Pros
-Benefits package is very competitive. Employer pays 90% of healthcare premium costs. -Unlimited PTO (but you will NEED it, oh how you will need it) -Flexibility for certain roles with in and out times and telework opportunities -You will work with some of the most dedicated and brilliant people you’ve ever worked with. -You will make great friends with many of the employees you work with -Counsyl tests still have a favorable position in the market, and Counsyl is viewed very favorably by their customers and the medical community -If you are limited to only working in Biotech (like a clinical laboratory-type employee) I would say this is an above average company to join. -If you are lazy and don’t go above and beyond the call of duty, congratulations, you’ll never be managed out. **This company changed drastically during January 2016 and after. If you are really considering accepting a role with Counsyl, I suggest taking a new average with reviews from March 2016 forward. This consideration brings Counsyl to under 3 stars. -As far as I am aware, the following departments are well-run/have a lower amount of voluntary attrition than others. The managers in these departments know how hard their employees work and are regularly advocating for them. I believe employees in these roles at Counsyl are at least as happy, if not happier than employees in equivalent roles at other companies. As such, you may enjoy your time at Counsyl if you are joining for one of the following departments: -Genetic Counselors (CMO and all VPs, Managers and Product Managers are EXCELLENT) -Marketing (VP is excellent) -Sales (If you got in a few years ago, your targets are different that newer employees) -Client Services (although they are restructuring) -Billing (Well-run) -Variant Curation (Probably the happiest department at Counsyl, as they are mostly remote, and well-run) -Automation (VP is knowledgeable, advocates for department employees) -Lab (Director advocates for employees) -Fulfillment (The manager is respectful, great blue-collar type opportunity) -QA (heard the new Director knows his stuff and is easy to work with) -Manufacturing (believe this department is being improved upon, employees finally being advocated for)
Cons
I had trouble choosing between the review titles of “too little, too late”, “overworked and underpaid” or “wear your life vest [because this ship is sinking]”. All are extremely relevant. There are many cons to list, but the main complaint I have is that employees at Counsyl are overworked and underpaid, ultimately winning the title of this review. You will wear many different hats, and go above and beyond your title, level, and expected responsibilities, but in most departments, you will never be rewarded for it (exception being some of the ones listed in ‘pros’ section). Intrinsic motivation can only get a person so far. This company pays far below market rate, and in the majority of departments, you will only get a cost of living increase each year. You will be getting the same raise as the person on your team who does half the amount of work you do, has less institutional knowledge, and takes no initiative. There’s actually a good chance that person is already making more money than you are because of the perceived value that individual had when entering the company. I believe the above to be a major contributing factor in the roughly 30% voluntary attrition rate. You read that right THIRTY PERCENT. Employees do not feel they are being valued by their managers, and leave to find appropriate compensation and opportunity elsewhere. Two employees joined the company last year and left within 6 weeks of joining!! I suggest if you do go here, ask for A LOT more than you think the job is worth, because I guarantee the job is either being misrepresented to you, or will change drastically in the first 4 months and you will be wearing many hats you didn’t realize your were purchasing when you signed your employment offer. Do not let the recruiter lie to you and convince you that merit increases occur twice a year. The recruiters here are known to give old/bogus information. I would bet they are tracked/incentivized by how many people they can get to sign. While you will work with some of the hardest working and most brilliant people you’ve had the fortune of collaborating with, you will also come in contact with some of the laziest, most incompetent people you’ve ever worked with. Counsyl rarely disciplines low performers. And I’ll say it again- they will get the same raise as their hard-working counterparts. Too many hats = no down time. It’s constant go go go, with little recognition for it Too little too late. The higher ups have finally recognized that we are bleeding out human capital, and want to do something about the exorbitant attrition rate, but have no plans Lack of communication from the top down. Who could forget when the dinner menu was deleted off the internal site and employees were left to figure out on their own that yesterday was the last supper. This really happened. A company-wide announcement went out AFTER the discussion started on Slack when employees realized the menu was deleted. This was in an attempt to save money. I’m sure more costs have accumulated in recruiting new employees to replace those who left, than was actually saved by scraping dinner. Upper management has no clue what is going on “in the weeds” There is a chance your manager will have no idea what you are contributing to the company and your department Poor strategic direction and half-baked ideas from the top. The company decided to attempt to compete in the Oncology market, but were only willing to allocate about half the resources that were known to be required to properly compete (read $$). As such, they ended up entangled in their second lay-off in less than 2 years, when they had to lay-off the Oncology sales force they improperly planned for. The higher-ups were advised against going at the Oncology market without the proper funds, but they decided to give it a go anyway, assuming they knew better than market data experts. Counsyl half-thinks many initiatives. They also create projects with deadlines without the proper amount of employees in place to fully execute the idea or project. This company is VERY reactive- to the point of absurdity. My department had requested head count in the months before I left, and we were denied each time because we weren’t yet desperate for the fill. It seems headcount requests are only approved once a team is desperate and the rest of the members of the team are working 10-12 hours a day. No consideration is given to pro-active thinking. Teams are so thin, when another teammate resigns, there is no bandwidth between the employees who have stayed to pickup extra work, as they have been waiting for a backfill to come through the door from 3 team-member terminations ago. They are losing employees faster than they can hire them. This is a sinking ship. DO NOT JOIN. Unless of course you plan to walk around wearing a life vest Voluntary attrition for 2016 was just under 30%. That is not a typo- it is THIRTY percent. This does not include the 40+ people who were laid off in March of 2016. This is terrible, and there were no solid plans to remedy it as of my departure. Women have been known to not be promoted in male dominated departments. Departments to avoid like the plague: IT (talk about over worked and underpaid!) TechOps (although this could be getting better) Recruiting (unless you handle rejection well) HR (AVOID- I have not heard one good thing about working in this department) EA (unless you enjoy being overworked and underpaid, RUN!) SWE (strategic direction is lacking, VP diffuses blame for poorly-run department) Finance (this department is OK, but the pay is vastly below market for the area)
