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Agilent Technologies

Engaged employer

Some big-company junk, but overall, great work/life balance and in a respectful work environment. Definitely recommend. - R&D Software Engineer Agilent Technologies Employee Review

4.0
Feb 19, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Definitely work life balance. They've been incredibly supportive of parental leave, allowing me to work part time, taking time when my mom was sick. There is definitely an attitude that employees are people and grownups and responsible, and we are treated as such. The benefits are good, though not as good as they used to be (the current health plan is only slightly better than nothing, although at least it's cheap). This is also a place where you are likely to be surrounded by bright, competent, interesting and interested folks with diverse interests. I've found managers to be very supportive of my desires around furthering my education in my field and/or learning more about adjacent fields.

Cons

This is definitely not the place for someone hoping for a quick rise to the top. They do promote from within (which I don't always think is good -- fabulous engineers don't always make great managers), but you can expect to hang out at Career Level for a long time before you get an opportunity like that. As I mentioned, the health plan is definitely the lowlight of the benefits package. If you've got a family, plan on several thousand dollars a year of out of pocket expenses. The 401(k) match is good, but not stellar. Working for a big company has its down sides. IT support, HR and benefits administration are all handled by outside contractors (we're all familiar with those call centers that give their hirees minimal training and a script to work off of, and do not seem to see english fluency as a basic job requirement). Long-time employees are usually aware of a local resource or two, but until you're "in the know", it can be hard to navigate life's basic administrative tasks. It takes a long time to become a productive member of the team at this company. There's a lot of in-house innovation, which is great, but it does mean that most people come in to the job without much knowledge or skill specific to their work. (The up side of this that R&D Engineers have the most job security of anybody in the company -- it's incredibly expensive to train replacements.) All the Re-Organizing and Re-Prioritizing can be really tiresome. That's any big company, though.

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Pros

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Cons

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1.0
Jun 15, 2026
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CEO approval
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Pros

Great products that help scientific researchers

Cons

The enterprise comms dept is awful. A toxic environment marked by instability and burnout. Long‑time employees are pushed out, new hires leave, and the culture is defined by fear rather than collaboration. The core issue is the leadership. Limited enterprise‑level experience and a lack of emotional intelligence have created a culture of micro-managing, reactive decisions, and psychological insecurity. Instead of providing clarity and strategic leadership, the leader fuels confusion, distrust, and exhaustion. The result is a dysfunctional department where morale is low, workloads are unsustainable, and employees feel unsafe speaking up.

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