process engineer

laboratory analyst

controls engineer

operations supervisor

senior buyer

MP Materials

I'll start with saying that I do truly believe in the importance of the company to our national economy and the goals that they have set to become the rare earth supply chain that our country desperately needs. But, MP Materials is by far the most stressful work environment I have had in my seasoned career in the electrical/instrumentation field and this sentiment will be shared by the majority of the day to day workers you interact with on site. There have been improvements at the higher department level positions during my employment, but, there seems to be a void between them and the office which would aid in creating an organized and experienced workforce. Lower leadership within the E&I department lack experience and/or people skills to be effective in their roles and instead rely on those with the skills to complete their assigned tasks to pass off the completion as their own hard work. There is a lack of capable manpower to complete tasks properly and safely. The schedules have changed bi-monthly/monthly due to people quitting, lack of people qualified to cover a shift, and friends of others that start with special schedules. There can and most likely will be rotating schedules between night and day shifts that are mandatory. You may hire on with the perception that there aren't, but, the turnaround and lack of manpower as the facility expands makes it necessary. There are no prints, schematics, materials or proper tools to help aid you in your daily tasks. The pay is competitive if you were working in Las Vegas but having to commute 1 hour plus with good traffic (this IS California to Vegas and I have had commutes longer that 3.5 hours), the wear and tear on your vehicle, constant rising gas prices, and California taxes. The combination of these make the pay subpar. There is a cost of living bump yearly which helps with those costs a bit, but, there is no structured plan in place to receive any kind of raise in salary for your job performance or any kind of way to advance in the department. If you are looking to learn there are many unique pieces of equipment and processes that you won't find anywhere else, but, as mentioned before there are not enough people with the experience to have the time to guide you. The time off is good but is mandatory due to the stressful environment. Between your 12 hour shift and commute your day is over when you get home. The schedule is 4 days on and 3 off and rotates to 3 and 4 the following week. So, essentially 7 of every 14 days off. Again, the lack of manpower may make working extra necessary as most other departments have mandatory overtime schedules. That being said, there is currently plenty of overtime. The only downfall is the high taxes and your eventual growing tired of the long commute. The benefits are on par with industry, kind of in the middle. There are a lot of great people that are employed by MP and there are definitely bright spots amongst all the gray. It will be a difficult to right the ship and I truly hope it does for the sake of those good people that are currently still employed.

Yes, the company is doing important things for this country but this is no place to work, grow, or further your career. Upper management is terrible, with little knowledge of process. They sit locked inside their offices for majority of the days and armchair quarterback their employees.  Full of empty promises, safety is absolutely terrible, they only care about a track record of no lost time accidents.  Although there have been countless injuries, they will do whatever it take to keep you at work; light duty, office work etc. to ensure that record isn't broken no matter how much pain you're in. Training is pretty terrible as well, with no experienced trainers training inexperienced operator with absolutely no mine or chemical process background. Its potentially a recipe for disaster. Hard to move up, the pay does not meet industry minimums. You pay California taxes regardless of where you live. The drive is a minimum hour no matter which way you're coming. The COO micromanages, and demands unrealistic deadlines. The amount of pressure will eventually break you.

The plan and development to supply rare earths is terrific and amazing for the USA. As far as working as an electrician or instrument technician it is absolutely horrific. There is no structure at all. Forget about finding a print for a bucket or a loop sheet for an instrument they are non existent. Also there are no parts to speak of to repair things unless you want you want to go to the "lay down yard" which is basically a dust covered junk yard. The people that are in leadership of your job have no idea what's going on at all and are completely oblivious to everything. People that are there will try to pass off you knowledge as their own and make it sound like they know what they are talking about. Management is absolutely horrible. 

The commute sucks, it's a 1 hour drive up here. There is no communication here starting from leaders down to employee. Supervisor always trying to out do each other to prove who's best. Never on the same page. We got seniors operators that feel entitled no to do anything just because they been here longer, they can see us busting our behind working, struggling and still won't offer no help. Supervisor is aware of it but still won't make him help out. Seniors not willing to train certain circuit because they afraid that they will be replaced and would have to actually work at another circuit. Do not give no credit to employee what so ever. Always want us to work with cheapest materials.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Safety is not the top priority 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Training is the worst I’ve very experienced 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Poor communication: There was a lack of transparency around company goals and project management.
Poor work-life balance: The company culture didn't support a healthy work-life balance, leading to burnout for many employees.
Lack of recognition: There was a feeling of being underappreciated despite significant effort.
High turnover: The high rate of employee departures indicated underlying cultural issues.

Was very excited at first to work here but that feeling didn't take long to fade away. The management staff has poor communication skills. There is no progression path or training program to develop employees and offer a reason to stay with the company. Tools are well below industry standards and the company doesn't want to spend the money on the proper equipment. Safety is a complete joke, I am surprised a serious injury or worse hasn't happened yet. The culture at MP is terrible no accountability and very little motivation for employees to actually care. This is just a job and not a career. 

MP Materials may give out a good pay even for starting employees that have never worked in a refinery or plant, but the real down fall is how managment and higher ups act & treat the employes they never know what there doing how things operate the people here are trash most people here are stupid and spoiled, the only things i like about working here is the money & schedule, best thing to do is get the experience learn all you can on your own so you can find somewhere else to work there is better places to work instead of here where things actualy makes sense.

Any preconceived notions about this company being anything like Molycorp can be tossed out the window. This is not Molycorp. MP Materials is a great place to work with great leadership that makes you feel like family and legitimately cares about your own personal success as much as they do about the company's success. They offer great benefits.....better than most places I've been, lots of time off, plenty of advancement opportunities. They truly care about the environment and are very well positioned for long term success.

MP materials is full of upper management that have no clue what they are doing. They treat the regular employees like dirt and have unrealistic expectations of them on a daily basis. Most production circuits are understaffed and that's the way they want to keep it. So if you like working yourself to death with no hope of any improvement this is the job for you. Like being threatened with a new write-up almost on a weekly basis? Again. This is the job for you.

MP Materials is a great company to work, the teams support each other and the upper management actually cares for their employees at all levels.
As normal manufacturing companies there are deadlines, stressful and busy days sometimes but I never worked in a company that empowers and supports me on my professional goals as MP. 
There’s a lot of transparency and team members are always willing to help and contribute with their expertise across departments. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Process engineer 16 salaries reported	$130,500 per year
Laboratory analyst 10 salaries reported	$80,366 per year
Controls engineer 4 salaries reported	$160,000 per year
Operations supervisor 4 salaries reported	$110,000 per year
Senior buyer 4 salaries reported	$85,000 per year

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