Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Employee Reviews
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good position to be in in the the event that you have a job where advancement is available. but unfortunately this doesn't go for everyone. they move up who they want. clique environment.
Aside from the mission of the lab supporting scientific research they pride themselves on fostering an inclusive, diverse and equitable workplace. It’s all for show. It’s evident in the High-school having diploma white women promoted to management to Non white with Masters degrees working in low level positions. Mangers play an off broadway version of mean girls. The only difference is they’re a bunch of wrinkly over the hill 50+ The angry women. Mangers are very controlling which has left many of the staff members bitter. You won’t find a friendly group of coworkers. If you find 1-2 consider yourself lucky. Looking to get promoted? Well unless you’re the “right” color or kiss up it won’t happen.
Pros
Benefits
Cons
Management, toxic culture, promoting lies
Work-life balanceWork-life balance at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is really bad. Minorities without degrees will get your promotion(s) and start hiring more team members like themselves all the while you will stay at the same level until you retire!Pay & benefitsMy pay and benefits at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory really suck. Starbucks it’s better!Job security and advancementIn terms of job security at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, I think layoffs are a common practice for people with degrees while non degree individuals can feel very secure.ManagementIn general, managers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suck in a big way. Minorities get SPOT awards every quarter while people with degrees get poor performance reviews.CultureCollaboration with my colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is very bad. Don’t work therefore you have a degree.OverallMy experience working at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was painful as it’ll ever be. Wasted years if you really want to know.
Great scientific minds work together, good work life balance, healthy competitive and collaborative environment, people seem to be appreciative of others work. Preference to absorbing their high performing postdocs by promotions. High tech facility for RnD.
Cons: not competitive salaries like other National labs in early career positions. Health insurance options should be improved.
Best place I’ve ever worked. From peers to management, no complaints. Engaging, innovative, motivating management. The science is what brings us together to achieve one common goal - Solving world problems.
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very nice place to work for my 30 years there it was real nice I was on my own most of the time boss was always receptive to new methods of doing things
Complex federal and state transactional requirements not easily discerned by those from the private sector. Cold, forbidding work management culture. No emphasis or support given to training candidates not versed in lab culture or FAR spend requirements. Job was not described accurately in interview. This is a buyer clerk position, not sourcing.
Pros
Coworkers were very smart and hard working
Cons
Punitive, fear-based culture, very politically motivated.
I learned more on the job than I did in my classes because my job as a student intern required me to design real world applications that filled a niche in the company. I enjoyed the flexibility of being able to log my own hours rather than punch a clock and being able to work remotely as needed.
Not a stable work environment. One way one day and different the next. No good job orientation prior to being put out on your own. While I was a new hire I got all the jobs nobody else wanted to do. Supervisor seemed to encourage this type of behavior. Left there as soon as I could.
There way no typical day at work. I learned about management under regulatory delay. The hardest part of the job was scheduling. Workplace culture is very casual but productivity can be slow due to serval inputs.
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My supervisors were very support to my growth as a student research assistant. I appreciated the balance of high expectations but still felt comfortable to challenge myself and be creative with the projects i worked on.
Pros
Flexible hours, independent work with opportunity to work with team.
A professional, technically challenging environment. Lots of opportunity for growth and education. Growing employees and promoting internal initiatives, employee ideas and increasing on-site parking spaces.
Overall, LBNL is a very solid place to work at. The science that you get exposed to is really second to none. There are lots of opportunities for career advancement here if you decide to take initiative and seek those opportunities out. The culture here is one of safety and collaboration, I would say that it is quite easy to work here in the sense that everybody is here for the same purpose. The work itself is challenging but also very rewarding
In my time at LBNL I was impressed by the diversity of ideas and methods aimed towards improving the impact of humanity on the world. I worked specifically in a sector devoted to artificial photosynthesis, though that was not specifically what my project was about. Truth be told, it was often difficult to know what my project was about, mostly because my mentor/manager seemed to have a difficult time directing his intentions. I often found myself unsure of what to do with my time. There was also a weird undertone of competitiveness in LBNL, at least where I worked. I believe this is because each scientist's group seems to value publishing their own work in their name over collaborating with others on bigger, more impactful projects. This is understandable, since LBNL is under the purview of the government and money is likely distributed according to who gets results, i.e. who publishes... but it still felt as though this inefficiency in information relay was interfering with swift scientific advancement.
For engineers, management is struggling to manage its engineers.
There is much autonomy and one has to be very focused and driven to prosper here. They have a hard time firing people, so the bad apples stay around and poison the culture.
Pros
Amazing work to advance science
Cons
No clear advancement structure for engineers
I would have stayed indefinitely if my grant had not required me to transfer to UW. I enjoyed my coworkers and had many opportunities to learn and collaborate.
The laboratory is funded by Department of Energy but managed by University of California, so lots of opportunities to learn from other top scientists...
Working at this research institution was fun and very fast pace. The people there will help you start up and willing to answer your questions. Lunch will be from 11-1 so you are free to go the cafeteria during those times.
Great place to work with the best and brightest collaborators and coworkers. Facilities are state of the art and drive the development of next generation of equipment for energy based research.
Pros
Commute plans to work and lots of PTO
Cons
Lots of hills
A highly charged, work place political, work environment. I found that it was more important of who you knew and associated with, more so than what you knew and the applicable skill-set that you brought to the table. If you didn't fit in well with the established cliques at the Lab then it was not likely that you would be successful in performing your job responsibilities.
It is a very flexible work environment.
Even working at home is fine if I think it is more efficient.
The lab shuttle bus is also good.
and people are very friendly
- Employee Reviews