Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Employee Reviews about "pay"

Pros

Great pay, great benefits, great retirement plan People are passionate about their work Sense of community Safe/Secure working environment Regular and significant pay raises

Cons

*Can* have a tough work-life balance, but it depends what you do and who you work with Difficult to move up without advanced degree Advancement can be quite political Expensive cost-of-living (obviously not LLNL's fault...) and insane commute if not living in Livermore itself

Pros

Long term stability; great work life balance; good benefits; good pay; ridiculously smart and talented people in all areas of the lab; pride in working for world class scientific institution.

Cons

Pay does not keep pace with cost to live in Livermore/East Bay Area; bureaucratic culture can be frustrating.

Pros

The work is compelling, worthwhile, and largely makes a positive impact in the world. The compensation and work-life balance is decent. The proximity and exposure to some of the brightest and high-performing scientists and engineers is a huge plus. There is no lack of opportunity at the lab and the career paths are encouraged. The lab will also help pay for most schooling and provides ample opportunities for growth.

Cons

The vast amount of bureaucracy suffocates even the simplest of tasks. Even collaboration between the DOE National Laboratories is plagued by a lack of common tools and a surplus of restrictions. I've got three sets of RSA keys to access each National Lab network and none of our systems talk to each other. Getting any hour of meaningful work done is usually accompanied by an hour of red tape, signatures, acronym-swimming, and centuries-old web tools. Even the "updated" timecard web page is barely functional (uptime only 60% of every hour) and follows archaic processes and deadlines.

Pros

Great work life balance and pension benefits are a plus

Cons

Upper managements lack of understanding what the workers actually do and they do not reward 'actual' hard work. Very political and hypocrites when it comes to paying employees

Pros

I love working at the lab and can see why people stay for decades! There is opportunity for growth, training, education, and generally a lot of flexibility around work hours. During COVID-19, the lab has made sure staff have the ergonomic equipment needed and is providing some reimbursement for internet/phone/misc. When we are on site, it's great to have the gym, cafeteria, and other amenities available. The employee resource groups at the lab help bring incredible speakers on site (and virtually) and have a lot of fun events. Great pay and 401K.

Cons

There are some of the typical bureaucratic issues to deal with/resistance to change. Also moving from corporate to government, there are less options for using certain kinds of software that are commonplace elsewhere.

Pros

The exceptional quality and dedication of the staff Great variety and complexity of STEM activities Ability to choose ones own career path and projects over time Opportunities to propose and work on your own tech projects High job security - layoffs are very rare. Growing fast now. Work-life balance is pretty good, no 80 hr weeks! Flexible work schedules Pretty good benefits and insurance On-site gym/aerobics/yoga/massage Strong academic collaborations (faculty and staff) Shiny toys Cheaper cost of living than Silicon Valley Smack dab in a great wine region Livermore is a distinct city with real green space all around it

Cons

Hard to match the pay and bonus packages of Silicon Valley giants (nobody can) Cost of living - still Bay Area high No free food :-/

Pros

Supports LGBTQ. If you are Transgender it is a great place to transition.

Cons

Advancement and Pay raises are really slow to get to non existent.

Pros

Flexible hours, good work-life-balance. Highest praise for managers one and two levels up. Lots of opportunities to "fly as high as you want," whether that means research, climbing the management ladder, or just being a great tech. No dress-code (most in my Division wear jeans or shorts). Pay is good (I don't pay attention, but think my base pay is around $135,000 yearly). Salad bar was recently (re)introduced at the West Cafe.

Cons

Free-flow communication with upper management is currently non-existent. Employees were asked to submit glassdoor reviews, so I am; we weren't asked to submit positive reviews; as I recall, we were asked to submit honest reviews. So now ... my primary means of communicating with upper management is via anonymous glassdoor reviews? Perhaps that's brilliant thinking-out-of-the-box. Perhaps not. OK serious cons: the annual personal appraisal/review process is time consuming and agonizing for all involved. And, has almost nothing no connection with your annual raise (for years in which Congress permits this). Everyone at LLNL (even upper management, I think) knows this -- yet the insanity continues. Possibly this is driven by lawyers -- ?? This isn't google: no free food; you have to pay for the salad bar ;)

Pros

There is a good policy here that anyone can stop work if they feel it is unsafe. Tools and uniforms provided. Medical benefits are available.

Cons

The pay is not competitive therefore we are very under staffed and cannot attract qualified people. The hiring process has a lot of holes in it allowing inexperienced candidates that lack effective work practices as well as good work ethics. Though safety is a priority it doesn't seem to be taken seriously at the Staff Relations level. Many of the 'fringe ' benefits do not apply to craft employees (bonuses, hiring awards) There are many problems with getting paid properly for work that should be deemed Davis Bacon.

Pros

There are smart people here working on very enjoyable and challenging technical problems. Lots of opportunity to move up as the work force is aging.

Cons

The introduction of remote work and constantly missing deadlines have delayed major projects leading to a large morale problem. Trouble losing highly skilled technical staff as pay is not high enough to justify living in an extremely expensive area.