operations requested maintenance and new equipment and never received support from management.  Told to be emergency response at times and never had training.  This place is an accident waiting to happen.  My manager was great but many managers turned a blind eye to the way things were done.  Never proactive always reactive.  You constantly exposed to dangerous chemicals and breath in things that you shouldn’t.  The operators were good guys.  Most worked there because they needed a job not knowing what they were dealing with.  HR were nice people but followed company protocol despite the protocol being outdated and wrong.  Production techs lack trading, work in unsafe conditions and not cared about.  The bottom line is the only thing cared about.  They sell a lot of stuff but never backed it up.  Stay away from here.

Difficult place to work.  Expect to lay low and sell out on your personal values to survive.  Management could care less.  Little to no chance for advancement unless you are part of the “in” crowd.  Production will win out over safety and even quality every time here. Biggest concern by my current manager was the type of exit interview I would give upon leaving!! Pathetic!  Upper management is aware of the issues but turns a blind eye as their own pockets are being lined by fat bonuses as good safety practices are being ignored in the name of out turns of metals.  The place is crumbling about us as all that is cared about is the bottom line.  Many workers and the local community will suffer greatly when the approaching catastrophic failure finally happens.  Infrastructure of the physical plant is crumbling with chemicals and steam leaks considered normal and ignored in the name of production. Acids,bases and other dangerous chemicals such as hydrazine are stored together without any secondary containment. It is not above local management to turn the same blind eye when highly contaminated effluents are discharged in the name of continued production. Again pathetic!!!

I worked at JM as a co-op for 6 months and I had a great time, but everyone who worked there full time hated the company. There was a lot of tensions between departments, salaries were low unless you've been working there for 30 years, and although management made a big fuss about safety they only cared about making profits at the end of the day. Although I was only there 6 months, many people I met at the beginning of co-op had quit by the end of it.

The culture around co-ops/interns/rotational students is positive and we all got along very well. I think the full time employees may not see you as someone who is actually part of a department since you'll be on your way out in a few months. Although my group liked me, I was told not to come back because the company is so bad.

Couple things for co-ops: Not everyone is paid the same although you basically do the same job. My boss tried to raise my pay to the same as the other co-ops, but HR just avoided him on the issues. You don't get paid holidays, even though they are scheduled plant-wide holidays and you aren't even allowed to come in because no one else is there.

There is no such thing as a typical day at JM.  Expect the unexpected, expect multiple managers/project leads to come and ask you for results for work that was submitted less than an hour beforehand.  Groups were too shortstaffed, there was no QC supervisor or manager.  We reported directly to the Global Head of QC.

There were not enough people to get the work needed done.  The company utilizes a fear based culture in order to force you to do more work.  The pay was sub-par by all accounts and raise/advancement structure did not exist for employees to know.  The benefits are comparable except for the PTO policy as well as the strict 8-5 schedule.

By far the best part of working at JM was the people who worked there.  Unfortunately the company did not recognize the abilities of individuals and found them to be replaceable parts, so good employees came and left weekly.

If you are looking for a job where you will learn alot, be in a fast paced environment or are just looking for a place to start then JM is a good place to be.  But if you are experienced, JM won't give you the compensation you deserve and will really wear you down over time.

Working in tech support was an incredibly rewarding experience that helped me grow both professionally and personally. The role honed my problem-solving skills as I tackled diverse technical challenges daily. Helping users navigate issues with software, hardware, and network configurations taught me patience and the importance of clear communication. I especially enjoyed empowering customers with the knowledge to prevent similar issues in the future.

The collaborative team environment was another highlight—sharing insights and learning from colleagues made even the most complex problems feel achievable. I took great satisfaction in turning frustrated users into happy ones through attentive service and innovative solutions. The job also kept me on my toes, as technology is ever-evolving, providing constant learning opportunities. Overall, tech support was a fulfilling role that made a meaningful difference for users while boosting my technical expertise and customer service.



 When the machines were up and running and you were busy, When they were down you were bored and you cleaned, Never really seen management they work by watching you on the computer screens and the offices, If you had an issue or a question you could go to them in the office and Tell them what was happening in they would help you fix it If it was Something they could do, If not they got back to you With the answer to your question, There were times when you were sent to the other building which was right next door when they needed help if someone had called out Or a special project, pay with good benefits we're good, Warehouse was extremely hot In the summer, winner time was okay Temperature wise, Don't be late don't call out and Don't leave early, This is including your breaks, We took a lot of online Classes for chemicals ,electrical ,forklift, Safety, Cranes ,Just FYI information Because we Had access to all that in the buildings

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Machine operator 1 salary reported	$24.00 per hour
Controls engineer 1 salary reported	$21.50 per hour
Chemist 1 salary reported	$82,750 per year
Bench technician 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Production lead 1 salary reported	$30.00 per hour

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