document specialist

director

senior scientist

scientist

operator

Waters

While at waters, I had immense opportunities of real world engineering exposure. I got my hands real dirty real quick; I had been placed on the project team working on a new set of binary gradient module for ultra high performance liquid chromatography pumps. The pumps were going to be tested to check for leaks, under high pressure with different fluids such as liquid carbon dioxide CO2 and isopropyl alcohol. It was a dream come true for me as I had just finished a brutal but mentally stimulating semester of engineering thermodynamics, nonetheless I had always wanted to stay up close to apply all that in the real world. I got to do high-pressure seal test for fluid friction and dry friction to see allowable stresses the O-rings could withstand under high pressures. I also had the opportunity to learn GD&T using SolidWorks and NX unigraphics as well as hands on machining experience and even writing technical reports for project updates. I had the opportunity to work closely with the electrical engineering and software teams for data acquisition troubleshooting on various pump modules. Being closely involved with meetings really helped to straighten out the path I was to take on tasks. The work environment was really friendly with lots of opportunities to learn. Entry level engineers are regularly assigned mentors with personal one-on-one meetings assigned on a weekly or biweekly basis to discuss personal goals, tasks, achievements and issues related to tasks. These meetings afforded me the opportunity to understand the problem and forge ahead with tasks given. The work campus has a field with a soccer team, softball team and a gym. There’s also a cafeteria on site open between 6am and 2pm. Ultimately, waters gave me the solid foundation needed to forge a career in mechanical engineering and beyond. I would recommend it as a good place for a first time entry level engineering job asides the commute from the city which took roughly 50 minutes to an hour.

The Good:
• Outstanding, well-respected products and brand reputation
• Brilliant scientific minds that are passionate about their trade
• Challenging but manageable work workload
• Good compensation, including ample benefits
• Career development opportunities in every direction

The Bad:
• No full time, remote positions – we are expected to be in the office 2 – 3 times a week
• New management is out of touch with the times and struggles to recruit and retain Gen Z and Millennials (re: no remote positions)
• Tenured members of the team are resistant to change causing pain points and bottlenecks in our processes
• Minimal raises (below inflation rate) and minimal to no bonus opportunities, even for top performers

The Advice to Management:
If you keep pushing for employees to return to the office, you WILL have high-performing team members leave for competitors who offer full time, remote roles. We are tired of hearing “collaboration” as the justifying methodology. We are a global company, “collaboration” does not happen in an office setting. We publicly promote a “forward thinking” mindset, but the reality is our inability to adapt into a modern workforce is harming us. Employees are unhappy and leaving in droves, including critical members of the team that have been with the company 20+ years. Wake up and take action before it's too late to recover!

The brain trust and the great people have mostly departed.  The work itself is okay, but the workload is often way too much for a single person. Management is generally dishonest and manipulative toward employees. Senior leaders focused on bottom line at all costs, with no thought to impact on employees. Even good employees who get great reviews from peers will get negative reviews from management as a way to avoid bonus payout and to ensure having a scapegoat in case a project misses its goals.  No encouragement or public recognition from leaders for going above and beyond in job duties. All employee recognition must go though the Impact system, which is invisible to management. Lots of favoritism and nepotism in the upper ranks. CEO seems to be using position to promote personal agenda. Company lacks ethical standards in both business and social dimensions (e.g. will sacrifice human health and wellness to save money, will lie and deceive to achieve revenue targets, will cut corners in operations and finance). 

What is the best part of working at the company?
None. Used to be the people, but all good people have left.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Require you to come into the office, pay below industry standard, toxic management culture. To get ahead and look good you have to disparage your colleagues, a lot of micromanagement. Bad compensation: low pay, merit has been delayed by 6 months, bonuses are cut or eliminated.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very toxic work culture, bad management, management blaming people who have left for their mistakes, lots of micromanagement, layoffs are constant, lots of VP's and above have left or pushed out. CEO is focused on shareholder value at expense of employees and is looking to focus on outsourcing to India.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Some flexibility.  Company car

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Too much workload and stress of too much work to get too

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Management is not understanding of the situation the field is in. Upper management has extremely unreasonable expectations given the issues that are currently ongoing

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Get up and get on computer at 6:30 am. Work on that until 7:30 to 8:30 depending on length of travel. Travel to site. Spend 6 to 10 hours at one site or between 3-5 sites trying to finish up what you can.  Travel home. Get back on computer to answer any missed emails or missed paperwork.

They will try every trick in the book to get you to leave if you have  a long service history.when they try to insult your intelligence to get a reaction ignore it ,let it go even though you are smarter it's not a level playing field.save up your grievance for the right time.they will push and push,undermine your work,tell you others are working harder for the company when infact workers have always had a good work ethic in whatever job they do not just for waters.truth be told 90% of the work force have a good work ethic the rest are just w and p computer abuse and physical attacks have gone unpunished.

● Work-life balance
You will have none

● Pay & benefits
Lowest in its field

● Job security and advancement
There has been layoffs,so obviously not secure

● Management
Terrified people with no regard for emplyees

● Culture
Corporate hats stay on at all times inside and out.

● Overall
Just a question,what does "flexible work ethic"even mean?😂 flexible has no bearing on ethic,perhaps ethos might be more appropriate.flexible relates to availability for overtime or different start times or part time work.ethic refers to specific approach to work and is individual.a person will apply the same ethic whether he sweeps the street or is developing a life saving drug.when you see this in an advertisement run for the hills

Waters has its good and bad points. There are good people who take their job seriously and want to see the company do better. Then there are managers who are only out for themselves. I suppose it's like anywhere else I've worked. Like a lot of companies, there are good pockets where you get along great with co-workers and other departments that stab in each other in the back. Some people have worked there so long, they're set in their ways and don't want to change. Others recognize the need for change and embrace it.

I worked here for close to 2 decades. The job, training, learning and people back then were why I wanted to be there. Great family-like feeling and the company seemed to actually care about and notice us.

After a few CxO changes over the last few years, their management, hiring (lack of) and comradery internally all took a nose dive. 

From an IT perspective, they didn't even try to hide the fact they are moving support to India. They built a new office in our new CEO's home town there and hired hundreds of new employees in redundant positions while at the same time laying off hundreds of people outside of India (redundant positions).

Company used to have a good culture and environment to make up for bad pay and bare minimum benefits. Now the managers just expect us to work 20 hours OT/week for 2% raises and no promotions. Their covid response looks good on paper, but there's no enforcement. Ex, an employee on my team came up positive. Those in direct contact for his a day were told they can go get tested in their own time, but if they wanted to quarantine it would come out of their own pocket. 

Pay is only about 70% of what similar jobs pay elsewhere, and raises are atrocious. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Document specialist 72 salaries reported	$28.67 per hour
Director 6 salaries reported	$189,500 per year
Senior scientist 4 salaries reported	$115,750 per year
Scientist 1 salary reported	$136,000 per year
Operator 4 salaries reported	$26.50 per hour

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