Pros
On-site barista(free), snacks, on-site kitchen for meals (you have to pay)
Cons
Where to begin, I accepted this job because it was the first opportunity that was given to me right out of undergrad. I was very excited to start a career that was healthcare oriented. I was actually shocked to find out that a healthcare background was not required to work here. For a job that only requires at a minimum, a high school diploma/GED, the interview process was extensive. It consisted of a 30 minute phone interview, which was followed by a 2 hour block of interviews with 4 different current employees from managers to supervisors. Unless you actually follow up with the company, you may be waiting anywhere from 2-3 weeks for a response,even though throughout the interview process they say it should take a week. In the time that I have been here, I’ve quickly realized there really isn’t any room for growth, even though I’m the interview they say that most people move up or change positions within 6 months to a year. Expect to wait at least a year, and it’s not always guaranteed. Internal transfers are dependent on current supervisors, their manager and also other employees who may be going for the same position. The PTO Policy had changed multiple times in the short time that I’ve been here which is very unfortunate for new hires, who now start with no PTO at all. It is now based on accrual, and at the current rate, a month of work does not even equal 1 day of PTO, the new policy allows employees to go negative when requesting time off, meaning that they would owe the company money if they were to quit or be fired. Any balance owed would be taken out of the final check. For a company that was evaluated at $8billion last year, there should be no reason anyone working for Tempus should be making less than $50,000 and even $50,000 is relatively low. Similar positions at other companies are paying anywhere from $55,000-$67,000 for clinical lab associate positions. Starting for Tempus is about $42,000 which after taxes is less than $10,000 above the poverty line. In a major city like Chicago where the HQ is based, this is not a livable wage. There seems to be a general consensus among employees (at least on the preanalytics/laboratory side) that we are severely underpaid. There is also no 401k match from the company which should be a red flag, being that most people invest a lot of time to this company, and see little to no return. They limit lunches to 30 minutes and provide on sight kitchen for employees to eat at (you still have to pay) and they also provide an on-site barista (free). There is also an equinox style gym available to employees for $35 a month. All these perks seem great, until you realize that they offer these perks in order to justify the horrible pay. If you’re working out in the same building that you work at, spending most of your week onsite (very few jobs can be done hybrid or remote) where is the work/life balance? If you work Saturdays prepare for your social life to be non-existent. There is often a lot of work left over from other workers who leave at 5:30pm, so the employees that leave at 6:30 often have to stay past their designated ending time. Management in preanalytics is ok, at best. There sometimes seems to be a disconnect amongst overheads, they are not always on the same page. It’s also difficult to communicate with some of them sometimes, because some of them lack basic social skills. Most of them just aren’t personable. They have now implemented a daily check in, which seems a little childish. The “thumbs up, down, or to the side” method of measuring employee happiness is very elementary, I would even say sophomoric. The notion that employees are always going to be happy coming into a place that undervalues them is not only unrealistic, it’s delusional. They are always disappointed when some people report with thumbs down, but always say “we’ll find a way to change that” and it’s never addressed after the morning meeting. As much as management claims to be open to feedback, when feedback is given, they seem to get defensive/annoyed. A lot if the heavy lifting is delegated to team leads, who receive no compensation in return, especially when it comes to training new hires. It should also be noted that the CEO is actually the CEO of Groupon, who just bought the company when his wife had cancer. Kind of like how Elon musk bought Tesla. All in all, there really is no incentive or motivating factor to work for this company. While the company has a great story, there are so many other places that you can work for that would actually be worth it. I’ve already started job searching again.