phlebotomist

medical technologist

laboratory supervisor

hospital service technician

Alverno Clinical Laboratories

Depending on staffing levels, which were oscillatory day by day, work was either exhausting or pleasantly manageable. In my three years, I noticed many full time employees burn out due to staffing problems. That being said, its a great place to form your phlebotomy craft if you're just starting out in the field. They hire a lot of people with no experience, and breaking into fields can be tough these days. Be prepared to get thrown right in--you'll improve quickly this way, though. When I was hired on, I was lucky enough to have some very supportive veterans who helped me through things--they've all moved on since then, though.

 The management changed about halfway through my career at Alverno Labs, and the group thats in there now is very supportive. I really respect that they will come in and help when needed. In my opinion, the management change improved the overall experaince of my job. I loved my new boss(es), and they always did a great job working with me through my changing schedules with school. Furthermore, I've seen them making positive changes throughout the phlebotomy department. 

I didn't care too much about salary, as I was hired on with no experience and in school the whole time with support from family--however, I hear the full time phleb employees are underpaid. At one point, some of my coworkers were talking about how Target employees get paid more and retail jobs in general don't require a skill like phlebotomy does--so that was interesting. The pay disparities are apparently due to the culture of hiring people with no experience--which obviously comes with drawbacks for those with more experience.  

I feel that I am very competent at venipuncture, now--much more so than I would have been if I worked in an outpatient lab. I honestly loved the challenge of inpatient phlebotomy as well as being able to get up an move around the hospital all the time. 

Retrospectively, I learned so much more than venipuncture while making phlebotomy rounds in the hospital. It was a great preface to PA school--especially the inpatient work. You get exposed to more medicine than you realize on the job, and I remember many lightbulbs going off during my bookwork year of PA school, due to my experiences as an inpatient phlebotomist. This job was a great gateway to other healthcare jobs--I've seen many employees here go on to be nurses, doctors and PAs. If that's what you're looking for or you need to gain some phlebotomy experience, this is the place.

The only reason Job Security is high is because people keep leaving in droves.  This is the core lab in Hammond, not one of the hospitals.  People think that they are hiring into a reference lab but, in the desire to make as much money as possible, the upper management continually makes special deals with individual doctor's offices to put their work ahead of everyone else's.  There are over 30 hospitals and up to 2,000 doctors' offices utilizing this lab.  While most hospital systems that operate Urgent Cares keep techs on site, Alverno has moved all of the testing (STAT testing) to the core lab.  So, on top of processing thousands of samples a day, we were expected to remember which doctor got special treatment and also to prioritize the STATs that came in from our Urgent Cares.  

I keep in touch with my former co-workers, because they really do care about the patients, but all sound beaten down.  Some have had serious health issues that many of us felt were aggravated by the treatment the staff received (literally examples: stroke, heart attacks, coming to work SAME DAY AS CHEMO TREATMENT).  And when things inevitably fail because a process was pushed through too fast or the turn around time was impossible - the employees take the blame and we were told that we just didn't have a positive attitude, or, better yet: "Don't you care that the doctors and patients get their results on time?"  We preferred that the results were correct.

When it comes to promotions, some people get the promotion they really deserve, buy many do not.  There is also a lot of hiring of friends and family in the core lab.  Even if those employees are not within the same department of each other, it puts into question as to whether they truly were the best applicant for the job.

Our site is under new management and they treat employees absolutely terrible and worthless. As employees we are told to leave if we do not like it there and we are talked down to on a regular basis during meetings. There is no level of respect or human decency anymore. People are leaving on a monthly basis and noone talks to each other with respect. The supervisor does nothing to help employees when extremely busy but stay in their office. I used to love my job here and working for Alverno until this past year evrything has changed. No matter what gets reported it's only getting worse. When private meetings happen you are getting literally yelled at, talked over or told you are not doing good enough. Very condescending director. Brings in former employees of his and shows favoritism only to them. Calls employees lazy. Since this management took over we lost two supervisors that were very knowledgeable and had been years with the company. Turnover rate is ridiculously high and they make people work short staffed constantly. I do not recommend this location to anyone looking for a job. 

Beware of the histology manager. If she doesn't like you she will try with all her might to get rid of you. I didn't do anything but correct an error that her dept made and I was termed a month later for an error that was not my own. I considered fighting this, to get my job back. I figured it will be another issue she finds due to her dislike for me and try to get me out again. I interviewed for a position in her dept and her interview went as follows. How do you like working here? I answered and that was the end of the interview. She had it in her mind that I was not coming to her dept. If you can steer clear of this one manager you will be fine. She definitely takes her home issues out on her staff. we all got to witness her tirades. I guess when you have been at a place for so long your behavior is overlooked and labeled as normal. Learn what you need to learn and get out of there.

You will have mandatory overtime and a lot of extra work, everywhere is short and struggling to hire. They have a lot of old analyzers and workflows that break down a lot and don't work for the volumes. Volumes keep increasing while staffing is decreasing.

There is a lot to learn, but the more you do the more extra leadership will give you with no returns. Promotions are generally political or based on seniority, not merit or work history based. There is little room to grow or move up if you don't know someone.

Leadership is poor and inactive. They aren't involved with the people on the floor and stay in the offices. They only come out to give work or reprimands, there is little recognition for good or hard work.


One of the worst run laboratories I have ever worked. Under staffed, overworked, and complete chaos on a daily basis. Lack of innovation. It’s still 1970 in Alverno Laboratories methodologies and procedures. The analyzers are all past their prime and are in continual need of repair. A large amount of menial work is put off on the tech when the work processes could be streamlined with efficiency through innovation.
There are few Medical Technologist working at this hospital. On the job training for anyone with interest is how this company saves money.
The pay does not equal the amount of work performed. The health benefits are unusable due to the fact they barely cover any procedure. Medical costs are basically all out of pocket.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working on your own, responsible for your work and attitude.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Minimal management involvement unless there is a problem.  Management automatically takes the patient’s side of their experience…dismissing their own employee’s side, even with a notice of complaint before patient contacts them.   In short, management believes patient’s concerns over employee’s handling of the matter.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mean girls who act like immature bullies and not mature adults. Even managers.

Culture is pretty much what’s best for the company prevails any employee job fulfillment.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Get patients in and out as fast as possible.

I worked for the organization for 2 years before they actually" promoted" me to a position in which I had a degree in. They ended up demoting me. I felt that it had to do with the fact that I went on maternity leave early due to having a premature baby. My supervisor had her favorites and it was very obvious. She could be very rude at times and would talk to certain employees as if they were children. This was one thing that I did not approve of. The lab director was also a backstabber, she would smile in your face while plotting against you. There were many times in whichever certain employees were treated differently than others. They tend to show favoritism towards the employees they like. If I knew then what I know now I would have never worked for this type or organization.

The Sister's of St.Francis once a Catholic organization with a goal of helping the sick and the poor is like all other Greedy Cheap Catholic managed hospitals and laboratories. They treat you  as though your not a professional and they pay you as little as they can and work you like a dog. I know people who have left the job went home ,sat on the couch and died from being worked so hard.  The retirement and health benefits are better in education.  Working for this organization is like being in a classroom with a crazy Catholic nun and you will find them managing HR,lab, and administration beware of the pit falls of laboratory work. I would not let my dog work for this company as a watch dog.

No consistency or communication.  They say one thing, yet do another. They do not follow policy for everyone. Scheduling is insane, and you never work what you are supposed to work because they are always changing the schedule at the very last minute. Their idea of training is to crash course you, you take notes and then they throw you to the dogs, and never reward employees for good performance, yet are quick to write employees up. They change rules almost daily and refuse time off for some while others can leave whenever they want with no reprimand. Management will not help if short staffed and will not communicate anything between shifts and leave you to guess what you are supposed to do. They don't answer their phones on their time off but expect you to answer yours and know your job and do it without error. 


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Phlebotomist 6 salaries reported	$19.49 per hour
Medical technologist 1 salary reported	$49,000 per year
Mlt 1 salary reported	$49,000 per year
Laboratory supervisor 2 salaries reported	$36.47 per hour
Hospital service technician 2 salaries reported	$30.41 per hour

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