BioVectra Reviews

3.2

64% would recommend to a friend

(115 total reviews)
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Oliver Technow

66% approve of CEO

59% positive business outlook

BioVectra has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 115 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The BioVectra employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

115 reviews
2.0
22 Jul 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are many growth opportunities if you have the potential and can navigate the internal bureaucracy and biases. It’s a good place to advance into management roles and seek better opportunities elsewhere. As a small company with a local workforce, everyone knows each other, leading to good social interactions.

Cons

Toxic Management: The site is notorious for terminating employees without cause at all levels, including technicians, supervisors, managers, and even directors. Offending certain individuals' egos can lead to dismissal without justification. The company is well-known to labor boards and employment lawyers in the area. Site leadership lacks vision and is very short-sighted. The average tenure for technicians is less than 12 months, and for managers, less than 24 months. Employees either leave voluntarily or are terminated. Poor Safety Culture: Incidents such as spills, injuries, fires, and steam leaks are common. Even the site’s Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) team does not adhere to safety protocols. No Work-Life Balance: Employees are expected to work around the clock without proper compensation, leading to poor working conditions in most departments and high turnover. The site has a reputation for overpromising and underdelivering, resulting in multiple failed projects and dissatisfied clients. Leadership lacks the expertise to run a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) effectively, worsening work conditions and losing clients. Limited Experience: Most employees have not worked outside the East Coast or at global CDMOs, limiting their understanding of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and successful CDMO operations. Site leadership has grown within the company, lacking broader management exposure and CDMO expertise. Inadequate Compensation: HR tends to offer low salaries unless candidates have other offers to leverage. Their pay range does not match North American CDMO standards, resulting in short employee tenures unless they are locals. Favoritism and Systemic Issues: There is a culture of favoritism and some systemic racism. HR hires internally without managers' knowledge and does not post positions for equal opportunity. The site frequently hires and fires employees, blaming failures on employees rather than the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). Consequently, the site has faced numerous unsuccessful projects. Employee Treatment: Great companies succeed because of great employees, but not here. The company fails to hire the right people and frequently terminates employees. It is the only company where an ELT member can fire a technician, bypassing directors and managers. HR: They won't allow you to hire the approved headcount; instead, they will make you fire your team members if the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) has issues with someone.

2.0
27 May 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Top notch laboratory instrumentation, government has decided to make BioVectra a Canadian centre for mRNA vaccine production, excellent scientific colleagues with exceptions noted below.

Cons

I was hired to work on lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation. I have a PhD in chemistry and 6 years of LNP experience. My manager knew effectively zero about chemistry, eg. insisted that volumes of dissimilar liquids were additive. So 50 mL of ethanol plus 50 mL of water would equal 100 mL of liquid. THAT kind of Dunning-Kruger ignorant. Despite knowing very little about anything, it was made clear to me that I was to follow his orders. I had nothing to do with planning experiments, was not permitted to innovate, had to listen to him take credit for all the advancements that were being made...you get the idea. Reporting to a guy who wanted to compete with you rather than make you a part of the team became incredibly frustrating very quickly. It's nice that they promote people from manufacturing jobs to run labs, but they should first ensure that these people have a modicum of management ability. Despite his ignorance of many scientific subjects he knew a lot of other things and was in fact very good at certain aspects of his job. Unfortunately, he was all about control and utterly failed in his responsibility to the company in my view. The pay is poor. They also promised me $5,000 for relocation. My costs were closer to $17,000 but they paid me less than $500, as hidden in the fine print was the fact that they amortize the relocation payment over 2 years. Cheap and sneaky.

1.0
15 Aug 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Learn new things every time

Cons

No career growth in this company

Viewing 1 - 3 of 115 Reviews

Glassdoor has 119 BioVectra reviews submitted anonymously by BioVectra employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if BioVectra is right for you.