Circling the Drain - Production Technician AstraZeneca Employee Review

2.0
24 Oct 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Despite the management's best efforts, there are still pockets of dedicated people who make the job worthwhile. Benefits aren't bad. If you are recently graduated and just need a few years experience to make your resume viable, you can get in here easily due to high turnover.

Cons

Performance is entirely uncoupled from reward and punishment. Who you know is everything - it's the difference between getting a slap on the wrist for a serious offence, or getting the hand lopped off for a more minor infraction. For the most part, people honestly have the best intentions - but they consistently aren't given the tools or time to take a project through to completion, leading to half-implemented systems that hamstring the people forced to use them. Communication from leadership is so poor that literally hundreds of man-hours can be devoted to an improvement project that becomes obsolete within two weeks of implementation, even if the obsolescence was know and planned for with 8 months of lead time. As you can imagine, this leads to frustration and lack of motivation. Increasingly, the only winning strategy is to avoid attention - any decision is a bad one, so you must avoid having to make decisions at any cost, either by passing the buck or ducking opportunities for input. Trying to bring problems to the attention of management is risky at best - odds are worse than 50/50 that you will be warned or punished for rocking the boat, vs. having any action taken on the issue. All of the above lead to a sense of hopelessness; it feels that anyone with the skills and ability has already left or is planning their escape, and there is serious brain drain of both new talent and bastions of institutional knowledge.

Explore other reviews about AstraZeneca

5.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great place to work and good benefits

Cons

There really aren’t any cons

5.0
22 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I imagine this is very dependent on line management but I find my team and supervisors to be true champions of a high performing and highly compassionate work culture. I find my work challenging and rewarding, and have had opportunities to learn and grow and be rewarded and recognized for my output. No job is perfect but I’m truly happy to work here and at a time when AZ is truly rising like a rocket.

Cons

Like any massive global corporate entity, things can sometimes move slowly and it can be challenging to navigate a high number of constantly evolving priorities and initiatives. That being said, AZ is very clear about its north stars and values which makes it possible to prioritize work that has the most impact and alignment with the company’s ambition and business prerogatives. 60% office attendance policy is also a bit funny when oftentimes I am on Teams calls with colleagues sitting in other areas of the world.

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