Pluspunten
On a personal level, the people you work with are honestly one of a kind with many talents. I would give them a 5/5. On top of that, you do get to work with cool technology and see how they are used to collect data. You get a one hour lunch with many options of restaurants around you.
Minpunten
-The Research Assistants, along with Admin, are paid poorly. You cant live off of $12 to $15 an hour in a major city like Chicago, let alone Austin or New York. I feel that RA's should make $18/h-20/h. Senior RA's should make 20 to 22 and hour. Finally anyone above those positions should make at least 25+ an hour or $50,000 a year. Nothing to be rich off of, but at least it would make more sense and have us feel more comfortable with living wages. -You will find your self with nothing to do at times or completely overwhelmed with work, while management will take their third lunch for the day and constantly hammering you on more tasks that if you fail to complete, they will attempt to hold you accountable at any cost. -No matter how many times you address management about issues within studies, the office, dangerous participants, or about other RA's, they will just pretend to hear you and say that they will work on it. One week later when you ask them about what you talked about they would have no clue. Your opinions do not matter! -Speaking of dangerous participants, the RA's are typically left to fend for themselves. No manager will come out and try to handle a participant who might be acting up. They will pretend to never have heard about it and then apologize about it later on. -There are security camera's within the establishment, just like any other place should have. How is this a con you might ask? Well the reason why I bring this up as a con is that the cameras are used to watch the employees work, come in and out from lunch, and finally leave. Never in my life has the term "Big Brother is watching" been so real to me. It honestly sickens me and gives me extreme anxiety. -Management will do what they can to pin any issue on you. Even if you have physical evidence for your innocence or have a good excuse as to why you have made a mistake, they will still do their best to pin the issues on one individual, besides themselves, or just let the issue go while holding that individual as a suspect for months on end until they make another mistake. -The office has a clique vibe to it. The people are not bad, but if you do not fit into a specific social group, or are socially awkward, you might face isolation for a while until people warm up to you. -Finally you have the nepotism. Oh the sweet and savory nepotism! You can be an employee with the company for 3 years, know all the in's and out's of the job, have a strong background within research, have your own work published, majored with high honors, and have a degree within a research intensive field, but fail to be promoted because someone else was more likable, social, maybe more agreeable with management, and who has a degree with in a field of study that has no experience within research. I have been waking up every single day dreading to go to work, feeling depressed, gaining weight, finding it impossible to stay motivated to get a check, feeling completely anxious when walking into the door not knowing what to expect from participants, study set up, or disciplinary action that is not deserved. You can see the toll that this company has on the physical and mental health of the employees. Its such a shame to see great people being used and abused and have their potential go to waste. I want to love this place, but I just can't.