Get ready for a long and scathing review. I have been endlessly tortured by this job, and I need to vent.
First off, the building itself is old and falling apart. There are tons of holes in the walls, bathrooms are stuffy/humid with broken doors and just generally gross, and decor/paint job is old-fashioned, peeling away, fading, or just not cared about. The entryway is large and seems grand from afar but look closer and you'll notice it's also old and falling apart. The couches are ripped and worn down. The carpet is old and peeling. Everything is just old and outdated, which may not seem like an important matter, but it shows how much the company's decision-makers care about the environment for their workers, which shows how much they care about the company itself.
I've read other reviews remark on the "pro" of having an on-site cafeteria, which is pretty sad because the cafeteria is nothing special. It offers a typical salad bar, typical grilled meals like burgers and hot dogs, and a daily-changing hot meal that is most often just another typical cafeteria meal made to seem nice but made with cheap ingredients (think baked potato bar with chili, oooooooh how grand). It's nothing special. Oh, and it'd be one thing if you could at least buy this sub-par food with a debit card but NO- you have to either pay through some weird card system where you load money onto it from your bank account (can you even get the remaining balance back once you've left the job?) or pay in cash. Um, it's the 21st century- why can't you take my card?? One thing you CAN buy with your debit card? Horribly overpriced junk food from the vending machines. There are a few healthy options, like hummus and pretzels, but like I said, it's horribly overpriced ($3.50 for one serving size). Also, the cafeteria is pretty small when you think about how many employees work there and almost every single table (no exaggeration) is lopsided and being held steady by napkins wedged under the legs.
Another *aMaZiNg* thing about this company is the "school" downstairs, which piqued my interest when I first applied to/accepted my position because at the time I was considering continuing my education with a Bachelor's, Master's, or Certificate. I didn't ask for details about the school, but they called it "school" and this was the Nichols INSTITUTE, so it must be great, right?? Well, guess what it is?... Tutoring for MT/MLT certification. AKA, information you would get while pursuing that degree anyway or information you could get from a study book/online. It's not a school, it's glorified tutoring, so they should call it that! Oh, but wait, there's more! This "school" also offers "Tech 101" class!... Like, really? Just think about it- a laboratory that seemingly hires AMAZING, COMPETENT employees offers a Tech 101 class... It makes me question just how amazing and competent these employees are if this place regularly offers a class that reminds its techs to change their gloves to avoid contamination (no exaggeration, as one of the "amazing" and "competent" techs from my team with decades of experience went to this "class" and remarked on these and other great lessons that she/he learned).
In regards to the department I work in, sample volume is extremely high (and climbing) and most instruments are older and can barely handle the volume. The LIS is extremely outdated and difficult to use, which only makes handling the volume even more impossible. The good-quality techs/workers are constantly stressed and overworked while the terrible employees get by on doing very little/performing poor-quality work/making mistakes yet don't get reprimanded and even get lead tech positions. Upper management/CEO/greedy decision-makers continue to add on more clients to make their pockets fatter and therefore more volume comes in, yet they do not hire more competent employees or update the technology in the lab. The only pro is that there are a few supervisors in my dep't that are competent and actually seem to care about their employees; however, they are also extremely overworked and can only do so much to help our stress. Recently, my supervisor (whose opinion I trust) commented on the greedy decision-makers, calling them "corrupt", during a meeting where we learned that YET ANOTHER client was being added on and even more volume would be coming in.