Some in laboratory management require you to put your personal life on hold for the better of the company. Frequently comments are made to the affect of "The work is more important than you or anything you have going on in life." These are also the managers who are overheard talking about their employees badly, behind their backs, like high school teenagers.
The lab has been very short staffed for quite some time now. The workload is increasing and so is the demand on tech's. As the demand grows, so does managements tendency to micromanage. There is no understanding from above how bench's run or the workflow, and it leads to conflict between management and staff. This environment of conflict and negativity is a breeding ground for errors, both big and small, to occur.
Management thinks pessimistically majority of the time. The employees are not out to get you, or to take advantage of the company, we are there to do a good job and get out good results. We are willing to put in extra time if management would see that there is a need for it and not just see dollar signs and "employees who do nothing and whatever they want."
Favoritism will get you further in this lab than good past performance. The "what have you done for me lately" mentality rules.
Training is poor, and rushed, to no fault of the other lab techs. Due to the amount of work, demands for more from above, and the lack of fellow employees, new hires are typically thrown into the fire to sink or swim.
Human resources at ICON is non-existent. They exist at the Pennsylvania location, are only reachable through a internet ticketing system and they constantly mess up paychecks/benfits/etc. There is no personal relationship, or face, to the HR group to be able to properly help you in the ways they should be able to.