Pros
As a large reference lab, there's always work to do so there's job security They offer typical benefits: 8 sick days per years, paid vacation time, paid holidays, 401(k) matching up to 5%, mediocre health/dental/vision plans If you work as a technician/technologist or a lab assistant, you will not have to interact with patients or clients If you don't like your current department, internal transfers between departments is usually pretty easy
Cons
It feels like we're chronically short-staffed. I've worked in three different departments over the last five years, and we were short-staffed in every department for at least half the time I worked there. Supervisors really have to fight with HR to get approved to hire new people, and then the new-employee on-boarding process takes forever. Wages are not competitive Very factory-line, repetitive work. You're going to be doing the same, narrow set of tasks every day. No real chance for advancement unless you're shooting for upper management Speaking of upper management, you could very well have a new manager every year or two. They will almost certainly be an outside hire with no recent lab experience - sometimes with no lab experience at all Flexibility of scheduling is completely dependent on your supervisor and manager. The means to allow flexibility is worked into company policy, but you have to luck out and get a supervisor/manager who's accommodating and understanding.