DuPont employee: "We’re going to be around for another 200 [years]."

In this week's employment article, Laura Cassiday covers biotech/chemical companies that are highly rated for employee satisfaction. Here's some DuPont Crop Protection chemists sounding hopeful:

“I’m always learning, which keeps my work really stimulating,” says Andrew E. Taggi, a synthetic organic chemist who works on fungicide and herbicide discovery. During his eight years at Crop Protection, he has gained experience in many fields beyond synthetic chemistry, including toxicology, plant pathology, and agronomy. Taggi notes that, should his research interests ever change, the diverse skills he’s learned at Crop Protection would facilitate his transfer to other chemical and biological divisions of DuPont.Crop Protection has a burgeoning pipeline and many scientists reaching retirement age, so [32-year DuPont veteran] Lahm anticipates a large hiring push over the next five years. “We’ll need new Ph.D.-level scientists, but we also need experienced chemists with bachelor’s and master’s degrees,” he says. “Sometimes people bring in skills learned in industry that can’t be picked up quite as well in graduate school or postdoctoral programs.” 

Taggi notes that many DuPont employees choose to remain at the firm for their entire careers. His father, also a synthetic chemist, retired from DuPont in 2010 after 38 years with the company. The large network of DuPont employees and retirees in the area helps foster a sense of community and stability. “DuPont has been here for more than 200 years, and you know we’re going to be around for another 200,” Taggi says.

Nice to know that DuPont might be hiring experienced chemists -- if true, that's welcome news. And that DuPont employees think the company will be around for another 200 years? Boy, for all of our sakes, I sure hope he's right.