Pros
BASF has a lot of great employee incentives and discounts available. They have excellent mandates and programs for inclusion and addressing environmental issues to reduce waste and carbon footprint. The pay and vacation is very competitive, so no complaints there. The people who are experienced at the plant are very knowledgeable and are willing to help if you ask.
Cons
The biggest issue at McIntosh is the majority of the employees are going to retire 10 years or less. Those employees have gone through so many rounds of layoffs and plant shutdowns that they are just wanting to make it to retirement. So, those people do their jobs with bare minimum effort and the newbies have to pick up the slack. I guess it is earned. Do not expect to have a computer or email your first week on the job. Unless…your manager was proactive about it. The company is too over layered with management and dotted lines. The buck is constantly passed from one person to the next. It seems like very few people actually “do” anything at all except the operators, chemists, admins and clerks. It’s rediculous at times. There’s so much red tape to get anything done. For example, it takes 20+ emails to get material samples into the plant before anyone knows what’s going on. Business has slowed so much that a unit is having to shut down for a few months and management is telling us not to worry. Ok… It’s tough to get people onboard to make lasting changes or get anything done even with constant barrage of meetings and updates. I’m not sure what the other divisions are like. I get the impression that they may be better. BASF literally built its main verbund site in Germany to operate on Russian natural gas. Now that’s shut off. The company is continuing to invest in China…who is becoming more antagonistic towards the West.