Pros
- The campus is nice. - The “Lab Technician” title looks good on your CV. - Some great coworkers — you definitely bond with others going through the same struggles.
Cons
- Very high expectations for output with extremely low pay for the type of work involved. - Casual contracts didn’t feel truly respected — while technically you could say when you weren’t available, management often seemed unhappy about it, which created pressure. - Unrealistic targets — staff were even threatened when numbers weren’t high enough. - High turnover — most people don’t stay long, and almost everyone looks back on the job negatively. - Training for new staff was left to existing employees, who still had to keep up their usual workload. - Clear favouritism: when male staff underperformed or refused certain tasks, management was lenient, while female staff were expected to carry the heavier load without choice. - Recognition was almost non-existent. Even when going above and beyond, the feedback was often negative or dismissive. - Little to no learning opportunities — you don’t actually gain lab skills beyond repetition of a narrow task.