Pros
Most of the co-workers were awesome. Ability to work freely without feeling micromanaged. Ability to leave work for appointments if needed as long as work was done on time and you got your 40 hours in. Flexibility in schedule. Benefits.
Cons
Management was hit and miss, mostly miss! People were put into management when they had no business holding such a position. HR was a joke and whistle-blowers were treated like the wrong doers so I guess it was ok for people to cheat the company on time and do as little as possible while at work. So while you work your butt off trying to earn a good review for a raise, plan to be lumped in with those who sail through doing as little as possible during review time for raises and get the same review across the board because your manager can't be bothered to do their job correctly or fairly without prejudice. There is a huge division between those with "degrees" and those without (think Star Bellied Sneetches by Dr. Seuss). If you don't have anything more than a bachelor's degree, prepare to never receive any credit for what you bring to the table, to be made to feel like you amount to nothing and that you are less of a person in life because you don't have that piece of paper. Experience and work ethic counts for nothing and lab techs, while some of the hardest working, are made to feel like nobodies. With all the layoffs workloads have stayed the same with manpower decreasing and management acts as if helping in the labs is beneath them and their payscale. Where the lab Technicians fall short academically, they soar past management and "degree holders" with common sense and hard work. No matter how hard you work and skills that you bring to the table, as a lab tech, you will never get recognition for any of it. And some managers just can't be bothered to actually do their jobs while others don't know how to back off and trust the job is being done and being done properly. There is also a huge lack of communication skills and the rules change from day to day so half the time you don't know if you should scratch your watch or wind your butt.