Pay: Poverty wages are reserved for technical staff. Management and CEO/President are over paid. The CEO and President makes close to one million per year which can be seen on public record (Public record: Tax Form 990, multiple years). Significant salary increases are rare, unless theres a massive walk out and they fear more people will quit, which has been seen.
The "spot bonuses" are intended to motivate workers, but rarely are awarded.
Turnover: EXTREMELY HIGH. This is due to toxic culture, low pay, and poor work-life balance. Long term employees are rare. It is difficult to find anyone who has stayed more than 2 years at the company, which means many tasks are often shifted to new, inexperienced workers, making most tasks an uncomfortable experience with questionable safety standards.
Location: It is located in the middle of no where, far commute, without restaurants within a 30 minute round trip commute. Traveling to work will be a far commute, unless you live near the International District, which is a dilapidated, unsafe, impoverished area close to site.
Unprofessional Environment: There is a lot of favoritism, unethical behavior, and a prevailing toxic atmosphere. Management often inquires inappropriately about your personal life. They also make promises to staff and clients which remain unfulfilled unless documented in writing.
Lack of Training: Minimal formal training, haphazard onboarding, and no mentoring program. Lab hygiene is next to nonexistent due to widespread ignorance and minimal raining. Staff don't always use gloves in the lab or leave dirty gloves for prolonged period of time and have a history of cross contamination.
Facility Issues: Poor facility maintenance, flooding occurs inside the facility, uncomfortable temperatures, and outdated equipment. No on-site cafeteria service but they have over priced junk food. There is inadequate heating/cooling in work areas in both winter and summer (offices, labs, and other common areas). Minimal re-investment is made in the institution, only what is required to maintain functionality. Nothing is state of the art. Much of the facility is in disrepair and many offices and common spaces have persistent leaks, heating/cooling issues, or mold.
Work Conditions: Long commutes, dangerous conditions, chronic understaffing, and frequent mistakes due to inexperience.
Opportunities for Growth: Extremely Limited. Unless someone leaves or passes away it is rare to move up in this organization. They prefer to outsource to fill roles. You must earn nepotism status through decades of pandering to leadership. There's only one facility and no expansion of operations. The upper management seems to feel threatened easily.
Management Problems: Defensive and non-responsive, prefers prioritizing profit over staff and animal welfare. High-level staff make unrealistic promises and avoid accountability. CEO and President and other leadership have no on-site presence and work "remotely" and are rarely seen, if ever. They fire the more refreshing, motivated, hard working individuals (or they burn out).
Note to new employees: Exercise caution while working with individuals who have remained at this organization for extended periods of time, as they may be deeply ingratiated with leadership.
OVERALL: This company targets inexperienced workers and maintains a hostile work environment. They may offer a sign on bonus because they have a high turnover, most people leave before the repayment period. Even senior scientific staff leave rapidly. There is a prevailing fear among staff that they prefer to fire and walk you out the door. They have fired individuals while they are out of office. They seem to thrive on unpredictable behavior and animosity instead of parting on good terms. They aren't very supportive of those of return to school (i.e. letters of recommendation). These feudal lords have not left their small fiefdom in a long time.
Is it REALLY that bad? YES - IT IS THAT BAD! At minimum, don't accept a sign on bonus. You may find that you will need to repay it to save your mental health.
I would NOT recommend anyone work here. They have a history of being retaliatory to former employees and will prevent future work opportunities, even if you were a responsible, hard working individual.