Pros
Good benefits: 100% vested 401k @ 7% match, 3 weeks vacation to start, paid sick time, good bonus tier for base employees 5-10%, good medical. The Alpharetta campus is scenic and offices are new, free coffee and soda, free latte and espresso machine. Good place to get experience for a few years. There are excellent people here and certain managers will mentor and champion their employees.
Cons
Lonza is an OK company that could be good, dare I say great. Unfortunately, management has zero ability to identify who the actual performers are. There are many desk jockeys with minimal or unknown function. Individuals who put in long hours yet their actual work output is no different (some cases less) than 9 to 5'ers, are seen as hard working. Please realize that people have jobs to facilitate a life away from work. Lonza's new motto is: "Lonza, the place to go, stay, and grow" yet ironically they don't foster employee growth or longevity unless you're a 'chose one' or have a manager who isn't afraid to go to bat and fight for you (those are rare, unfortunately). Middle managers are the Achilles heel of Lonza, please listen to your employees and root out the bad ones. It takes one bad manager to spoil an entire group! Managers routinely set edicts that contradict HR policies and rules can differ from employee to employee. There are managers who openly threaten employees with disciplinary action for "talking too much" while working, taking vacation/sick time. Very toxic and demeaning environment. Favoritism and unprofessionalism runs rampant. First hand evidence that HR routine low-balls new hires into agreeing to less vacation time and/or bonus tier even though time off is dictated by service dates. Compensation below industry averages. As others have posted, I could go on for paragraphs. TL;DR - See Advice to Management Section