York Analytical Laboratories, Inc.: A Unique Experience
Pros
Relaxed workplace where you can work at your own pace but also must coordinate with others. Teamwork is strong at York, especially when within your own department. You have a time clock where you clock in and clock out, to the minute. It is nice because you just work your eight hours and then go home. Some full time employees who ended up having children have been able to make work schedules where they were still full-time but only worked about 30-35 hours, so they could still be eligible for the insurance offered by the company. The insurance is pretty good at the time but York shops every year for the most cost effective insurance. York at least tries to take care of their own.
Cons
Low paying; it is common practice that the last person in the door is making the most money. This is especially upsetting when someone like me, who had been working there for 4 years at the time, had to train a person fresh out of school who made about $1.50 more an hour and it had been 3 years since my last raise. That raise was for $3/hr. which at the time was the "biggest raise in York history". Also because it is small business there is a decent amount of inequality amongst employees. Some employees have a 4 day work week and most have a 5 day work week. Most full time employees’ work at least 40 hours a week and there is no "official rule" explicitly saying how or why an employee could work only 4 days a week. Also because it is so small that sometimes employees easily manipulate upper-management into doing and seeing things their way. It’s not a problem that employees manipulate upper-management into doing things their way but it is a problem when those employees manipulate upper-management into having a certain attitude toward or way of treating an employee. Which is what happens at York, you upset the wrong person or people once and that’s it, for some that meant their employment at York. For most it means a workplace filled with passive-aggressive behavior that can NOT be reported to HR. This brings me to the last point of HR, which is practically non-existent. The responsibility of HR is given to the accountant, which basically means that no-one ever brings any HR problems to the accountant. So basically there is no resolution for problems between employees. Those are the cons of York.