chemical operator

mechanic

quality control lab technician

production operator

millwright

W. R. Grace & Co.

In the beginning, I was so excited to learn. Which I did, actually. But the company absolutely and without a doubt failed on transparency. Employees are left guessing and working a horrific amount of hours while management sits around and play. Instrumentation was either damaged or non functional which made the fast paced job impossible to keep up with. It took the company months to replace an oven with faulty wiring. My direct boss, the lab manager, and the safety coordinator were all all aware before my complaints were brought to my director who eventually solved the problem by removing the oven. The lab prides itself on safety yet took 6 months of life- threatening electrocutions for anyone to bat an eyelash. In the end, all the temps were fired after being lied to about a 6 month contract to hire basis. The director of our department kept reassuring us that we would get hired, then in the end, apologized in a last ditch effort to stop a majority of the workforce from quitting all at once. We were fired with no notice and were given no severance either. The amount of work was not compensated properly at all; even if we were hired full time, I would turn down the job simply because of all the deception and corruption that went on around there. One time, the union almost went on strike. Company policy states that during a strike, Grace employees are required to eat, sleep, and shower on the property and are not allowed to leave for any reason. One time, I asked a manager for advice after explaining a situation, and their response was to simply keep my mouth shut because as a temporary employee, if I spoke out, I would get fired. The company also boasts about their quality yet none of the equipment was standardized or calibrated properly. We would run standards every day and they would always fail. Rather than correct the problem, we would continue to run samples. In fact, during audits, we were explicitly told to hide all the illegal things we were doing and were forced to hide any uncontrolled documents or materials we were using.  Managers would lie and falsify data, others would pour chemicals down the drain because they didn’t feel like disposing of them properly, most didn’t even follow basic safety guidelines like wearing the proper PPE or safety glasses. The coworkers and the 3 day weekends are the only good things about the company. Nobody rewarded hard work, nobody valued the employees, and nobody told the truth.

My overall experience with Grace has been very positive. The job is challenging and engaging, and there are daily opportunities to learn and expand your skill set. The company often offers excellent training and enrichment options, but those training sessions are often located at central locations such as the company headquarters in Columbia, MD or in Chattanooga, TN. This sometimes makes it difficult for those seeking such training, as plant locations are worldwide and it may be difficult to travel so far on short notice.

Top management seems to be quite engaged with plant and middle management; safety culture is a driving factor behind this, and is heavily encouraged. In my opinion, the salary and benefits are second to none for most employees, and certainly the best that I have ever personally enjoyed.

Co-workers are encouraged to engage and learn from others, and offer the benefit of their knowledge. Many sites have employees with well over 30 years of service, a testament to the stability and satisfaction of working within Grace.

The hardest part of the job (for me, at least) is finding a way to articulate vague or niche concepts to persons who may not necessarily be well-versed in a particular subject matter. My job often puts me in contact with persons in both Legal/Compliance roles and those in Production roles. It may be that neither of those groups fully understand the others' job, and may not understand the others' needs.

This also creates one of the more enjoyable portions of my job; the chance to bring everyone together and create a dialogue that ensures that everyone's needs and wants are reconciled in a fashion that is safe and succinct.

I’d give it a solid 3 out of 5 stars. It’s not perfect, but it’s not terrible either, just average in most ways.
Pros:
•  The pay is genuinely good for the work we do. I feel fairly compensated compared to similar roles in the area, and that’s one of the main reasons I’ve stuck around.
•  Management is hit or miss — sometimes you get great leaders who actually support the team, which helps keep things running smoothly.
•  Overall morale is decent. People generally get along, and there’s a reasonable sense of camaraderie on the floor.
•  Safety is taken seriously most of the time. They emphasize it, and I’ve seen real effort put into keeping everyone safe on the job.
Cons:
•  Administrative controls feel way too reactive. It seems like policies only get updated or enforced after something goes wrong, instead of being proactive.
•  Plant management rotates too frequently. Just when you start to build a good working relationship with someone, they’re gone and you have to start over with someone new.
•  There’s basically no real career growth. If you’re looking to advance, learn new skills, or move up into better positions, this isn’t the place for it. You pretty much stay in the same role long-term.
If you’re someone who values solid pay and a generally okay work environment without expecting big promotions or constant changes, this could be a fine fit. For anyone wanting long-term development or more stable leadership, you might want to look elsewhere.

A typical work day involves a large amount of multi-tasking in acquiring samples from the production line and running analyses on these samples back in the lab. These results are then used to determine if the product is within the specifications provided by our customers. If they are not, it is the PC technician's responsibility to to dictate changes that must be made to the process in order to produce a good product. In addition, there may be re-sampling testing that must be completed as well as stocking of the lab. All data collected as well as changes made to the process must also be documented in a computer database. The PC works in close conjunction with the operators, packers, and foreman of the plant and must be able to communicate effectively to them as well as analysts and supervisors. The most difficult part of the job is time management, as there is a very large amount of work to be done in a very constricted time frame. The most enjoyable part of the job is the varied interactions with people on the production team. Everyone has a different job to do and it is exciting to see how we all come together to make a great product for our consumers.

I was at this company for almost 10 year and I loved it at first. I had lots of opportunities for growth and loved my job and coworkers. Grace was acquired by Standard Industries and it was dealt its death blow. The culture immediately changed, they started doing layoffs while telling everyone it was to improve the employee experience. Where there had been 4 people on my team that the work load was split between globally, they slowly started getting rid of them one at a time until finally it was down to just me to handle the entire work load globally with zero pay raise. I couldn’t even take. True vacation as I was the ONLY person doing my job so I was getting upwards of 150-200 emails a day from customers and just a single day off would push me further underwater than I already was. 

I finally decided that it was time to jump ship and take a job I had turned down that was a 20k pay cut but I knew I would love, while I found a job that paid more in the range of what I was truly worth since that was something Grace was incapable of doing. I was consistently making 10k less than market value in our area and they refused to do a proper market adjustment. 

At this company, me and several of my coworkers are cross-trained in various areas, so we are constantly busy performing multiple tasks.  I learned various aspects of quality control procedures and became familiar with laboratory techniques, including analytical testing of chemical standards and chromatography products.  There is very little supervision or contact with management, except during meetings or when something crucial needs to be addressed.  Though the co-workers may seem introverted at times, they are easy to get along with and provide assistance when needed.  The hardest and least desirable part of the job is trying to keep up with the workload during busy periods, especially now that the company has less employees than it once did several years ago.  The enjoyable part of the job are the outreach activities where the employees take some of their time to do charitable activities for some organizations around the local community.

The company pays some of it's employees very well.  Operators, Engineers, and most of its Salary staff is paid very well. However, the Administrative Assistant's at the Curtis Bay Branch are used as full time Admins, Human Resource Associates, Payroll, Medical, Accounts Payable and Receivable, Logistics and still serve a full time basic Admins.  They are the lowest paid on the entire site with work up to the ceiling!  If you are an Executive Assistant or Administrative Assistant and do not have the experience of performing the duties of a full time Accounts payable Rep or Payroll Specialist or ready to wear 60 hats...full time! Please think twice!  I heard that there is one Admin a plant with over 70 hourly employees and 20 salary employees.  So 1 Admin, per 90 employees that serve as full time everything!   They work the living horse whatever out of you without concern! Your duties increase almost weekly and you are the lowest paid throughout the entire company!  Truly unfair and ridiculous!

This company included almost 800 restaurants when I began. I learned everything about food and beverage. I had the opportunity to work at some great concepts. We were able to move around the west  
opening restaurants and emerging markets, closing older areas.I learned to create budgets, reconcile P&L statements, negotiate contracts for marketing, facilities,R&M. One gets very good working in many concepts. I worked for El Torito in Seattle, and Casa Gallardo in Orlando. Also Rio Bravo in Atlanta and Orlando. I had the great fortune of being a loner store in most cases. It made me better because the buck stopped with me. At it's zenith the company was a great group of people. Unfortunately, I had begun working for grace at its apex. It was the first really large restaurant company. This had the greatest impact upon my career.We did a lot as employees and employer like hands across america. It was a great company to work for.

A typical day at work in the Internal Audit department involved flow chart analysis, and following audit checklists to verify that the different business functions (such as order entry, accounts payable, accounts receivable and purchasing) were being accounted for correctly; that there was no fraud, and that the management of the businesses owned by the W.R. Grace corporation was efficient, effective, and humane!  The hardest part of the job, besides the travel (the audit team tended to "live out of our suitcases") was in trying to persuade management that certain procedures should be done differently than the way that they were being done.  The most enjoyable part of the job was the analytical work and the interviewing of personnel. The audit teams that I worked with were a great group of people.  When I was promoted to Pension Analyst, I missed the interpersonal contact involved in Internal Audit.

Collaborate with the sales and marketing teams to create customer specific marketing plans based on results. Work with in-house marketing along with the research and development team to customize creative plans based on customer and market needs. Ensure attention to detail and highest level of customer service. Proactively track and share results and then leverage the results to make recommendations on future activities. Prepare for and hold quarterly business reviews with key accounts. Investigate and develop creative advertising opportunities to enhance the overall marketing mix. Identify, create and develop sales opportunities and demands. Proactively seek to increase sales opportunities along with increasing market share month-to-month and year-to-year within designated territory.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Chemical operator 4 salaries reported	$28.76 per hour
Mechanic 5 salaries reported	$34.50 per hour
Quality control lab technician 4 salaries reported	$27.29 per hour
Production operator 3 salaries reported	$68,500 per year
Millwright 5 salaries reported	$50.40 per hour

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