“Client comes first.” To the detriment of the scientists. - Research Scientist III Boston Analytical Employee Review

(In general) – The upper management stresses client satisfaction and quantity of projects over quality of work. Too many projects for the scientists. Constantly changing priorities and schedules, reports originally due within two days suddenly due that evening. Poor communication, little to no understanding at the decision making level of the science, timelines, or project balancing necessary to keep everybody happy. A “can’t say no” attitude, without asking the people actually doing the work. Overtime system that is a minimum of 4 hour chunks, only on weekends. Most everybody puts in 50-60 hour workweeks with 40 hours pay. And that 40 hours pay is lower than they’d get elsewhere. (Specifically Extractables and Leachables): Too many projects, not enough people, not enough space. Passive-aggressive manager who in one breath says “don’t overwork yourself,’ then in the very next says “all of this is due yesterday.” When the manager says he’s “brining in the right people, and not just people to fill space,” who is he trying to convince – the people he overworks, his higher ups, or himself? Lab should have failed audits multiple times over, no legitimate stress placed on correcting the underlying problems. Manager cares nothing about development of his team, only report turnaround and client satisfaction. Mantra of “right the first time,” without any training on how to do “it” right. Hard to do anything right when it’s somebody’s first time doing it, or it’s being done the day it’s due, or multiple people are contributing to one report that one person ultimately consolidates hours before it’s sent out. (Regarding the labs): Poor to no systems in place to relay issues with data systems, instrument outages, etc. More than once have come in to a lab with instruments not communicating with acquisition systems, acquisition systems turned off, enterprise content management system down for service. Time wasted fixing things. Then time wasted tracking down standards across multiple labs. TOO MANY INSTRUMENTS IN TOO SMALL A SPACE. LAB IS WAY TOO HOT MOST DAYS. (My Personal take): Abbreviated training. Mostly documents with an honor-system style “Yes, I read this” acknowledgement. Most people that can train are too busy to put the effort in to effectively train. No emphasis on personal career development. Any meetings scheduled by manager revolved around customer requests, problems, etc. Pyramid-style pressure and B.S. structure, where it all comes from above and rolls down to the bottom. Case-in-point, upon hire, I was to train on new instrumentation, that was sitting unused in lab for months because no one else had the time to take it on. Goal posts were constantly shifted, and promises made without my input or knowledge, to the point where the instrument was suddenly being rush qualified for impurities analysis. I was abruptly the sole researcher providing any analysis for potentially carcinogenic impurities, it was so important that the President of the company mentioned it both on the Q1 bonus letter and his first “State of the Company” address. But, I didn’t receive a Q1 bonus, not even an attaboy for my efforts. Lucky for me, my first, and only, evaluation meeting was also the meeting at which I disclosed that I was about to receive another offer, one I would most likely accept. In an attempt to retain me, different positions are offered – without going in to all the details, none suited me. Frankly, they were a bit insulting to what I’ve already accomplished. Prior to BA I was unfortunate enough to be one of the many let go by a short-sighted company looking to balance the books amidst a looming lockdown with no immediate end in sight. But I’d already overseen the operations of a lab, designed, built, and optimized novel analytical instrumentation, and presented my own findings in journal publications, posters, and talks at national conferences. The last time I was preparing slides for someone else, Bush Jr. was the worst thing the Republican Party had to offer. My days of being someone else’s labor and not working towards building my own track record were well behind me. HR was “sad to see me go,” but more concerned about the fee they paid their headhunter firm. ON THAT NOTE – If you’re in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeastern U.S. and receive a message from someone at EPM Scientific, it’s probably best to treat it as spam. If you’re in a position where you desperately need the work, demand they tell you their client’s name first. Boston Analytical is not a career step for anybody not fresh out of school. It’s a job, one that you hopefully will not have for terribly long before moving on to better things. (TMI, but whatevs): During our move to the NH area for this position, I and my wife both caught COVID, most likely from one of the several non-masked movers that packed our house (To be fair, not hired by the company. They had no experience with interstate moves.). Instead of starting on time, I had to drop my wife off at the hospital, where I could not escort her in due to their policies, and then wonder for several feverish days if that was the last time I’d ever see her. BA’s concern? That I wouldn’t be there the same week as an instrument vendor for training. Not once did my to be manager reach out.