Pros
some of the people are kind, some of the work being done is cool
Cons
There are quite a few. The oft-expressed "assumption of goodwill" philosophy doesn't work when people behave like bullies and in a manipulative manner. As an employee, I've seen this behavior not only between departments, but within a department as well. When I was hired, it was advertised that some more the more menial lab work will be completed by other departments. However, now that I've seen how the lab work is completed, I'm NOT okay with how Zymergen is advertising this. Let's be real-- some people do not treat "service" personnel well. That's true in restaurants and at work. Having major departments that are critical to the function of the company--media, qc, and lab ops-- branded as "services" marginalizes the importance of their roles and creates a hierarchy within Zymergen that is dangerous to the culture of this place. These guys have masters and BS degrees and are washing our dishes and at our beck and call. If anyone's experiment goes wrong, they get blamed for bad media or bad glassware and get complaints on a near daily basis, many of it unfounded.Also, they were the only ones working during the offsite last year. How is it fair to have one group of people serving drinks to another group at an offsite where everybody is meant to bond as equals? How did management think this was a good idea? Additionally, there is no real outlet to register the bullying/issues stemming from poor upper management. If my manager only has two direct reports, any feedback I have will be obviously coming from either my or my colleague. It makes it difficult to air out the bullying in a safe way.
