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Advanced Testing Laboratory

I must say that I am pleased that my first position outside of college was with Advanced Testing Laboratories (ATL). It is a really good company that does a lot of interesting work but there are serious downsides and pitfalls to their business model. The primary work of ATL is contracting with larger firms to provide a series of laboratory testing (like MedPace or Lab Corp) but where they really excel is in their newest field of what they call "Insourcing".

The basic idea is that they have a contract with a large corporation to provide laboratory or research technicians. The method is they provide people who are trained to do the job on Day one and preform any number of duties for the client. In my case I was brought on to work as a researcher for upstream testing methods. In particular it was real time PCR method development but in the course of working 5 years for the company I changed positions many times based on the need for the work. 

The problem is that all the moves were lateral moves. ATL does not hire from within and when an employment position was temporary halted I was reassigned to a simpler Microbiology testing position. While I was given some assurance that I could return to my previous position when the business allowed for it I found to my dismay that instead of reassigning me they hired someone else to fill the position when it again became available. From this and many other experiences I have had I can say that ATL's policy is hire as many people as they can because they have terrible retention rates.

The good aspect about this business model is that people starting out their careers can get a well paying job with great benefits and gain a great deal of experience. There are many opportunities for personal growth and development but this is one of the reasons why their employee retention rates are so poor. The company does not hire from within and people gain work experience that does not result in compensation. ATL has a truly horrible pay scale that starts out above average but does not advance far after that. Unless you take on a managerial position the max you can gain is 3.5% salary per year but again that is the max. In practice due to budget constraints even the best employees do not get more than 2.5% on their yearly review.

I add to this my mixed feelings about the management at ATL. While the on-site managers are great and work well with the individual contractors the actual company management is a joke. They have no idea of the day to day operations and take no interest in the problems or issues of the workers. Likewise the HR department is a mess as they have even worse retention rates than the scientific contractors. In the 5 years of my employment there have been four changes in the representative to who I am supposed to report. Major issues have arisen that were not dealt with and I have personally witnessed HR representatives misrepresent company policy to other coworkers regarding employee compensation. Whether this was due to simple ignorance of what policy ended up being enforced or outright deception I do not know but a friend and co-worker was promised 2 weeks of disability pay and ended up receiving none. 

In short I would say ATL is a great company to start your career but I would not suggest you plan on making it a lifelong commitment. Their business model seems to be hire as many workers out of college and not offer them career advancement. I would sincerely say that ATL is a great company for starting your career in the sciences but start applying for better jobs as soon as you have gained adequate work experience.

It's a contracting company, depending on where you work under contract will determine your happiness with the job.

I had a lot of coworkers who really liked the job, and a lot of coworkers who really hated the job. Mileage will vary. Being a contractor working with any company is going to be a vastly different experience than being a full-employee of that company, there will be different rules and regulation in place for contractors.

I had no experience working at the Blue Ash base, so I cannot speak to the environment there.

Personally I loved the job. I was in contract with P&G on-site, which meant I worked in their labs, on their products, using their methods. I liked the work I was doing there, I liked the people I was working with, both ATL employees and P&G employees in the lab. I was usually kept busy enough to feel productive without feeling overworked or overwhelmed. There could be slow periods. I could have happily continued working there for many years. Lots of hands-on experience with different lab equipment. Plenty of learning opportunities. There were even times I got to travel to P&G facilities for work trips, which usually meant a nice bonus of over time. My shifts were flexible, so I was able to work a schedule that saved me from the worst traffic on the highways during my commutes. My managers were great, not micromanaging, personable and approachable, kept on top of training and cross training but also let us handle our workload independently so long as there weren't issues with turnaround, kept things running smoothly.

But, the pay was not enough, and raises were not keeping up with where I needed to be. I wasn't making enough to move closer to work, and continuing driving 80 miles every day to and from work was becoming untenable. New hires were starting at the same pay rate I was making after having been there for 5+ years, and receiving nothing but good annual reviews and maximum raises each year. When I brought up the subject to my manager I was basically told that a raise to where I should be compared to the new hires was not possible.

It was a generally positive experience, and I would recommend someone needing entry-level experience give them a chance. But don't expect to make a long-term career out of it. The jobs were dead ends, the only place to go from an analyst was up to a manager. No shift leads or team leads, no promotion within the company. Benefits were okay, PTO could stand to be a little more generous, or perhaps implement dedicated sick time. I thought healthcare was very expensive, even for the most basic plans.

Cons first, because they're what still resonate with me even after leaving:

I was let go because the larger company I was working with (P&G) made budget cuts. Understandable, they can't afford as many contractors, it happens. However, rather than move me to another company, a different position, or another branch, ATL just straight up let me go too.  I didn't work for P&G, I worked for ATL. But when P&G makes their cuts, why would ATL now let me go too? They don't truly care about their employees, just profit margins, that's why. Why wouldn't they put in the effort to shift people around and keep their jobs? I didn't want to believe most of the reviews on here before I joined, but I definitely regret it.

Average pay, with a promise of a raise each year pending a good performance review. Came to learn that "raise" was like 25 cents. No room for growth at all within the company, where you are is pretty much where you'll stay. 0 culture at all. I talked to my ATL supervisor on site once or twice a month, but not a single other person. Literally, I didn't see or talk to anyone from my own company. 

Benefit registration was a nightmare. My information was lost several times, accounts didn't work or show me as part of the company, and just email after email of "it should work now," "okay try xyz," "let me talk to someone and get back to you." I'm not even kidding it was 3 months before I was fully registered with insurance, and I'm still not totally sure I have access to my HSA funds

Pros:
I really enjoyed the lab work I got to do. I got to do cool science all day, and the time really did fly by. Working on some of the special projects and gaining connections with the larger company we contracted to. A lot of the complaints on here are about benefits; they actually just recently upgraded a lot of those as of this past new year, now that ATL is owned by a larger parent company (BV), so take those with a grain of salt if they're a couple years old.

Avoid because your mental and emotional health depends on it. This is the first review for ATL Science because they operate under three different names: ATL Science, ATL, Advanced Testing Laboratory.

ATL's operation is severely outdated and dysfunctional. The QMS is broken on every level. It is practically impossible to comply with due to its unnecessarily convoluted and overly prescriptive nature. Top management lacks basic understanding of efficient QA procedures and will speak to you in a very condescending way if you attempt to make any suggestions for improvements. Every aspect of everyone's job is micromanaged at an intolerable level. If you ask the same questions to more than one person, you will receive contradictory information more often than not. Every department is short staffed because of the toxic work environment. 

The quality management system and laboratory management system needs to be completely overhauled, but it will likely never happen. Began seeking other opportunities two months after starting. I only lasted as long as I did because I worried about the mental health of the analysts in the lab I managed. 

If considering an entry level position: 
I only have made personal observations in the Micro dept, but I have heard there is a systemic problem. Top level management treats staff poorly. The training system is so inadequate, basic training often takes a month or longer. Most job functions have only one person qualified to perform them, which leads to perpetually late results and angry clients. The receiving and testing systems are overly complex and time consuming, which makes it difficult to perform work in an efficient and timely way. Turnover rate is so high it was hard to believe at first. I have been told that it has been like that for as long as 18 years. Stress of analysts is always higher than it should be. 



ATL is good for getting yourself started in a scientific career. You will learn many different methods that are useful if you stay working in laboratory settings. It's easy to stack up PTO, and that's one of the few good things with the company.

You'll have some good co-workers but don't expect anyone to stay for long. Everyone knows the place sucks and we all deal with it. You are expected to set up every sample that comes in no matter what. If you have to stay over, you'll adjust your schedule to not get any overtime. Don't expect good raises either as the person who gives will not go over 3%. 

Expect a heavy workload some days and light days. The management will complain about you not doing anything even after you got all you work done and are just waiting for the next set of samples to come in. They made several complaints about us being on our phones but never do anything about it since there's not enough stuff to do. Plus if you are a new hire, don't expect to do anything for a while until you are trained. Even that takes weeks. 

The only way to move up is to be comfy with your manager. The leads are overworked and the upper management can't see past their own noses. 

If you decide to work here even after reading all these reviews, don't expect to grow there, you'll be able to get more pay and better positions after you leave the company.

This company can be good for entry level scientists, fresh out of college who are looking to gain industrial experience. It is well known amongst most companies that ATL is just that - a springboard to a better company. However, I advise against even that option. There are other places in Cincinnati where that experience can be had.

ATL's culture is toxic, poisonous, and non-inclusive, especially if you are in management or interact with management on a regular basis. Gossip, character assassination, manipulation, and lying are endemic to ATL's culture. A part of this is how kind and polished they present themselves at first.

It is unfortunate to say, but the mostly female executive leadership don't seem to like strong men. There is definitely a "girl's club" at ATL.
They ask most employees to go far beyond the expectations of any reasonable manager, including traveling offsite to help fill gaps at other locations for days or weeks. They will mention this in passing when interviewing you, but make no mistake it is a firm expectation.

Great place to get experience, past experience there is not a lot or room for advancement. maybe a lateral transition but this usually wont happen. 
Management will get back to you if keep on asking them about things, eventually. They don't have a lot of follow through and no one makes the decisions quickly. 
There is a really large lack in communication between employees and management, Hr, and accounting. 
Then benefits are pretty mediocre and 401k match is a joke. 
**get your own IRA set up and forget this 401k
generally you will end up in a large company and not have much of any contact with your GM or manager. 
The people that you work with a generally really nice and will teach you hands on. 
flexible hours and 2 weeks of PTO to start with.
CEO has a good plan of action and wants to expand, currently lack the ability to follow though. 
Hope they can turn it around sometime

In the last year, we've lost about eight full-time analysts and replaced them with two part-time analysts. It's a busy time of the year for lab work and we are severely understaffed. Management either can't notice, doesn't care, or can't actively do anything about it. I started as a part-time employee making $12/hour and was brought on full-time at $13/hour. I had to quit my other part-time serving job to work full-time and now I can barely make ends meet, much less save for anything important later on. Everything you do must be dated and initialed so that if something goes wrong, you can be blamed for it if necessary. Managers are always making you "prove your worth" in one way or another. No one enjoys their job after about four months and can't leave for years because they get sucked into the vortex that is ATL.

ATL does not care for the individual, you are numbers on an excel sheet and they make it obvious that that is the case.  Low pay, okay benefits, no sick days, high turnover rate.  On a positive note, the will hire just about anybody so they make it easy for recent graduates to get their foot in the door and get some experience.  Downside, they will hire ANYBODY, so you never know who your new coworkers will be, if they are actually accountable, if they're lazy, etc, etc.  No real opportunity for career advancement.

Knowing all that stuff, it is a fantastic place to work for 2 years to get some experience and then start looking for other jobs.  First job is always the hardest to land, and you have a good change of getting one at ATL. I would recommend it to people who are fresh out of college with no experience for sure.

I worked here with the hope of growing, learning, and expanding into new roles as promised to me by leadership. Unfortunately, what I experienced was a pattern of empty commitments, lack of follow-through, and poor communication. Despite multiple conversations and clear interest in advancement, I was overlooked for opportunities I had been told were mine—and often left in the dark until decisions had already been made.

Internal politics and personal preferences were prioritized over transparency and employee development. It became clear that loyalty and hard work weren’t valued, and instead of support, I felt held back and misled.

If you’re looking for long-term growth or fair opportunities, I strongly recommend asking tough questions during the hiring process and getting everything in writing. Don’t assume effort and dedication will lead to advancement here—they didn’t for me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Laboratory assistant 9 salaries reported	$19.89 per hour
Chemist 6 salaries reported	$27.33 per hour
Analytical chemist 2 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour
Biologist 3 salaries reported	$25.67 per hour
Automotive technician 3 salaries reported	$25.33 per hour

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