bilingual customer service associate

manager

customer service representative

sales consultant

distribution associate

MEDELA

With the exception of great benefits, this was the worst company ever to work for.  Communication was terrible between departments, especially in production areas.  I worked there for 10-1/2 years there and was laid off by phone call telling me that my job was being eliminated.  Never saw that coming.  There was no clear logic as to why some were laid off and others were not.  I was eliminated but some temps got to stay?  I was also told by management that they did not know ahead of time who was going to be laid off,  I find that hard to believe seeing that someone had to make these decisions and I don't believe Switzerland decided who was staying or going in McHenry.  I felt underappreciated most of the time, there was no room for me to advance there.  I was hired as an incoming warehouse inspector but was abruptly moved into production inspection  and not really given a reason for the move into that area.  It is true that favoritism plays a big part in all areas, I've seen it there for many years. Pay was decent, but still should have been more considering the amount of stress the QC inspectors go through in the production rooms with monitoring 8 lines at a time sometimes and often times monitoring 2 production rooms and all of the lines in them at a time.  Also, being on my feet for 8 hours a day with no opportunity to sit except at lunch and break took a tremendous toll on my body.  The insurance benefits, Healthjoy app, 401k, pension, these were all great benefits and a big reason why I stayed as long as I did, plus the generous PTO days.  But it was a small price compared to the work environment I had to put up with.  It was a good company when I started and it really felt like a family at first 10+ years ago, but no more.  I feel like when it went global, we lost a lot of that family feeling and became more like numbers.  I guess I should consider myself lucky that I lasted 10 years there, not too many people make it to 15 years.

This is a privately held company that has seen explosive growth in the past 5 years, they very well capitalized, and their products are in very high demand. The rapid growth has led to challenges where its core systems struggled to catch up with the business needs. Company culture of "change agents" was misstated during the interviewing process. The management team is highly skilled,  intelligent, and personable but their behavior is very unpredictable. They use words like "industry standard", "operational excellence", and "lean" on a daily basis but execute on an ever changing set of values that meets the needs at the moment with little regard to future systems, regulatory, or business implications to the extreme that it conflicts with evaluation goals that will not be later revised to reflect the current business needs and environment. If you are very patient and have no expectations of consistent directives, this can be a very good company to work for.

Benefits are good overall; vacation and holiday time , pension, 401k match are above average. Medical insurance premium rates are good, but the coverage is not that good with high deductibles.

Be on time every evening. Listen carefully to instructions, then perform work immediatly until shift ends. Not difficult, just the same thing every day. I learned to be faster with my hands making motors. Listening to instructions very carefully was the most important part because one mess up leads to the whole line slowing down production. Management was terrible. I have never worked for supervisors and managers that are so selfish and rude. They also did not follow company policy. For instance, if a product falls on the ground you are supposed to put it in the scrap bin. Our floor manager and supervisor take them and put them back on the line so there is less scrap to count at the end of our shift.  My co-workers and the pay were the only things that kept me to stay there. My co-workers were very friendly and got their work done as well as showing me, being the "new guy", how to do things the correct way. I was also nominated by fellow co-workers to be the nicest person on our shift. I am easy to get along with, learn new things and get our work done on time and the way it needs to be done.

The days work load changed frequently, the start of the day was checking e-mail and voice mails to see what orders needed to go to warehouse that day. I needed to make sure the warehouse had plenty of orders to pull and work to do. Processed any customer complaints or issues that came up by returning products or credit and re-bills of correct products. The work load varied from day to day based on customer need of products. I learned a different way of processing order using 2 monitors at the same time and how to juggle multiple items at the same time. Management was very helpful and more than willing to answer any questions or jump in if needed. All co-workers worked well together. The hardest part of the job was seeing the struggles the employees went through while the Company goes through all their transissions. I love to help the customer and the satisfaction when they are happy with the job I did.

When I started working at Medela, I was impressed with the low turnover and high morale. The pay is fair and the benefits excellent. The training I received was in depth and comprehensive. However, since then, it has gone downhill. No two supervisors or managers are on the same page and Processes and SOP changes almost daily. You are never sure how to do your job correctly. Due to company restructuring, many people have lost their jobs and those who are still there are completely uncertain of how long their job will be there. They are now understaffed, which forces current employees to take on 2 or even 3 jobs. This creates very low morale and the stress level is off the charts. This is resulting in even more employees choosing to leave. The attitude of management is one of indifference and even occasionally,  what could be considered to be hostile or dismissive, when faced with needs or concerns of employees.

Use to be a great place but has gone way down hill. New management wants to micro manage every little thing. I have ibs and had to bring in a  doctors note because I went to wash room too many times one day. They currently have no cleaning company cleaning the buildings because they are trying to find a new company. We didn’t have a big enough dumpster so we transfer garbage between the two site’s. Printers don’t work rf guns don’t work management works 7 hour days while the regular workers work 10-12 hour days. Took away bonuses they do have a great time off policy and pay pretty well. I would stay as far away from this place as you could been there for ten years and every year gets worse. Everything is third party if you have an issue that requires hr or you need to go through this company if you have an issue with paycheck you need to go through this company just sad to see this place fall this far down

They claim to be supportive to people with disabilities, and many employees who have worked there, including myself, have been treated very poorly.  Supervisors are almost never present nor answer messages when they are needed, and have even all been gone for a whole week with no one to sub in, so all reps were left stranded.  Company is very money oriented, and do not see their employees or customers as people.  We are legally required to take a break at some point during the work day, and I was genuinely told for months that I could not have my break because we were too busy and it did not matter.  Customer excellence specifically has a humongous turnover rate, and there's zero room for advancement.  They eliminate not only positions suddenly, but entire departments of employees.  I am so incredibly glad I am no longer with this company, and working somewhere else where I am treated like a human being and matter.

I love that the work I do can have a positive impact on colleagues and customers.  This viewpoint helps me to see beyond the nitpicky things that can bring down a review like this. 

Medela's CEO is thoughtful and intentional, and she values honesty and good work. Our regional leadership team in the Americas is honest, earnest, and committed to aligning under a shared vision. My boss is empathetic, smart and cares about our team. Colleagues are good natured, excellent at what they do, and willing to work together/find new ways to do better. Literally cannot ask for anything better than that.

Cultural and societal changes, the ripple effect of politics on small businesses, and unifying a global team can be hard to navigate/ difficult to ride through. However, IMHO, none of these are unique to us, which is why Medela still gets 4 stars from me. 

As a current employees, I am impressed with the company. They are very friendly and very respectful. For myself. I set respect as a very high expectations because I have disabilities myself and deaf as well. Because there’s some research that shows that people with disabilities are more likely to be bullied and I don’t see that happened, so  I’m very impressed on how they treat people very well especially with disabilities, respect is much needed and very important, And I don’t have to feel anxious anymore and I feel very safe there because I know people is watching my back. So it made me safe myself. I like the idea to have a mentor because deaf people tends to rely on hands-on/visual education and training. That impressed me well. So I’m giving high marks to this and my green thumb as well!! I recommend this and I suggest hiring more people with disabilities in the future to here!!

Medela is a wonderful company to work for.  They provide amazing benefits and as a company honestly care for their employees.  Though the call center is almost a company within.  The companies policies to not pertain to all departments across the board.  The call center had a seperate set of policies to abide by.  The management staff in the call center is not ideal and a few persons of management are very difficult to work with.  In the call center monthly goals are set, but are not realistic for all employees.  I enjoyed the speaking with customers all day, each call was a new situation.  The hardest part of the job was trying to present new ideas for the department and lead to a positive outcome.  There was not much room for advancement within the call center.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Bilingual customer service associate 4 salaries reported	$21.25 per hour
Manager 3 salaries reported	$128,333 per year
Customer service representative 3 salaries reported	$18.17 per hour
Sales consultant 2 salaries reported	$87,500 per year
Distribution associate 1 salary reported	$18.75 per hour

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