Pros
Very family & community oriented. JAX allows one the ability to climb the ladder if dedicated and the right opportunity presents itself. Great fitness centers and programs that encourage healthy lifestyle choices.
Cons
JAX has non-profit status, so the process of obtaining money for anything (salaries, promotions, equipment, travel, software, etc.) is difficult, intensive, and often unsuccessful. Every penny is scrutinized. Key management sometimes makes knee-jerk operational decisions that have a huge impact, but don't always make a lot of logical & scientific sense, and this can be very costly to the institution. Further, many mid-level managers are not empowered to make decisions on their own without having to consult with numerous layers of senior management- everyone is afraid to make a wrong decision and look bad in front of the Chief Operating Officer (naysayers are NOT hired). This causes progress & process improvements to be very, very, frustratingly slow. The IT department cannot get out of their own way- there are so many reorganizations, project reassignments, and revolving managers that the people who actually develop applications to handle the amazing scientific discovery data JAX produces can't focus on one project for more than a week before they are shuffled onto the next project. So nothing actually ever gets completed or improved, and in the process, tons of dollars are wasted. There have been a lot of recent changes, with the tendency to hire more and more high-level managers with big titles (many of whom are often inaccessible), and the little guys who are in the trenches are "doing more with less"- underpaid and overworked. When the little guys make a mistake because they are stressed out beyond belief and struggling to make ends meet, the tendency is towards punitive action. This results in an extremely demoralized staff.
