Argonne National Laboratory Reviews

Pros

Great educational opportunities in morning lectures.
Flexible laid back environment.
Looks good on resumes.
Work with some of the brightest minds in various fields with state of the art equipment.

Cons

Provided housing apartments are a bit run down.
There isn't always enough work to do for the whole summer so it can get boring.
Supervisors sometimes get too busy.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep this program alive.
Maybe find some more interesting speakers for the morning lectures.
Increased pay would make it more competitive.

Pros

Continue working in the energy related cutting edge R&D in many fronts

Cons

STA con only work for half time for hourly pay without any benefits

Advice to Senior Management

More flexible in maximum hours per year based on the project needs

Pros

The research facilities are state of the art. The research was always interesting and is on the forefront of the newest technologies/developments.

Cons

I was hired as a consultant and did not receive full benefits. There were a good number of us hired in this way. My boss told us that it was unlikely that we would get hired as Argonne employees in the near future.

Advice to Senior Management

I thought the leadership was great. If I wanted to learn or research something new, the upper management was all for it.

Pros

The campus is awesome! The projects were very cutting edgy. Very high competitive environment. The food in the cafeteria is something to die for.

Cons

Cannot think of any downsides. SInce most of them are research projects, the project that you work might not hit the mainstream atall.

Advice to Senior Management

Cannot think of any advices to the management. Some of the scientists who work there think that they are the king of the world and treat fellow junior employees like crap. If this changes, then the place would become a better place to work.

Pros

the best scientific environment in the mid-west region. It is convenient to travel to other major cities too. Nice place to line in fall.

Cons

It is too cold and windy in winter. The security requirement is too tight. one needs to spend a lot of time to update trainings every 6 months.

Advice to Senior Management

Make training system easier. open gate to public. Allow more local people to contact with scientists working in the lab.

Pros

Excellent benefits, relocation packages offered, place you can be proud to work for

Cons

Some limitations to promotion opportunities on the support side of the Lab

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the strategic focus to grow the Lab.

Pros

close to Chicago, reasonable living expense, and flexibility

Cons

poor benefit, lack in proper recognition system, poor mentoring

Advice to Senior Management

look around how other places offer to similar people to Argonne

Pros

Job security, flexible hours, generous vacation and sick leave, 9% 403(b) matching with immediate vesting, decent pay, lots of toys.

Cons

It's a bit of a gerontocracy, the physical plant is mostly decrepit, it's too far from Chicago, one's salary increases very slowly.

Advice to Senior Management

Fire a lot of the dead weight, get rid of the endless bureaucracy, encourage people within different divisions to work together.

Pros

The benefits are better than most companies. The vacation time is generous. The sick time is good. The medical benefits have increased in price but so has other companies.

Cons

The underground network can work against you sometimes when it comes to transferring within for either a promotion or latteral move. It seems that everyone knows someone else and that type of information exchange is not always accurate,

Advice to Senior Management

Conduct a survey of all employees at least once a year. Listen to what the low man and women has to say in addition to middle and higher up management.

Pros

It is a great place to intern and learn about new research that is going on. It is also a good place for networking and finding out about new opportunities.

Cons

Sometimes you may feel forgotten because it is such a huge lab and everyone is busy with their own projects. I had to spend several weeks trying to teach myself new topics that my supervisor could have easily explained in a relatively short period of time.

Advice to Senior Management

Get to know your employees and make sure that they are up to speed with current projects.