surgical technician

phlebotomist

family support specialist

distribution manager

referral coordinator

ConnectLife

I first want to say that this job has been one of the best opportunities I have had in my career so far. I absolutely loved going to work and performing recoveries, knowing that the grueling hours and hard work that I was doing was truly making a difference for someone, somewhere. In the moment, when you are tired and your body hurts from the long hours and seemingly never-ending cases, you get to go home and rest well knowing that someone’s life will be better because of what you and your teammates were able to do. 

While working in the OR and performing recoveries is amazing, that’s where the good part of this job ends. There are three branches of this company - Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany. Syracuse and Albany are both satellite offices but they cover very large services areas, with Syracuse covering all of Central NY and Albany covering Eastern NY and parts of Vermont. While these offices are a huge, integral part of what makes this company successful, they are treated like the unwanted step children of the company in the eyes of the Buffalo staff. The equipment in the Syracuse office is outdated and broken, often times being held together with zip ties and tape in order to make things work - jeopardizing the safely of technicians and the integrity of the tissues being recovered. And post-recovery metric data is sent out with direct comparasions between the branches, disregarding the advantages that Buffalo technicians have over the other locations, and staff are left to answer why they aren’t performing as well as they “should.” 

Advancement is pretty much non-existent for the Syracuse and Albany offices. Additional positions that would lead to any upward movement are solely offered to employees in Buffalo. No matter how hard you work or the dedication you bring to your role, you won’t be rewarded with promotions or raises. In fact you will most likely be “rewarded” with having your full time status revoked, along with your health insurance and benefits in the name of “equitable pay for all recovery staff members.” While equitable pay for recovery staff seems to be a major concern for upper management, what doesn’t seem to be a concern is the fact that many ConnectLife executives make a $250k+ annual salary while some recovery technicians that procure the tissues that make this a sustainable company have to resort to filing for food stamps to pay for groceries. Additionally, concerns and complaints regarding the inequalities of the satellite offices aren’t addressed and a culture of secrecy pervades the workplace at all times with regards to executive management in Buffalo. 

The job does pays well, but only if you are willing to give 24/7 availability at all times. You are only paid when you work but you are expected to be on call for 12 hour shift - with no compensation if you aren’t called in. It is possible to go two weeks without working due to changes that have been made and an unwillingness of the management to listen to staff suggestions on how to fix these issues. The mission of this company is great but the management needs to start listening and respecting their employees in order to fulfill that mission to the fullest.

I worked for Connect Life as a Tissue Recovery technician for 6 months when I first got out of college. Coming out of school with basically no work experience (besides playing characters at kid's birthday parties and assisting my dad with his private practice), Connect Life gave me an opportunity to develop experience within the medical field. As I had just gotten my Bachelor's in Health Sciences I spent 4 years learning everything I could about the human body. Therefore, it made a lot of sense to take this job as I could apply what I learned in school, and learn more in depth about body tissues. For that reason I found this job incredibly interesting and it was extremely rewarding to know you could be assisting in some way to improve or even save someone's life. Despite that, the lack of pay, far travel distances, irregular hours, and company corruption, made it apparent this was not going to be a long term job. As it was per-diem you only got paid to do the case itself and they did not compensate at all for travel or meals on the road. Therefore you would get the same pay for performing a case whether it was close to your office location or 4 hours away. Because of this the number of cases you performed determined the amount of your paycheck. Therefore paychecks fluctuated  greatly and you could not make a sustainable wage at this job. In addition, the irregular hours (on call from 7am-7pm or 7pm-7am) made it impossible to have a work life balance. Not to mention you did not get paid for all the hours you were on call. If you didn't get called in for that shift you were not getting paid. Even though I was able to tell my supervisor a month in advance if I was not available a certain day or needed not to be on schedule on a certain day many times this would be overlooked and you may be called in on a day off you requested. Not to mention waking up in the middle of the night to do your job at a moment's notice made for bad sleeping habits and irregular meals both of which made it difficult to complete your job efficiently. Despite all this, I would suggest this job to those going to medical school or pursuing careers in the medical field as it does greatly enhance and support your knowledge in this area. Just as long as you pursue it as a temporary role in order to support your next career . 

The position is in a call center environment, you will have a headset and you are taking calls all shift. You will input patient information from mostly nurses but some doctors, most of who think this process is a waste of their time and some don't mind expressing that to you. Some are downright nasty about it. You will get two weeks of training but this is a job you can't learn sitting in a classroom. It will get frustrating getting told one thing by one person then getting told something different by another. It will get frustrating getting told the department has medical records access to certain hospitals, then being told by someone that access is unavailable. Having to fight with hospital staff to get the information needed and then being told calls are taking too long. 

Co-workers will help each other but beware the same co-worker helping you out today will be the same one talking about your job performance the next day. 
Schedules are not steady, you can be scheduled on different days each week. However, you can ask management for modifications or ask a co-worker to switch with you. 
PTO and sick time is slow to grow at the beginning
Staffing issues plague the night shift. One day you can have too many people scheduled and the next night it's not enough people for the number of calls that come in. Most people only last two years here before moving on.
If you can survive the three months, you are then promoted to a family caller position or a medical records screener. Those are your only two choices outside of trying to find a position in a different department.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay, admittedly, is decent. Especially if you're a younger person and early in your career. The schedule means you'll almost always see overtime in your paycheck. You'll also get to work alongside some pretty cool coworkers. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
You will have a very poor work/life balance. Management does not value the employees,  and it has become less about people and the mission than it has about driving revenue, which is horrible when you're interacting with people at the worst moment of their lives.   Donor Services used to be an office dedicated to helping facilitate the mission. It has since just become another call center.   Opportunities for advancement are also quite limited.  If you're looking for a place to build a career, this isn't it. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
As stated beforehand, the people you'll work with directly are great, but management does not value the employees, and they do not value the mission despite what they say.  You'll always have to watch your back around management from shift supervisor level on up.  There's a lot of back shooting going on, to turn a phrase. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Shifts are 12 hours long, call volume can be very high at times and there are never enough people to cover at any given time.  And management will go as long as they possibly can before hiring new people, which adds to the stress level.

The pros: 
- the benefits are decent but not the best out there
- there are a few times where HR has employee events but unfortunately they are all focused on work so you're attending an event for HR functions to the point where it's a check on your list for attending.

the cons:
- everything else
- the pay is nowhere near the industry average. 
- You definitely need to inquire about your pay range because it's never disclosed in full for the position when you apply so you might think you're doing well but you are really on the bottom quarter end of the scale. 
- Titles are the most useless thing around the company and change all the time but your duties never do. You are always getting multiple job duties added to your job, even ones that have NOTHING to do with your job or department. 
- The DRC (call center) basically runs the ship. 
- Communication is absolutely nonexistent and when it comes to management making decisions, you are always getting the rug pulled out from under your feet and are terminated as a result of it.
- no exit interviews are ever given for employees who give notice upon leaving this toxic environment
- use up your PTO or lose it. You definitely don't want to sit on it if you're planning to leave


If you want to work for a company that does not care much for mental health, shames supervisors into no using their PTO, and some higher ups you directly work with will say outright lies about you behind your back? ConnectLife is for you! 

The company used to be very mission and family oriented. It slowly moved over to trying to get as many donors as possible and money hungry due to the higher ups in the company changing policies. Changes occur out of no where without letting the staff know, such as PTO changes, family caller changes, and more. Not even and email saying these things will be taking place or being implemented in a short time frame just that day. Certain higher ups, take no responsibility for their actions when they do not communicate information to the staff, and blatantly say they will “send out a reminder” when the information was never shared. 

The people you work with on your shift and you direct supervisors are AMAZING! I will say that though. 

Overall the company went downhill drastically and they will be lucky to keep employees. 

For starters, the work is very unique and interesting. There are always learning opportunities, and the work is wholesome. The work schedule is 12 hour shifts, getting paid only per recovery, but you often get out hours late (not unusual to get out 12 hours late) with NO additional compensation. You also can go a handful of shifts without performing recoveries, meaning you are not getting paid for those on call hours. This company is made up of three locations, Albany (Halfmoon) often being left on the back burner and getting the grunt of the work. The job and the people are great, just a shame the company truly doesn’t care about employees. Rules and policies are often changed so staff is paid LESS. Also their insurance is based in Western NY so no near by doctors take the insurance provided. 

While our job is very demanding of our time and emotions the rewards go beyond anything that can be described. The interactions with families at the end of life, making the most difficult decisions has given me a new perspective on life. These families are giving in their worst time and trusting us to fulfil their wishes by saving lives. Upper management/administrations understands the demands of this position having worked on the front line themselves. They are understanding and supportive when you are feeling overwhelmed. There are outlets for counseling through EAP and other agencies to help cope with the gravity of this work. Co-workers are supportive, helpful and engaging with a strong drive to support the mission of ConnectLife

Wonderful organization to work for with an impactful mission. The organization is smaller than others so you really get to know everyone you are working with. The chain of command is shorter than most places so your ideas and feedback are heard more easily. Senior leadership have introduced quarterly virtual staff meetings where they provide inside knowledge of the industry, year to date donation numbers and frequently have donor's  and their family members tell their stories. 

Very rewarding career and every position directly contributes to the life-saving mission. Communication between departments can be a little challenging at times as some departments work odd schedules.  Good PTO policy and benefits. Company also contributes 3% to your 401k after one year. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Everything!
Love it here, great team, everyone is very helpful. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
When my Strive card balance is lower than what I want for lunch. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It’s serious work and vital to the community and hospitals we serve, everyone has a mutual commitment to that so there’s this sort of seriously relaxed sense while working here. Excellent management at every level. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There are many departments here and where I’m at it’s different every day which I enjoy.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Surgical technician 7 salaries reported	$45.78 per hour
Phlebotomist 5 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour
Family support specialist 3 salaries reported	$26.00 per hour
Distribution manager 6 salaries reported	$17.42 per hour
Referral coordinator 2 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour

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