• Near endless overtime. This job is de facto a 50 hour a week job, not 40, with all the mandatory overtime they give you. You have to stay at least 2 hours later every day.
• No appreciation by the management. We were working during a pandemic, yet all we ever got was being yelled at.
• Terrible workplace culture. Near constant drama and gossip. People would somehow always be in other people’s business. Someone was a “no show,” i.e. didn’t call out, lets all gossip behind their back. Meanwhile they are probably just burnt out from this job. Or I hear another coworker state how this other coworker always complains, implying they should just suck it up. When really that coworker is just venting from the near endless number of boxes we have to open up.
• This is less relevant in late 2021, but at the time I worked there I did not feel covid safe. People constantly would wear their masks incorrectly, and management never did anything. Also we had a huge birth day party in December. Furthermore, tons of people coughing during the covid peak of dec 2020? Not once when I worked home didn’t some manager tell another coworker, oh you have covid symptoms go home.
• Changing your role. If management gets mad at you, they might decide to change your role on you. Or not even. Meaning, say you are accessioner. Well actually garbage person didn’t show up today, so you are on garbage. Or oh you are an accessioner, well actually you are box sorter now.
• Gas lighting by the management -> oh so and so we never promised you that. Oh yes don’t worry guys we are getting new workers soon (for 5th month in a row)
• Management strategically withholding information for profit. Oh we plan on offering a $600 bonus if you work Sunday? Let us only tell the permanent workers and hide that from the temps so they don’t get upset.
• Team meetings where management would yell at us like we were children. Management would threaten us. “Oh you want to work at a clinical trials laboratories, you guys better step it up. Because I’ve replaced entire departments”
• The values at the Farmingdale location are at complete odds with the company. They have honesty and integrity posted around the building, yet often sample integrity was compromised for shear volume and profit. Samples weren’t always kept frozen – management didn’t tell people enough to keep samples on ice. Samples would thaw, and then someone would just put ice on the samples at the end of the day, so then the next person wouldn’t know the samples were thawed. Specimen labels and names were swapped, and sometimes a lead techs would have different answers for how to deal with the problem.
