Pros
1. The pay, Cash Profit Sharing (if you are in a job eligible for it), and benefits were better than average.
2. Overall, Abbott as a global company performs well and offers structure. If you want the certainty of knowing when you are going to have an annual performance review and pay evaluation every year, Abbott offers that structure.
3. The partially subsidized cafeteria makes delicious and very reasonably priced assortment of food. It’s generally cheaper than what you would spend at a grocery to make your own meals.
4. Convenient onsite gym
Cons
1. Poor work life balance
— In some teams, people are not set up to succeed. My department was largely comprised of contract associates doing the same job that I was doing as a full time employee of Abbott. The stated expectation was generally that contract employees could only work 40 hours per week. As a full time employee I was told it was an expectation for me to work more than 40 hours per week regularly due to our department structure. Logging in to work every Saturday or Sunday was standard expectation to manage the workload.
2. Poor culture
— Be prepared for the chance that you might work with some very difficult people who can get away with mistreatment of others just because they have worked at Abbott a long time and have always gotten away with their behaviors. I had an uncooperative internal stakeholder to deal with. In spite of me working hard to please her, she often complained and was unreasonable, including issuing a complaint about me sending her multiple emails after 4:30 p.m. Leadership was rarely willing to help confront this behavior.
3. Poor management
- If you have a toxic manager, you’re pretty much stuck dealing with it. I had a manager who was unprofessional, and borderline bullying at times. I never said anything about it to anyone because the culture is such that you’ll be labeled a complainer and they will look for reasons to get rid of you.
4. Lack of flexibility
— I understand the value of working in an office, but Abbott’s rigid rules for being in office were over the top. Mid-2020 during pandemic I was told to go back to the office to work. I would sit in my cube on a desolate floor, maybe seeing another person or two all day, and not even anyone I worked with. Post-pandemic, a weekly work from home day was permitted, but it had to be reapproved quarterly by leadership and it had to be same day every week. On top of this, in my department, Wednesday couldn’t be chosen as a day to work offsite. Very limiting, old school views on where you can work.