First of all, almost all positive reviews and 'success stories' of this company have been curated by the media team. They are almost completely fictional.
Everything I'm about to say applies only to the COVID division of Randox Laborotories, based at the Randox Science Park in Antrim.
There are no redeeming qualities to this company. It's basically an authoritarian regime. They treat all employees as if they are sub-human, chewing them up and spitting them back out when they're finished. Employees are expected to volunteer to do overtime for regular pay and also expected to do over their contracted hours on a regular basis without complaint. This is without doubt and by far the worst place I've worked in my entire life and their employee turnover rate reflects this. They prey upon young people, often just out of university and offer an above average salary based on 40 hours work per week. They then proceed to milk them dry, working these naive employees to the bone in high stress environments until they inevitably either quit, or make a mistake and can be fired and replaced with some new, fresh and unsuspecting poor soul. If you manage to stick to your 40 hours per week, it won't be long before you're asked to do more, or are accused of being a 'clock-watcher'. Flexi is anything but flexible- why is it looked down upon to apply for time off that you've earned by working extra hours? Beats me, but its rare for people to even try and take their flexi time at this point due to the attitude surrounding it by senior management and HR.
Management is brutal. Managers themselves are under insane stress trying to please senior managers in a culture which rewards ruthlessness and promotes 'yes-men'. Managers are often powerless in matters they should have control over because they are constantly undermined and controlled by senior managers who only want to intensify the horrific culture which exists.
There is no regard for mental wellbeing. I was once in a management meeting where a fellow manager was openly made fun of by a high level manager in the HR DEPARTMENT because they were taking time off work due to stress. If this red flag doesn't dissuade you from joining Randox I don't know what will.
The culture here is absolutely shocking, when anything goes wrong or a mistake is made, the first priority is always to find out who made the mistake so they can be punished, rather than fix the mistake and make sure it doesn't happen again. And the punishment IS their way of making sure it doesn't happen again; meaning that people are compliant and complete their roles out of fear of punishment rather than enthusiasm and wanting to do a good job. The blame culture is rife throughout the company and it turns people paranoid and rotten. This makes for a miserable working atmosphere where employees are afraid to do anything outside of their strict job description, and are more likely to cover up any mistakes instead of admit them and seek solutions and improvement. If you can find one good friend in that place, they may be your only lifeline until such time as you can get out.
Even at the management level, Randox looks for robots who will shut up and do what they're told. Senior management is uninterested in hearing anyone's opinions/ideas but their own. If you have any unresolved mental health issues, I can guarantee you that they will get worse if you accept a job at Randox within their COVID division. If you don't have any unresolved mental health issues, don't worry, you may have by the time you leave. Senior management will place you in a position where any failures of your department if you're a manager fall squarely on your shoulders, which wouldn't be so ridiculous if they were providing enough staff and resources to actually be able to complete the job effectively. As a manager you will take 100% responsibility for any failures, and 0% responsibility for successes. I remember being criticised even when we had done a great job on a few occasions. No wonder after a couple of months, anyone who works there has been stripped of all motivation...
I lost about 15lbs working at Randox over a 9 month spell due to the fact that I was working so much that I wasn't taking breaks during the day to eat, and I wasn't sleeping properly because I was constantly worried about work and checking emails while at home so I wouldn't get behind and didn't get caught out in work the next day. Working for over 16 hours at a time (with absolutely no grattitude from senior management) on multiple occasions so the department wouldn't collapse, it's no surprise that my social relationships suffered- when you have no time to see or spend time with loved ones, they tend to get slighty annoyed about it. Hard to say that work isn't the most important thing in your life when you're regularly spending 80% of your waking day there.
Believe the rumours. Everyone who works there or has worked there knows what a pit of despair it is, and if they have a moral compass, will tell you to avoid it like the plague. The money is not worth it. Nothing is worth it.
To anyone who currently works there and has been nodding their head throughout this, I didn't realise how crazy I was to not leave sooner until I was out. I feel as if I spent 9 months in a mental institution, not 'a global market leader within the in vitro diagnostics industry'. Ironic how a company which has made hundreds of millions if not billions of pounds within the healthcare field, is so destructive towards its employees' health. Leave now and don't look back-future you will thank you.
