Fred Hutch Cancer Center Reviews

Pros

Super positive and collaborative environment, with exciting science

Cons

Pay is lower than comparable roles in industry

Pros

Depending on which lab you work, it can be flexible or you work like a dog. I was lucky to work in a very a flexible schedule.

Cons

Pay is kind of below industry standard. No bonus and only minimal pay raise a year that is hard to keep up with inflation. No room for career advancement, pretty much it is a terminal position

Pros

The work is interesting and pretty innovative.

Cons

If you don't have a PhD as a scientist, no one will ever listen to your suggestions. Everyone below PIs are chronically overworked, underpaid, under-appreciated, and are in desperate need of unionization which will never happen because Fred Hutch has a long history of intense and harsh union busting. During COVID they laid off their entire philanthropy department and then had the nerve to send out an email to the remaining employees asking the rest of us to consider donating money to those who were just laid off. Their diversity department is just for publicity and are constantly stopped from being effective. The Hutch hiring managers have dismissed great candidates, all non-Caucasian, because they "might not fit in with the culture". There are antiquated octogenarians who refuse to retire and instead perpetuate their ridiculous and toxic expectations. Their great reputation is gained off of the backs of the underpaid. Take a look at their board of directors and count how many diverse candidates there are. Lower staff are constantly thwarted from promotion and reasonable pay by a concerted effort of the upper management. They call what would normally be called the cost of living raise (3%) a merit raise. This way they're able to deny employees even this. If you're going to work in this field in this area, make sure your employee is the UW. They're unionized.

Pros

Great benefits, supportive leadership, extensive resources for personal and professional development, active DEI involvement and promotion, and overall extremely wonderful work environment.

Cons

Jobs here should be in high demand.

Pros

What I have come to love about Fred Hutch is the lasting impression it has made on my professional trajectory. Working as a grad student, my department helped me craft an internship that flexed with my schedule and allowed me to get experience in my areas of interest. I also have worked under the best supervisors of my career who demonstrate consistent interest in my experience in the role, how to help make it more efficient, and how to help me work towards my goals.

Cons

Bureaucratic feel that makes it difficult to communicate and departments feel siloed.

Pros

Excellent training, benefits, environment, management

Cons

wage discrepancies between different departments with like titles

Pros

remote option in person option good support

Cons

good place to work, no cons

Pros

It is a prestigious institution with excellent state of the art facilities for research

Cons

Be sure you ask the right questions before joining a lab. Some PIs are very toxic and offer little to no mentoring but expect progress instantly, thereby creating a very hostile environment for the lab members.

Pros

Fred Hutch is an amazing place - the research has been groundbreaking and the treatment of patients has been revolutionary. Additionally, the staff were the greatest people. Almost to a person, I was impressed by the values, tenacity, and mission-oriented nature of my colleagues.

Cons

It's a non-profit, and things sometimes feel like they should be moving faster. Compared to working at a tech company, there's a lot more red tape and bureaucracy.

Pros

You are working for an organization that is helping to cure and treat cancer. It doesn't get much better than that! The mission makes the frustrations and disfunction worth it for now.

Cons

Leadership doesn't seem to understand that you have to pay people what they are worth if you are asking more of them than ever before. You can pay below market rates if we are only working 40-45 hours each week, but if we have to put in 50hrs+ just to keep our heads above water, then we might as well work for the neighbors who will pay us 20-25% more.