It is truely laughable when Peter Fitzgerald appears on the news talking about "growth". Having 40 new starts on Monday doesn't constitute growth if they are replacing the 40 people who left the week before, or the 40 who start the next Monday who will replace the 40 who leave this week, or the 40 who start the Monday after who will replace... and so on and so on, ad nauseum.
If Randox is that worried about pollution why situate themselves next to an international airport? Or are they going to threaten to up sticks and move to Donegal as a ploy to get more money from Invest NI?

Dr Peter just sh1t an egg - raise Randox to the ground and burn it with the chicken poop

Buck buck buck chicken

chick chick chick chick chicken lay a little egg for me....

Saw this and thought of Randox

Here are five of the most insulting leadership practices, the ones that virtually guarantee a business will end up with the most self-esteem challenged, optionless team members when the dust settles.
1. If you desire a mediocre workforce, make sure your employees know you don't trust them.
Nothing spells "You're dirt to us" like a corporate culture that screams, "We don't trust you as far as we can throw you." I refer to company policies that require employees to clock in and out for lunch or software that tracks every keystroke and change of URL in case a molecule of nonwork-related activity squeaks into the workday. When employees know they're not trusted, they become experts at "presenteeism"—the physical appearance of working, without anything getting done. Congratulations! Your inability to trust the very people you've selected to join your team has cost you their energy, goodwill, and great ideas.
2. If you want to drive talented people away, don't tell them when they shine.
Fear of a high-self-esteem employee is prevalent among average-grade corporate leadership teams. Look how hard it is for so many managers to say, "Hey Bob, you did a great job today." Maybe it's a fear that the bit of praise will be met with a request for a pay raise. Maybe it's the fear that acknowledging performance will somehow make the manager look weak. Whatever the reason for silence, leaders who can't say, "Thanks—good going!" can plan on bidding farewell to their most able team members in short order.
3. If you prefer a team of C-list players, keep employees in the dark.
Sharp knowledge workers want to know what's going on in their organizations, beyond their departmental silos. They want some visibility into the company's plans and their own career mobility. Leaders who can't stand to shine a light on their firms' goals, strategies, and systems are all but guaranteed to spend a lot of money running ads on Monster.com. Marketable top performers want a seat at the table and won't stand for being left in the dark without the information they need to do their jobs well.
4. If you value docility over ingenuity, shout it from the rooftops.
I heard from a new MBA who had joined a global manufacturer. "They told me during my first week that I need a manager's signature to organize a meeting," he recalled. "They said I'm too low-level to call a meeting on my own, because unauthorized meetings of nonmanagers are against company policy." How fearful of its employees would a leadership team have to be to forbid people to gather together to solve problems? The most desirable value creators won't stick around to be treated like children. They'll hop a bus to the first employer who tells them, "We're hiring you for your talent—now go do something brilliant."
5. If you fear an empowered workforce more than you fear the competition, squash any sign of individualism.
When you go to college, you learn about Economic Man, but in the corporate workplace we see that real people don't always act rationally. Lots of individual managers and plenty of leadership teams fear nothing more than the idea that a self-directed employee might buck authority. That's equivalent to shaking the organizational power structure to its foundation, possibly a fate worse than death. Leaders who want the most docile, sheep-like employees more than the smartest and ablest ones create systems to keep the C players on board and drive the A team out the door. They do it by instituting reams of pointless rules, upbraiding people for miniscule infractions ("What? Twenty minutes late? Sure you worked here until midnight last night, but starting time is starting time.") and generally replacing trust with fear throughout their organizations. Companies that operate in fear mode will never deliver great products and services to the marketplace. Their efforts will be hamstrung by their talent-repelling management practices.
How long will it take these enterprises to figure out they're shooting themselves in the foot? It doesn't matter—you'll be long gone by then.

I remember back to the much publicised royal visit, they were trying to count up staff numbers for security and even HR didn't know how many staff they employed. I'm sure that there are a lot of people at every conference who have left by the time the InvestNI claim form is submitted. Still, as long as InvestNI keep blindly handing over taxpayers money no one is going to make a fuss.

By my calculation since 2007 Randox have created over 300 jobs that would mean they should have nearly 900 staff by now! Total pack of garbage as per usual the only 300 jobs they have created are the ones everyone walks out off every month, not to mention all the unfair dismissals

Same old story...

I bet that it is the same people who volunteer to work late too, showing loyalty, as they have done for many a year - such a pity that it is not mirrored. The low income earners who show respect but, do not receive it in return - you decent, hardworking people! I admire your resiliance, you deserve better.

The boyo with the hooded cloak and scythe will judge those who have sinned against their fellow man (those painted, stuck-up charlatans watch this space).

why is randox asking weekly paid staff in crumlin dispatch site to work overtime at a flat rate as opposed to agreed overtime rate. They have work to do but cannot afford to pay agreed rate!! beginning of the end?

Very eloquently expressed!

Every thing the last person said was 100% right. Its time for SPF to geat rid of the 2 bin lids at the top and let the company grow in the right direction for a change.

$7m investment..... imao who writes their scripts! let them crack on with all the publicity as it will make for more interesting reading some sunday morning soon enough.

Any thoughts on how to compile a list of people who have been though the barn doors of these place. my guess is over 350 in 10years.

In this new period of austerity, Randox will have to stand alone. I doubt sincerely that any further Invest NI funds are available. The investment has been made it is now time for SPF to deliver. Personally, I think the talk of the company going bust is nothing more than jibber jabber and while the rumour is kind of fun to spread, the reality is that 700 plus people may actually have their livelihoods threatened if customers do get worried and start shopping elsewhere.

Randox needs to decide what it is good at and get on with it - Before looking outwards this company first needs to look inward. The talent that has left this company in the last 12 months most notably in the sales department is criminal if anyone is in any doubt about why people leave this company this can be explained:

Staff morale is at rock bottom due to confused and inadequate leadership. I occasionally saw parallels with the execution of Admiral Byng - where he was executed for 'not doing his utmost' in preventing the french capture of Minorca. This incident later was recounted by Voltaire - who wrote that "from time to time the British like to kill an admiral to encourage the others".

Randox being run like a 1970s Spar shop fails to understand anything about the psychology of achievement or motivation. The 2 crazed oestrogen fuelled lunatics at the top compensate for their dimness and lack of social intelligence through oppression and vindictiveness and i believe that if they could execute the odd staff member it would be done to show how committed they are to the company and Peter-

SPF would sit back admiring the spectacle of the rabid harpies descending on their quarry --hegh hegh hegh hegh hegh hegh! The tragedy being that when the frenzied tearing of flesh is finished and the beasts are sated and they stagger off 'drunk' on the thrill of the mauling, another unfortunate and unwitting staff member's carcass will be tossed onto the carpark, Not because he or she was particularly bad at their job but all in the name of staff 'encouragement' and for the unspoken reasons of ego, control and brinkmanship.

If you are a manager of integrity in this corporation - I challenge you to look deep within and ask how complicit are you in this circus? Do you even care so long as you are getting paid? I'm not saying you can change the system but what are you doing for the good?

For those of you who are surviving maybe hanging on by your finger nails - I leave you with a quote.

"You should rejoice that you're in prison. Here you have time to think about your soul"

$7m? What size cattle shed can you buy for that? Joke company..no doubt another bargaining chip to coerce Invest NI to throw good taxpayers money down the toilet.

From BBC Newsline: The County Antrim company Randox Laboratories has invested $7m in a new facility in West Virginia, about 60 miles from Washington.

The 30,000 sq ft plant, which opens on Tuesday, is expected to employ 130 people within the next two years.

Sounds a bit like Donegal another batch of false promises of expected employment!!! Remember this:

May 2008

Northern Ireland company Randox Laboratories is to invest £6m in setting up a diagnostic manufacturing and research and development facility in Dungloe, Co Donegal.

The investment will create 135 high value jobs over the next three years and is being supported by the Gaeltach Authority

Randox managing director Dr Peter Fitzgerald said: "We chose Dungloe for this expansion because of the high quality facility that was available, the highly educated workforce and the suitable infrastructure.

"We are excited about this expansion and hope it will increase the local economy's success by providing a range of professional employment opportunities.

Currently in Dungloe there is about a dozen staff that's about 120 short of what SPF had promised!!!!

Just another series of lies and false promises

You've got to feel sorry for the customers! Placing orders that don't arrive on time, products never in stock, constant price rises. Now rumours that the company is going bust. Sounds like a good time to buy elsewhere!

Some things never change. Out of this place a while now and it seems things never change. If you have any wit never think of joining this place. It is the worst place I have worked by far. There are a fair few spineless managers in there - complete losers of life.

If I had a pound for every time that I've heard this shithole is in bother and news of a takeover bid I wouldn't have to work here so long!!!

Everyone, we all know that without the Invest NI funding this place would crumble.

No doubt they are now trying to get in on any possible funding from the US now that they have bled NI, UK & Irelands governments dry time for a visit to see old Hilary Clinton and give her the BAT pitch!!

Or Peter and is Angels could land up to Dragons Den looking for a £1 million bailout for a 20% share in this global leader cutting edge company lol!!!

Is it nearly time for some holidays roll on!!!

Are all the departments horrible to work in? what are the labs like?

The creditors are closing in and the poor inexperienced sales team are under the cosh from SPF and JG...the 2 people most responsible for the downfall through their unique management style. Will Invest NI bail them out one last time??

Take over bid in place...watch this space

True bill....Randox is on the rocks

If you just graduated, you'll be a perfect fit. No experience in working for a real company that values employees, no experience working for a company that knows how to train employees and no experience working for a company that doesn't micromanage you to death. As I said, you'll fit right in.

I have just graduated and have been asked for an interview for randox for a scientist position, is it really that bad????

I hope you're right, maybe it will be purchased by another company to save some jobs for the good members of Randox that have not been able to escape that shithole.

Is it true that this place is going to be wound up in the next few months. Have heard they are screwed. Making massive loses. Sacking Staff etc. Plus the government grants have all dried up. End of an era by the sounds.

The Randox bubble is about to burst!!!!

What happened to the Randox U.S. headquarter office in San Diego? Did it move somewhere else or close all together?

I was interviewed on two consecutive occasions for working late at Randox, on a weekly basis I was working on average eight hours overtime a week - not to point score, but to complete my tasks that would have been unachievable in a normal environment. Most mornings I was clocking in at 7:45am and clocking out at 6:15pm just to shift my workload and I took 20 minutes a day for coffee break and lunch combined, sometimes eating within my workspace which was wrong! Pointless meetings were frequent, but unproductive and rather than work as a team this was just a backstabbing arena were self-serving individuals did their best to highlight someone as a liability rather than help them.

A lot of good people have left in humiliating circumstances (walked off the site - joke), but my message to them is hold your heads up high as you are as good as the rest and better than most!

Invest NI please stop wasting taxpayers money on these parasites!!

As a previous employee at randox I would 110% nominate Randox as NI worst employer. InvestNI to have much to answer for when providing financial support to a company as corrupt as Randox when it comes to the unfair treatment of employees.

Staff are contracted to work 40hrs a week and no less and although it is not stated in contract, it is an expectation of managment that employees work overtime free of pay out of the kindness of their hearts!! Staff are expected to travel as and when require regardless of personal obligations and outside of working hours and my list goes on and on....

If you like more feedback i would be happy to help and i personally know may ex-randox staff who would be grateful to share there experiences at randox.

where Evidence works?

You cant really help it everything of LM's are hanging out LOL!!! law of gravity for you. Bistro MD Reviews

I enjoyed this last post. Good to see that nothing has changed. I think that this is a fair observation if not a little tongue in cheek. What a blackhole of talent.

You will be interviewed by incompetent individuals who will talk about their own role, give you no idea about what job they want you to do (because they don’t know either) and will probably be asked detailed questions about your family.
You will then be recruited under a general title, “Marketing Assistant” being a favourite.
If you ask too many questions about the job, pay or perks the offer will be withdrawn.
You will then spend the next 1-2 months memorising hundreds of kit sizes and doing tests every few days, if you fail to memorise all of these you will be sacked.
Ask too many questions or express opinions and you will be sacked.
During this period you will discover you are not going to be doing the job you applied for however you will not be told what job you will be doing as no one will know.
After this first 1-2 months you’ll then be told you’re to do a job you neither applied for or are qualified for.
If you express concern at this you will be sacked.
You will then be given a target or project to complete which you soon realise is impossible. Any attempt to discuss issues concerning this with management will result in you being sacked.
You will be interrogated at random intervals every day by senior managers on how you are achieving the impossible. Any hint of negativity will result in you being sacked.
You will be expected to travel late into evenings with no thanks or pay. You will be expected to use your own credit card and mobile phone until they can get round to getting you one and usually by that stage you’ve run up large bills on both. You will be expected to travel at weekends with no thanks or pay. Expenses take months to be processed.
Restructuring is constant, you will find your job changing continuously however you will never be briefed on what your responsibilities are, who you are reporting to or what to do if you are experiencing difficulties.
Cameras are mounted all through the office (more appropriately called a shed) and someone is employed permanently to watch these.
Your manager will delegate their responsibilities onto you regardless of whether you are able to perform them. Any failure to pull their weight will result in you being sacked.
You start at 8:40am and finish at 5:20pm unless of course management call you to a meeting at 5:15 in which case you will be expected to stay for as long as possible and interrogated for information you were given no opportunity to prepare. If you cannot remember every customer you have met since you started the company and what you have sold to them you will be sacked.
You will get 40 minutes break during the day and you must clock in and out for this.
You will be bullied by senior managers who will disregard opinions of staff with experience in relevant areas in preference of their ill conceived ideas which will fail and you will then be blamed with this failure. They will put you under severe pressure for simple fun.
You will spend hours every day feeding information into a CRM system that does not work. You will have KPIs for how much information you input, fail to meet these and you will be sacked.
You will not get commission on anything you sell. There is a profit sharing scheme however headquarters will manipulate the figures so only favourites receive any benefits from this.
The amount of travel you will have to do can be adjusted on a whim. It will not be written into your contract and so you have no recourse. Attempt to dispute this and you will be sacked. Those with young families beware, you could find yourself spending as little as one full weekend at home a month.
You will spend the majority of your time fire fighting because customers have not seen a rep in so long, products do not work or because you have not been able to supply what you promised for months because of stock issues.
Any attempt to deal with real market conditions will result in you being sacked.
If you succeed on getting out of this place and management think for any reason you are working for a company in the same industry you will receive a solicitor’s letter threatening legal action.
This is a soul sucking thoroughly unpleasant place to work. Motivation is nonexistent, staff are constantly afraid and productivity is as low as it could be.

Gala ball cancelled because it is too expensive, tough times!

If I don't get out of this place soon I'm going to hang myself in SPFs office

QA is going to implode with unachievable demands and irrelevant targets set by unaccomplished under-acheivers who have just entered the company recently...

what happened to Check-Me - bringing Randox Biochip technology to the High St? The Check Me www site now replaced by RTS?

whats the marketing department like to work in. Is it as bad as sales?

Mass exodus in sales.
People are leaving so fast other staff don't know what is going on let alone distributors or customers.
Those who are leaving are being treated with typical Randox compassion, being told to get off the premises even after many years loyal service despite being treated horribly.
Get involved with this company at your USP.
Brilliant PFG -Pint sized SF -Single handedly destroyed a good organisation.
SF-Horror vampire who stikes when cold blooded hands.
Eye hole manager from NI -scanning the world-how do you become global-Watching others grow and living in a horse shed.

Security staff are subtle. Sheila is not!

SECURITY STAFF REQUIRE AN SIA LICENCE WHY HAVE RDX SECURITY NOT HAVE THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!

More and more people are joining the Unite union (http://www.unitetheunion.com/).
It costs about £10 per month and you get advice and representation should problems arise, and they will if you work for this company.
When bullying, victimisation and sexism are behaviours exhibited by the owner and senior managers you can imagine what the atmosphere is like.
It won’t be long before enough people have joined this union to enable industrial action to be taken.

The legal system make a packet dealing with this company and the cases brought against them...

Dont do it man. When offered a position here I along with 17 others in my intake accepted. Not one of us thought we made the right choice. If you are there after 6 months it would be a near miracle.

I worked in Randox long time ago and it seems that things are not changing in this company. The main weakness of the company is the management or, to be correct, the owner the company. He is the ultimate manager of the company - the other executives are his marionettes.

The company suffers from inability of recruiting, coaching and evaluating the performance of its people. Sometimes the question I ask is how a company like this can survive. However, based on the sales figures and published profitability they are OK.

I believe the owner is a paranoid person who surrounds himself with few people since the start of the company who would keep themselves down and let him do what he wants. Those people are the core of the business. He relies on them. Those are the only people he can trust.

My recommendation is to avoid working in this company. At the end you may not be just dismissed as what has happen to so many of your predecessors, you may get a psychological shock that would last for years and years due to the company's management treatment.

Don't be an idiot. Re-read the posts and make the correct decision. We all wish we would have. Unfortunately, we went against our better judgement and took positions with this shithole. Now we're paying the price. Don't follow in our footsteps.

If you decide that you're smarter than 99% of the people posting on this site and you do take a job with Randox, please do us a favor and look back 3 months from your hire date. Most likely, you'll have another drink, kick yourself in the balls and wish you would have listened.

I have just come across Randox last after seeing a job advertised on their website a few days ago. I have a applied for a post and awaiting word back for a possible interview. However after seeing this blog and the amount of posts that show Randox in a bad light, I am questioning myself whether I should continue with the process.

Are all departments within the company 'rotten to the core' as someone previously submitted? Is it just a few in Higher Management?

Have a look at table 2 on this page

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo040428/text...

So out of almost £70,000,000 spending by Invest NI highlighted in this table, £16,200,000 or 23% went to Randox.

There needs to be a public enquiry into operations at Invest NI because to have so much money pumped into a company as inept as Randox is just criminal.

Shame they wouldn't spend some of this money to buy something that isn't a shed.

Note the large professional signage and luxury cattle shed office

http://img212.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=40282_rdo_122_899lo.JPG

‘Rotten to the core … Rotten from the core’

Instead of Invest NI just providing government aid, resources should be utilised to evaluate or audit this organisation. Yes jobs are created, but how many of these are actually sustained? How many employees actually receive beneficial company / professional development training? Allegedly, there is a full-time position at Randox solely responsible for collecting employee signatures from training sessions. These signatures are submitted to Invest NI as a method of collecting grant aid. So, it doesn’t actually matter if an employee has experienced worthwhile training or not, the form has been signed.

I think it can be concluded that Invest NI does not want to highlight Randox’s failings to sustain any sort of professional skilled workforce. After all, it would do more damage than good.