My happiest day was the last day I worked at this company - Microbiologist Antimicrobial Test Laboratories Employee Review

Good benefits (company pays for part of health insurance, dental insurance, retirement savings options) Interesting line of work (testing antimicrobials including disinfectants, sanitizers, and antimicrobial devices) Great staff of interns, microbiology associates, and microbiologists (levels 1, 2, and 3) Approachable, nice team leads/senior microbiologists (level 4) Lab Manager position is open, so potential for high-level advancement (Level 5) President/CEO routinely gives good feedback to staff President/CEO isn't afraid to jump in and work candidly and directly with underperforming staff to ensure they pull their weight for the team and for the lab's customers. Team leads are all good managers, and the President/CEO is well-regarded in the industry. Fast-growing company. The lab runs on solar power and recycles all waste possible using a single-stream dumpster and the local recycle center. Free coffee and the owners often bring in lunch and do whole-lab training sessions. The culture is friendly and collaborative - people look out for eachother. Microbiologists get a diverse range of tests and projects to work on. Microbiologists interact directly with customers and build good relationships over time. Retrofitted industrial building in nice area with streaming soundsystem, nice desks. Each microbiologist gets computer with large flatscreen monitor. Those who travel get laptops and owners are cool with people taking them home after hours and using them personally, as long as it is work-appropriate use. Lab has never had to lay off anyone due to lack of business. Relaxed computer use policy, can check Facebook, etc at lunch and after 5. Nice lunch room and nice rooms in the building for privacy (taking calls, private meetings, and so on). Owners continually improving the facility and company processes. High-performers get paid well over time. After 5 years on job, microbiologists get 3 weeks paid vacation and other substantial loyalty rewards. Top-down culture of not upselling customers on big studies if they don't need them. Opportunities for travel to industry meetings once at the company for a couple years.

Like any contract lab, work ebbs and flows, so some periods are busier than others. Not centrally located in Austin, so commute from South Austin to Round Rock can be draining. Microbiologists who aren't competent and can't pull weight for the team tend to leave quickly, which can be burdensome to other microbiologists. Job can be intense at times. The company is growing at a fast clip, so usual challenges with new processes, bigger projects, etc.

The position overall is fantastic for developing the skills and knowledge young scientists. The work environment is well-maintained and very comfortable. The staff is extremely friendly and compassionate about their work; the lab bench work is interesting and in constant flux. The management is approachable and competent in building a great science company, and they make appropriate judgment in selecting employees for upward movement.

Understandably, there are still "kinks" to work out for a lab (but they are being smoothed out quite rapidly). Workflow is easily disrupted, causing short projects to take extra time. A GOOD portion of each scientist's time is devoted to customer relations not directly related to scientific work. There is no insurance plan or other benefits beyond salary, which seems inappropriately determined by hourly pay rates for Technicians although the work requires thoughtful Scientists. I doubt salary is increased at all for good performance, presumably because a few negatives outshine several positives.