QC at Lonza is a place where careers go to die. Whoever reads this and is considering working in QC, please take the advice of this review and run away.
The management for the most part is not competent. There are always fires to put out and there is always someone else to blame besides themselves. The training is slow and the GMP environment is so bogged down by contradicting SOP’s I am surprised you can go to the bathroom without having to sign paperwork.
Management has implemented a “career growth pathway” which only enables those who are favored to get a promotion. Promotion isn’t necessarily based on your experience or knowledge, but how many boxes you tick off. It is intentionally designed in a way to be very difficult to tick all of the boxes, unless management goes out of their way to assist you. There are people who have been stuck as a Chemist 2 for years. These people aren’t slackers, they have made self sacrifices to perform and are still treated poorly.
During my time there, I believe there was a turn around of over 10 employees.
Please, whoever read this take this advice and run away. The offer they are giving you (a lowball in comparison to the other departments) is not worth it.
ALSO do not let HR gaslight you into thinking this is a review from a jaded employee. This is a warning. I am sincerely trying to prevent more people suffering from career suicide by joining the QC department. If you are interested in joining QC, do yourself a favor. Find someone who works in the department on LinkedIn, ask them about their experience and how they like it. I guarantee anyone you reach out to will gladly reiterate what is stated in this review.
