Arkema reviews

4.1

81% would recommend to a friend

(448 total reviews)
avatar

Thierry Le Hénaff

87% approve of CEO

58% positive business outlook

Arkema has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 448 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Arkema employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufactura industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

448 reviews
3.0
Feb 14, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Learned a great deal under the original company (Lucidol); met some great people.

Cons

Let go after 23 years; no thank you, sorry, nothing. Felt discarded; last manager was difficult to say the least. There was never any follow up when lay off occured; temporary at first; then 4months later made final. No compassion.

3.0
Feb 7, 2013

Pay is great, almost everything else is wrong.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent pay. Health insurance was great until they renewed. Employer paid LTD/STD and life insurance. No micro-managers (at the site I was at), major plus! The hourly staff is incredible, probably the best group I've had gotten the opportunity to work with.

Cons

Arkema is a chemical company. If you aren't a chemical major, the engineers and managers talk to you like you're incompetent. When I started I was told I'd be working in HR and as an administrative assistant. Turns out I did work in HR as well but I never got the title to show it. The manager above me literally put everything to me. Anytime he made a mistake he'd find a way to make it my fault and create more work for me. Anytime he was supposed to be in charge of something he said we were going to "form a committee", which always ended up meaning I was going to do all the work. Not only did I have all of the administrative tasks and HR roles, I also ended up getting put in charge of an entire page lists of other things that had nothing to do with my job. I had zero training. There were countless things I had to just find my way through because my boss knew nothing. I know I was the administrative assistant but it got to where people couldn't even print an one page document on their own. They'd email it to me and ask that I print it and "deliver" it to them. I was told I'd be getting lunch for random people from time to time in my interview and it ended up being every single day and I never got reimbursed for gas. It wouldn't be so bad if the closest restaurant was 45 minutes away. I was constantly called a "gopher" and told I was "only there to play fetch", or spoken to like I was an idiot. They also expect you to be "on call" 24/7. If they ever find out your phone number you better believe they're going to try to contact you at all hours of the day. I got calls at 10pm at night asking that I make reservations for dinner the next time, petty things like that which could wait until the next day.

3.0
Feb 1, 2013

Needs work

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pays Well. Flexible hours. 401K. Friendly co-workers.

Cons

Very Poor middle management and some poor upper management. Just announced company is moving to Houston, TX. Everyone has til the end of 2013 to find another job. Staying until the end of 2013 guarantees a separation package.

Viewing 415 - 417 of 448 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,036 Arkema reviews submitted anonymously by Arkema employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Arkema is right for you.