A Good Thing Turned Bad - Anonymous employee Lonza Employee Review

2.0
22 Jul 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Health benefits, time-off policies, and tuition reimbursement are good, probably above average. The bonus plan use to be good, the payout was driven significantly by individual performance, now individual performance is a very small part. Perhaps the employee stock option purchase opportunity makes up for the bonus plan change. If I only had the outlay of cash needed to purchase the stock. Some managers are the best, hands down. They are experts in their field/business, not afraid to share their knowledge and develop others. They are not biased by race or gender.

Cons

Company talk is great, actual environment does not mirror the company line. A higher percentage of opportunities are given to employees accepted by "club members". Too many decisions are consensus based which stifles operations at times. Employee morale is very low since Arch was acquired by Lonza. There is a lack of trust and fear of job loss. Lots of back stabbing and CYA actions. A lot of changes in leadership have occurred with more pre-acquisition Lonza employees getting leadership roles bypassing more qualified former Arch employee(s). In some instances the pre-acquisition Lonza employee has zero knowledge or experience in the area they are now leading… go figure. Morale is very low among the former Arch employees. Lots of disappointment with the former Arch executive leadership team. They could have left a great legacy in a strong and growing company, the gratitude of hard working, dedicated employees and still received lots of money without devastating the lives of many former employees. shame on you...

Explore other reviews about Lonza

5.0
8 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Diverse opportunities across departments as one wanted

Cons

Provide decent pay and benefits

2.0
23 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Compensation (for higher level associates/senior management positions)

Cons

1) Work/life balance - leaders don't honor paid time off. Many teams expect you to be available during paid time off periods 2) Benefits - employer doesn't offer employer-subsidized vision insurance 3) Holidays - employer doesn't offer MLK Day and Juneteeth as paid days off, indicating how little they value diversity, inclusion, and belonging 4) Promotions - political; not based on merit 5) Mandated 5 day return-to-office to enable "in person collaboration" while at the same time offshoring jobs to cheaper markets. 6) PTO - based on tenure, but I think Lonza prefers high turnover so they don't have to give people time off (if they even honor it in the first place - see con 1) 7) Lack of harmonization - for an established CDMO, I was surprised at the level of misalignment between sites and the lack of standardization of processes

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