With any CRA job, your line manager can make or break the opportunity. Mine is terrible. As a Docs CRA, you are contracted to ICON...even though ICON owns Docs. It really makes no sense. The only difference between a Docs CRA and an Icon CRA is that Docs CRA's have two line managers, must submit their time cards into two separate portals, and are usually treated like a temp employee (even though you are a W2 employee with Docs). You don't get any bonuses (Icon CRA's do) but your base salary is much hirer than an Icon CRA. The thing that really gets me, Docs CRA's are assigned an Icon Line Manager and Docs Line Manager (Docs manager pretty much does nothing, I've only met with mine once when I first started a year ago). However, this means everything you do, e.g. time card entry, pto request, benefit enrollment, trip reports, etc. is required to be logged by you twice. Once in Icons system and once in Docs system. Such a waste of time and really for no reason because they are the same company. Also, it is required to be onsite at least 9.5 days a month. Even if your studies do not require that allocation. My Icon LM is OBSESSED with this metric. She adds so much stress to the job from something that is not even in my control. I'm starting to think, if all her CRA's avg. 9.5 days onsite in the year she gets a bonus or something. Either way, you're left over worked, unsupported and stressed. My advice: Choose a different CRO to work for, that required "9.5 days on site" is so lame and rips off the sponsor. I've worked for 3 of the top 5 CRO's and none of them had a required "days on site" metric that you had to meet.
