scientist

senior scientist

associate scientist

material handler

research scientist

Thermo Fisher Scientific

A Material Handler position at the Frederick Thermo Fisher distribution center is better than no job at all, but not by much.  There are so many negative things to say about this operation I could start a daily blog and not cover it all in a year.  This portion of my review focuses on management and hiring/promotion practices.

•	Thermo Fisher hiring and promotion practices/Management:
o	Thermo Fisher recruiters do not look at your experience analytically; if you apply for a Material Handler II position that’s what they’ll contact you about, even if you have the qualifications to be a supervisor.  Managers are equally oblivious and are just looking to fill positions.  You could have a Phd but it is irrelevant without warehouse experience; expect to make significantly less than you are worth, and expect to work under supervisors with less experience. 
o	Thermo Fisher supervisors have little interest in cultivating talent.  If you have an aptitude in, or interest in improving, a certain skill you will be fully responsible for pursuing your own training (unless the company needs to fill a quota).  But be warned, once you have been shown something on a single occasion you will be expected to take care of it in a pinch.  And as always, regardless of how incomplete your training, you will be held responsible for any mistakes.  
o	New positions are not well publicized and are granted based on slots allocated, not on performance.
o	When interviews for promotions take place, upper management (with no comprehension of each employee’s actual capabilities) involve themselves in the final decision-making process, and then hire based on personal relationships.  Subsequently there is no expectation for the promotion recipient to actually increase their workload; other employees are expected to pick up the slack.
o	Appointments to supervisor positions are almost without exception given to those from outside the company, regardless of qualifications.
o	Members of upper management are known for their ability to recite the years, months, and days left until their retirement, not for any leadership skills.  
o	Supervisors will ask you to volunteer for Saturday and Sunday shifts in a pinch, with the reasoning that they will also pitch in and work both days, and will then not show up for either.
o	Upper management frequently employs the “that’s not what I’m paid to do” motto; yet when there are duties they are specifically supposed to perform (for example monitoring every Covid-19 related receipt from the dock), they manage to find an excuse (I’ll be there after my morning meeting,” which apparently never ends). 


And the list goes on and on.  Despite all of this there are some genuinely well-meaning and hard-working managers and associates at the facility who truly look out for one another and want to do a good job.  The problem is the culture at the distribution center is set in stone and accepted by management; the only priority is to hit financial goals at the expense of everything else (including employee safety).  Material Handlers are poorly compensated and clearly considered expendable (Thermo Fisher strives on the concept that there will always be someone else desperate enough to work in their warehouses), while at the same time expected to treat the position as the life blood of their existence.  The company does offer a solid health insurance package, but be prepared to need it and to take vacation time to use it (hopefully you will have all medical issues planned in advance, because some managers don’t appreciate last minute doctor appointments).  Additionally, there will almost always be unlimited overtime hours to work if you want them (at a poor hourly rate).  

Accept a position at the Thermo Fisher’s Frederick Distribution Center at your own risk.

FEI makes some impressive products, and I found it to be a good and meaningful place to work, for the first couple of years.  Then the rot started setting in.  Headcount was actively reduced, people were not replaced when they left, and outside entities were permitted to make labor demands upon the team without paying for them.  Workload skyrocketed as business boomed, but headcount was choked off.  Attitudes went from professional and generally upbeat, to gloomy, to suspicious and furtive and sullen over the course of the next couple of years.  Then it got WORSE.

I can't speak for what happened (or may currently be happening) in other departments, but within my own, fratricide was the norm, and an informant culture blossomed.  The weak on-site lead tried to compensate for their leadership inadequacies and lack of real power by stifling any attempts to help guide the running of the facility or its organization--lip service was paid to the notion of listening to the rest of us, but it always shook out the way the lead intended, and in no other way.  The actual manager was apparently weary of hearing non-stop complaints from the real villains, and instead chose to join in the pummeling of their opponents as a means to shut them up.

It should be noted that I once considered both of these people friends.  I shared political and social opinions with the lead, and a lot of background similarities with the manager, who was an old smoking buddy of mine in the years before accepting the role in my team.  The poisonous atmosphere of that team turned them into creatures I found difficult to recognize by the end of my time there.

My experiences with this place actively degraded me.  I became no better than my opponents as I became swift to anger, intolerant, and cold.  I always owned my own faults and accepted my share of responsibility, but I never once saw any inkling in the opposition that they bore any responsibility of their own.  For this, they have earned my censure and my contempt.

50% of my team were decent people.  The other 50% were cronies who enjoyed taking overlong lunches together, spending too much personal time on the net, talking about the others behind their back, general catty and unmanly behavior, and the like.  The only reason I know all of this is because these are exactly the sorts of things they alleged me to have been guilty of at one time or another, so I naturally had to start paying attention to their own behavior.  They did not disappoint.

Early on in the headcount crisis, I tried on numerous occasions to get the team to see that complaints had to be lodged with our management in order to get anything done, but apparently too many people preferred to loudly play the martyr, because nothing ever happened.  Lower-level managers continually bewailed their inability to affect any change in headcount, and the backbiting just went on and on.

I consider myself better off to no longer be associated with this company.  I still believe in the promise of FEI, and I remain excited by the future that their clients are ushering in all around us.  Some day, one of these clients is going to use an FEI tool to cure cancer or AIDS, and that's simply wonderful.  But down in the trenches where the day-to-day support of the client happens, I am certain that the darkness lingers.  And I am well shut of that.

I worked here as a contractor for about a year. Initially, my first manager told me the position was for me to perform some lab experiments in cell culturing and antigen purification. Instead, I was working on researching how to improve the current manufacturing processes and working for management. The responsibilities listed on the job description were not the same duties that I performed for this job. For the first three months, I was just learning as much as I can on my own with very little support; it's frustrating since most people were busy and there was no training and development for temps due to budgeting issues. There wasn't enough for me to do in terms of the lab work; it was mainly more office work than wet lab work. I was considering leaving about three months into the job due to little or lack of engagement from the employees and team, but management decides to change the direction of the team to do validation work. 

Once I started working in validation, my first manager left and another manager took over the team. The second manager had better direction and the team seemed to get their projects done on time. I learned to design and develop validation protocols with some support from the team. Once the protocols were drafted, I needed some approvals from other departments. Most of the time, I was waiting for people to review and approve my work before running the protocols. I got some validation experience which is good, but still had less to do towards the end of the contract which was a sign to look for another job. After finishing up my projects, my manager told me that there wasn't much for me to do for my current department and discussed either to support another department or have the option to end the contract. Ultimately, I chose to leave since it was not a good fit for me to work at this company and wasn't growing professionally within this role. 

This company is good for people who enjoyed a lot of downtime and needs a stable paycheck to pay their bills, debts, etc. You can study or do other things during your downtime (there's a lot of downtime). The company culture can either be good or bad since there's are a lot of cliques within the organization, but every company has that kind of culture. However, there are problems such as communication and direction between the departments and management.  When I talked to most of the employees at the company, they seem to be pretty unhappy and don't enjoy working there after the transition. It is unclear as to why these problems exist, but it probably has to do company being bought out by a bigger company and the employees being overworked.

Overall, if you need a temporary job, it is a good place to get experience when you are entering the biotech industry especially when you graduated or about to graduate from college. You have to start somewhere whether it is at good or bad biotech company. Otherwise, look for better companies if you are actually considering a career path in biotechnology.

Again this is only for the Life Science Group not Thermo Fisher as a whole.

Thermo Fisher gave me the skills I needed to move on in a manufacturing environment. But unfortunately the toxic work environment doesn't keep the competent employees for more than a year or two. In my few years there I became the senior employee and saw three supervisors quit, three manufacturing managers quit, and two site leads move on.

--Management and promotions--

Managers and Supervisors either grow and develop in one department and are moved to another (post promotion) where the same skills do not apply (powder to liquid, GME [small scale] to core), or are hired from outside the company from non-bio/pharma related fields.To get considered for a higher position you either have to lie about work ethic, cut corners in quality that won't be noticed till products reach the customer, or lick boots while constantly talking bad about your peers to make yourself look better; even going as far as purposefully letting a peer or subordinate make a batch ruining mistake just to report it hours later.

I can not stress the fact that supervisors do not care about quality, only output. Leading to jobs being done in unclean environments and by untrained employees, almost always the supervisors themselves.

--Pay and coworkers--

In my years there we had multiple teams fluctuate between the preferred 10+ people and 3, due to people quitting and moving on to happier pastures always with better pay. Speaking of pay, LSG is the least paying Manufacturing plant in Buffalo, not including those with >75% temps as employees. 

Raises are given either at the end of the year or during promotions, but are usually held together to dilute one or both values, taking advantage of the more mild or kind employees, leading to some Leads making less than many base operators. 

Raises are also given based on the 4I values. Arbitrary values like ingenuity and integrity (read as dependability) and are determined more by comity of all the managers than your actual supervisor. And even if you work "voluntary"/mandatory overtime for 35 weeks of the year while training at managements request, you will still get the lowest dependability score possible if you call off for any reason more than 3 times that year, as doctor notes don't matter since it's "company policy". 

For 2018 only one person got a perfect score in the Component Prep department, who is widely known for hiding during shifts with his supervisor and arguing with peers and leads, simply because he didn't call in and put in the most hazard IDs in Liquid.

--Conclusion--

LSG manufacturing is a fantastic place to learn skills and improve yourself, but the few amoral supervisors and pay will have you looking for the door a year in.

Also if you are Muslim or Hindi be prepared to never be able to eat when they bring in free food (pizza, subs, pasta) as it almost always has pork or beef in it. No matter how many times or how many people go to HR to complain.

It started out as an okay job. The benefits are good as far as warehouses are concerned, and after the company-wide raise at the start of 2020 the wage was more than enough for such easy work. You can even get a decent bonus of about 2 weeks worth of work once a year. However, things start getting strange when you realize your pay is not connected to your position in the building. You don't explicitly get a raise for, say,  operating machinery, or getting switched to a department with work that is objectively higher responsibility, more complex, and more physically demanding. Rather, once a year you have a performance review with your manager and they decide whether they want to give you a raise or not. If you do get one, they are quite menial (maybe 3%). One dilemma that arises is that, for example, 2nd shift gets an automatic 10% pay increase, so someone who has been working 1st shift for 3 years that does much more work than a 2nd shift new hire will be making about the same wage. It just makes no sense. That kind of a system might make sense in an office building, but it just flat out does not work in manual labor, and is just one of the many ways this company tries to take advantage of and shortchange its employees.

There were a lot of frustrating things about the job, but it was tolerable and we did manage to get the job done until all this coronavirus stuff happened. There was an outbreak in the building and everything Thermo Fisher did to protect us was just too little too late. Maybe 20 something people got sick, and the company never even apologized, took responsibility for it, or did anything to show that they appreciated us risking our lives. Some departments were overwhelmed and overworked day in and day out for weeks and weeks and weeks with no sign of letting up, and no sign that they were going to offer us any kind of a raise (even temporary) or bonus for our efforts, despite the fact that they are making a fortune off of the coronavirus. I just got fed up and had to leave. They never even tried to offer any kind of compensation or departmental switch, or some kind of compromise, or literally anything to keep me on board when I put in my notice. That told me all I needed to know much they value their employees.

I could go on and on about the cruddy outdated equipment and dozens of other problems, but to sum it all up, this company is a bloated corporate mess that is totally out of touch with reality. If they gave more autonomy to the local managers I think everything would run a lot better, but they insist on getting in the way of everything while lining their own pockets at the expense of the people who generate their wealth for them.

It wasn't all bad, though. I didn't mind working there for a while, and I learned a lot. Most importantly, there were/are a lot of wonderful people there that were a pleasure to work with that I still miss.

This company seems like a marvelous opportunity. For some it may be. However at the location I worked for, there was an array of jobs. Yet multiple departments that were ill prepared for any new hires. Any training I received wasn’t by a manager it was out of the kindness of a fellow employee in my department. They also do not keep up with any employees growth. I was in my role for over 5 months before i had any type of interaction let alone, a “one on one” meeting with my boss of how I was adjusting or understanding my “training”. The manger in my department was expected to have monthly “one on on” meetings with each employee regarding any questions or concerns regarding thermos expectations for the job role at hand. Not to mention management was extremely unprofessional, absent & strictly motivated by their own personal agendas within the corporate ladder. In addition they have an extremely lack of communication all together. There is also a CONSTANT lack of work for employees on a day to day basis. and a lack of other tasks to be done in spare. A complete disregard for employees as well. Constant eliminations of shift patterns from full time employees, including specific shifts most employees were specifically hired for. While also terminating those shifts as well as shift differentials that were specifically included for less popular shifts. Without so much as employees opinions. Corporate stated it was a much needed chang for employees. However when employees were given a questionnaire to vote for hypothetical shift pattern changes, they company went with the exact opposite of the overall choice of the employees to save money. 
Causing many to have to quit. Thermo does this annually sad to say. They don’t care about their  employees at all. This “marvelous” million dollar company can’t even provide hot meal service for 2nd or 3rd shifts. When second shift was even a shift pattern. Let alone free lunch. I don’t understand how a million dollar company can’t afford to provide free hot meals for any part of the company. How are 12 hour shift employees expecting to preform their best when they aren’t even provided with essentials. The only pro this company had when I was hired were the shift pay differentials which were terminated earlier this year. Thermos obvious lack of regard for employee efficiency or employees in general is insane. Finally, I can’t speak for all Thermo locations, and there were pleasant experiences and positive outlook from the majority of their employees. 

This place is an absolute dumpster fire. 

This is not a Thermo Fisher site, this is still a Patheon site. The downsides are endless, but maybe I'll list a few out, just to give a frame of reference:

-Turnover is absolutely out of control. Hardly anyone stays over the year mark, and for good reason. This hurts even more when you try and get trained on ANYTHING, as it ends up a "blind leading the blind" sort of scenario.
-No support at all from upper management.
-No training or on-boarding (unless you count reading 300 SOPs as training)
-Constant issues from the ancient equipment.
-Complete lack of management accountability.
-Clunky outdated systems. It WILL take you 4-6 months to gain access to the systems you need to do your job, but don't worry, there is no shortage of secretarial work for you to do while you wait. When you eventually do get system access, even a simple process will turn into a multi week project due to the compounding inefficiencies.
-Every functional group is so lean that they can't get anything done (correctly).
-Lord help you if you inherit any sort of project, you will NEVER get away from it, you will always be the "guy" long after you've achieved the goals set from the start. 
-Operations is an absolute nightmare. No one *and I can't emphasize this enough* wants to stay in operations. No one. 
-They will lie to your face during the interview process.

This place is straight out of the 80s and it shows. Functionally it runs like a mafia, and if you aren't "on the boat" you might as well be looking for a life vest.

When I got hired on I took on multiple stale projects that had been on the back burner for YEARS, and suddenly as soon as my name is on it, it's the highest priority thing on site and I'm taking flak from leadership daily about why it's taking so long. Never mind that it's passed through more people than the flu, and has more tenure with the company than I do. 

They run SO lean in EVERY functional area that they actually can't complete ANYTHING. No one ever sat down to look at what sort of capacity is needed for what sort of throughput. Absolutely no foresight or planning. This is a foreign concept to them, You WILL  NOT GET THE RESOURCES YOU NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL. 

You might be thinking to yourself "well hey, at least it's a job" and you know what? It is. However I can honestly say that I would rather dig ditches in the NC summer than EVER set foot on this site again. 

Heed my warning, and run for the hills! The only people that remain here are the poor souls that are tied to the area for some unfortunate reason. Raleigh is only 1.5 hours away. There is NO reason to work here. At all.

For the life of me I can't understand how this place manages to keep the doors open.

I would like to start off with that this place is probably the best for those just starting their careers out of college and is a good beginning step to get a taste of the corporate world, the good and bad.  However, I would choose most other companies over this one.

While I was able to branch off into another area of work due to my prior experience, I found that most of my coworkers did not have this opportunity.  Growth was slow unless you were liked by the management and to be liked by the management, you either make them look good or you get them to like you.  management is more than fine with letting people go if they do not like them since there will always be someone to replace them.  

Research department is very neglected with lack of instruments for size of teams, can take months just to fulfill a request, backing up product lines or increasing chances of contamination all the while management doesn't have a clue or doesn't care.  Outdated instruments and lack of resources to truly have this department excel are to be expected.

Found the older employees to be rude or cliquey and excluding those that they either don't like or are intimated by.  Found the longer you work here, the more you can get away with, especially if you're like by management.  My coworkers and close teammates are good people who make the job more bearable than it should be.  Many times I had my work accredited to someone else because they liked the other person more.  Luckily the other person corrected them on this issue, but it is something that has occurred more than once.  Expect many team building meetings that serve as places for the "cool" people to hang out while everyone else does work.  Trying to get work or advance is also an uphill battle unless you have someone to vouch for you.  I have seen some employees stuck in the same entry level position for 5+ years since management "forgot" about them.  This is the main reason why this review is a 2.

I can keep going, but overall I think these are the main points that I would like to get across about this company.  I needed a job, and didn't know anyone on the inside to tell me how the company was.  The funny thing is, I think the work is fine, and if you try you can definitely advance, though it is probably faster and easier at other places, but the main issue for me is the culture and work environment.  Too many people who act holier than thou for the amount of (or lack therof) work they do.  

On the surface, they can be a great company. HR is friendly and helpful, wages aren't bad, and certain of the managers and workers can be great and fun people! However, there are certain things to note about a few very specific individuals and over much of the observable company as a whole:
I understand workers are human, but the failure to follow procedure except when it's convenient for a manager or trainer is borderline appalling. Too many of the higher ranks who work there don't even know what the written procedures are, yet they enforce them too much or too loosely. They do not readily provide means of contacting managers to call out on time, but bothering to drive all the way across town to let them know that you cannot make it because of a legitimate personal emergency is counted as an occurrence (just because there was no legal way to arrive before the one-hour mark), despite one's every effort to be the best possible employee. They are selective in who's extra efforts they will recognize; good employees tend to transfer to other shifts just to escape the pettiness; they claim to want efficiency, but operate their workspace and procedures to a degree that they cannot meet their goals consistently, but somehow it's the fault of the cleanroom underlings.
Not a terrible place to work... If you are great at socializing with the right people. Otherwise, you get ignored when you need help the most, get torn on afterwards for not being fast enough, despite others getting leeway just for jabbering with a friend who helps their station work only just faster than you with two or more people. They require everyone to get continuous training, but constrict trainers in how many they can help per day, and they often don't have enough trainers present on a regular basis. A lot of the niceties they try to provide seem like tokens just cover up glaring inadequacies; despite claiming to work with employees individual needs, they don't. And frankly, how any company can demand in this country to "leave your personal problems at the door" but don't extend that courtesy the other way...

I'd share specifics to clarify my vague sections, but that would eliminate the whole anonymous thing, and I should honestly save the details for workforce or whoever is in charge of keeping accountable such rapidly growing companies that don't actually invest in their most valuable (and most expensive, when they invest in the wrong things) assets, their people. I'm not staying silent any longer. Thermofisher of Logan gets no more Mister Nice Guy.

Each day, I begin by reviewing both print and digital marketing tactics to ensure brand consistency and excellence. Within Adobe Workfront, I art direct creative materials, providing detailed feedback to elevate the work to the highest standard. I annotate PDFs uploaded by Marketing Program Managers, Traffic, Production Designers, and Art Directors, then upload my version for Copywriters to add their edits—ensuring a seamless collaborative workflow.

I act as a key brand resource for Creative team members, Program Managers, and external vendors, offering guidance and solutions to maintain alignment with brand standards.

In my leadership role, I directly manage a team of five legacy Designers. I provide one-on-one mentorship, career development support, and help remove any roadblocks preventing them from doing their best work. My goal is to help each designer grow into the strongest version of themselves, both creatively and professionally.

My journey at Thermo Fisher has been incredibly rewarding. I’ve grown as a Production Designer, Art Director, Manager, and Brand Ambassador—thanks to the mentorship and collaboration of some of the best professionals in the field. I’ve learned how to bridge teams—PMs, creatives, business stakeholders, and vendors—to ensure a smooth and efficient path from concept to final product.

I was fortunate to have managers who felt like family—always encouraging, teaching, and guiding me into what has become my favorite role to date. Their support created a positive, empowering work environment that allowed our team to thrive.

One of the most challenging yet rewarding aspects of my role was guiding external vendors to adhere to our precise brand guidelines. This responsibility deepened my patience and empathy, especially when supporting designers who required extra help aligning with our visual standards.

I truly loved my role and envisioned staying until retirement. Unfortunately, due to corporate restructuring, my position—along with 30 others—was absorbed into another business unit.

Despite this transition, I’m optimistic and excited for what’s next. I look forward to bringing my experience, passion, and dedication to a new team and contributing meaningfully to another great organization.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Scientist 24 salaries reported	$23.13 per hour
Senior scientist 34 salaries reported	$85,719 per year
Associate scientist 11 salaries reported	$22.55 per hour
Material handler 4 salaries reported	$20.11 per hour
Research scientist 16 salaries reported	$96,781 per year

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