Pros
The people with whom I worked. Knowing my work had meaning to other people [patients and physicians]. Good benefits and reasonable compensation. Challenging with the opportunity to grow; opportunities for promotion locally but not much between local to corporate.
Cons
In the 2000s executive management failed to move forward with operational integration and standardization between former SBCL and existing Quest Diagnostic laboratories. The grew primarily via acquisition and continued postponing integration. This situation lead to waste, redundancy and complexity that drove up operating costs. Both of these issues require a substantial amount of time to remedy and there was no willingness to invest in operations in ways that may not be immediately apparent to the bottom line. Short sighted quarter by quarter management only sustained a wasteful laboratory network in which two or more substantially sized laboratories were located within short flyable distances and in a few cases within 2-4 hours driving distance. Executives were so concerned about loosing business they allowed these redundant and expensive operations to continue rather than consolidating laboratory locations. Their greatest asset was their people but they took the easy way out of financial trouble by laying off employees for 4-5 years, gutting the organization of valuable "tribal knowledge" and loyal people many of which had worked for Quest for more than 20 years. Now they have a new, hopefully more efficient organizational structure, that eliminated my position. It is yet to be seen if new executive management will be successful. I suspect that if they are, the company will most likely be sold, filling their pockets with cash and options, while everyone else gets to cope with yet another merger in which more people with loose their jobs.