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Charles River Laboratories Reviews
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    Charles River Laboratories Reviews

    Updated 12 February 2019
    371 reviews

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    3.0
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    Charles River Laboratories Chairman, President, Director and CEO James C. Foster
    James C. Foster
    176 Ratings

    Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • "Great co-workers,great work life balance" (in 15 reviews)

    • "Good company with good benefits and room for growth" (in 31 reviews)

    Cons

    • "Absolutely terrible work life balance" (in 15 reviews)

    • "Understaffed, underappreciated, very little integrity when it comes to upper management" (in 15 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "Good company"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Research Associate
      Current Employee - Research Associate
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Charles River Laboratories full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Friendly work environment and the ability to grow inside the company.

      Cons

      Poor pay and it can mondain at times.

      Advice to Management

      If you’re looking to eliminate turnover, then the pay for employees should be increased.

    2. "Great Company, and passionate coworkers"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Research Associate in South San Francisco, CA (US)
      Former Employee - Research Associate in South San Francisco, CA (US)
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Charles River Laboratories full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      amazing people and great benefits

      Cons

      can be focused too much on corporate growth, and rely on M and A to ensure that they maintain their profit

      3. Join the Charles River Laboratories team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Animal Care"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Animal Care Technician in Atlanta, GA (US)
      Former Employee - Animal Care Technician in Atlanta, GA (US)
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Charles River Laboratories full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Every day is a learning experience especially if you love animal..

      Cons

      Really fun working with animal's wish I could stay at work allday

      Advice to Management

      Keep up the good job with finding out very important information for both human and animal studies.

    4. Helpful (1)

      "Great company"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Research Technician in Ashland, OH (US)
      Current Employee - Research Technician in Ashland, OH (US)
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Charles River Laboratories full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Company genuinely cares for your well being. They purchased an already established facility that needed a lot of work and you can really feel their committment to improving it. Pays well. Benefits are good.

      Cons

      Due to a lack of staff the job was many times overwhelming. The management levels are kind of all over the place.

      Advice to Management

      Reduce amount of "management" increase amount of "legwork" employees

    5. Helpful (3)

      "Not bad, getting better"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Supervisor
      Current Employee - Supervisor
      Doesn't Recommend
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Charles River Laboratories full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      The people are great and passionate about their work. Decent benefits. Many areas still transitioning from MPI Research to Charles River. Most changes have been positive.

      Cons

      Not a lot of room for advancement. Pay scale improving but some areas are still not up to market speed, it's a struggle to find qualified people because of it.

      Advice to Management

      Most often the reason employees leave is because of the pay scale or the inability to advance. The reason we can't hire qualified personnel is because the pay scale is too low.

    6. "Great company"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Necropsy Training Coordinator in Reno, NV (US)
      Current Employee - Necropsy Training Coordinator in Reno, NV (US)
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Charles River Laboratories full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Pay, leader in animal research, great benefits

      Cons

      Haven't had any cons at this job

    7. "Loyalty is a one way street"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Farm Technician
      Former Employee - Farm Technician

      I worked at Charles River Laboratories full-time

      Pros

      Great benefits, can't beat the pay considering the job requirements are akin to working a factory assembly line.

      Cons

      Expected to be on call, even on your weekends, with no on-call reimbursement. No overtime pay because the company is "agriculture".

      Advice to Management

      The company expects full loyalty from its employees, yet doesn't reciprocate that mentality towards the people who form the base of the billion dollar company.

    8. Helpful (1)

      "Farm technician"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Charles River Laboratories full-time

      Pros

      Stable company, great benefits. If you work hard and respect your peers and management you will be treated great.

      Cons

      Sometimes long hours are required at a moments notice.

    9. Helpful (1)

      "No work/life balance not for those experienced in the Biotech industry"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Research Assistant II in Reno, NV (US)
      Former Employee - Research Assistant II in Reno, NV (US)
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Charles River Laboratories full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Great coworkers, really hard working people, decent benefits

      Cons

      No work/life balance, once you’re trained expect to work overtime and lots of it. Poor pay, came in with 16 years biotech experience and was given a research assistant I position, hired another person with 5 years experience at Research Assistant II. I was told that they don’t do that when I was hired. Expect management to play favorites. Managers work 8 hour days and then leave their employees to take up the slack. Supervisors are hit and miss some work incredibly hard others 8 hours like management. Staff given schedules in 15 minute increments, you don’t finish on time then you’re staying late. Study leads have it even worse, 10+ hours a day everyday is the norm. May be good for young recent graduates looking for experience otherwise avoid.

      Advice to Management

      Get in there and help your employees. Stop overloading them and leaving them to deal. Shame on you upper management for doing nothing, met with HR and a senior director and nothing changed even though I was brutally honest. Shame on you Jim Foster for letting your employees suffer while your management thrives and you swim in the profits.

    10. Helpful (1)

      "Avoid"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - In Vivo Technician I in Shrewsbury, MA (US)
      Former Employee - In Vivo Technician I in Shrewsbury, MA (US)
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Charles River Laboratories full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Benefits, decent pay, long lunch break when able to take one

      Cons

      Too much work not enough staff, skipped lunches to finish work, constant working overtime, lots of pressure form management to perform perfectly, no tolerance for small mistakes, toxic call out culture