An Incredibly Dysfunctional Company - Anonymous employee Tolmar Employee Review

1.0
27 Feb 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Benefits, 401K Employer Match -Paid Birthday Holiday and full week off around Christmas -(depending on whether you're hourly or not) a lot of overtime

Cons

Although it's had different names, the main facility and departments at TOLMAR have been around for roughly 25 years. You would think this would be enough time for a company to come up with procedures and systems for adequate training, handling growth, and adopting a culture of quality. You couldn't be more wrong. In my three years working here I have seen a lot of promising individuals come and go once they realized how the big the problems are, and how unlikely they're going to be fixed. It is very difficult for this company to retain talent. With that, what you have left is people in leadership positions who lack experience and maturity. Many employees and reviews I'm seeing say the company has "growing pains." That would count if the company had some kind of plan for growth in the first place. The truth is all decisions are made in haste, without thinking things through, and without consideration for the repercussions downstream. This is our expansion the two new facilities in Fort Collins and Windsor in a nutshell. There is no culture of quality here, but rather that of fear, a "just get it done" attitude, and a lot of office politics. There is a skeleton crew in every department and unreasonably tight budget constraints, to the point where it interferes with departments doing the most basic projects. With the lack of structure, your way up depends on who you're related to or how well you cozy up with supervisors. On top of that, the pay is low - and saying "below market rate" misses the point. This is the only pharmaceutical company in the area, for now TOLMAR owns the market. I would like to think this company has potential, but it doesn't exist with our current leadership, not until they hold themselves accountable for the sustainsble growth of this company, promote based on demontrated performance, keep the cronyism in-check, invest in their employees, and operate with integrity. Other pharmaceutical companies will show up in Northern Colorado, and TOLMAR will lose employees fast when that happens. -Frequent Restructuring in Upper Management -Lacking in Training -No Work-Life Balance -Poor Compensation -Inept Supervisors/Managers -Favoritism/Cronyism -Toxic Environment in some departments

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Tolmar Response
8y
Thank you for sharing your feedback - we are sorry to hear that you feel this way. Since you are a current employee, we would also be happy to address your concerns through the direct avenues available to you so that you could provide more specifics in support of a constructive process toward resolution. Although it is true that our company has been in existence in different forms for over 25 years, we have only existed in our current structure as Tolmar since 2007. Before Tolmar, we were part of a Canadian company, QLT, and prior to that we were Atrix Laboratories. During the time that we have been established as Tolmar, we have experienced exponential growth - expanding from 134 employees in 2007 to the 652 employees we have today. As you mention, this type of rapid expansion does not come without its challenges, which we have weathered in the most feasible ways possible given the dynamics of change. Two years ago, we evaluated areas of our operations that needed improvements and determined, as you mentioned, that our training process had tremendous room for improvement. Since this discovery we have formed a Learning and Development team that is dedicated to revamping and improving our approach to training, including training on leadership development. This has been an extensive undertaking and is being rolled out in phases by department, with 2 of our largest departments currently implementing these processes. Every attempt is made to ensure our employees are able to experience a positive work/life balance. One of the ways we ensure this is through our generous benefits package, which provides employees with 3 weeks of paid time off annually, an additional week of sick pay each year, and a holiday closure in December which allows them to spend a week or more with their families without using any vacation time, and other personal leave opportunities as a qualifying need arises. Additionally, we offer a very generous 401(k) match in order to help prepare our employees financially for a future beyond their tenure with the company. Another demonstration of our respect for our employees’ lives outside of work is our commitment to limiting our expansion to facilities located in Northern Colorado. While a more centralized “campus” may have made our expansion easier logistically, our interest in focusing on new facilities in the geographic area where the majority of our employees live was intentional to avoid a company move to the Denver metro area. Employee compensation is evaluated at a minimum on an annual basis, utilizing validated salary data detailing comparable pay practices in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in Northern Colorado. Through these routine verifications, we are continually ensuring that employees are paid at or above current market averages. Finally, we strive to put quality at the forefront of everything we do. Our commitment to quality can be seen in our audit history, having never received any warning letters and being audited by multiple regulatory agencies on a regular basis. We also make every effort to keep employees as up to date as possible on quality training initiatives. All employees receive annual cGMP training and supplemental trainings throughout the year related to quality practices. We pride ourselves on transparency and would appreciate the opportunity to respond personally to your valued feedback.

Explore other reviews about Tolmar

5.0
25 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Many opportunities for advancement and on-the-job learning. Benefits are fantastic with a 9% total 401K match, great health insurance with an employer HSA match, education assistance, and more. People are really wonderful, and management cares about employee well-being. The company is growing and has been moving in positive directions in my time there. Change is slow, but there are always changes in progress, so it feels like something new is happening all the time. I love my job and my team is incredible. I recommend Tolmar to anyone who asks me about it.

Cons

Production and workflows can be a little disorganized, with last-minute changes. The pay is competitive for Colorado, but low compared to bigger pharma hubs for a lot of positions. Company development is slow (as is true much of the time in pharma). Some positions are repetitive and labor-intensive, and have high turnover that makes work challenging for people that stay on.

1.0
5 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good benefits and generous 401k match

Cons

Literally everything. Drowning supervisors that cannot properly support employees. Long hours supporting production that isn't properly suited for its function. Favoritism abound and competent employees leave due to limitations on training and frustrations from finger-pointing and a punitive work environment. Do not believe any 5 star reviews - they always conveniently pop up after this company justifiably receives a poor review.

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