laboratory technician

laboratory assistant

entry level laboratory technician

courier driver

chemistry technician

Deibel Laboratories

The interview process was no sweat; it is nothing to be worried or nervous about. Management is usually quite kind and empathetic, though they rely too heavily on senior coworkers to learn about your daily work performance- rather than take the time to see for themselves. Music is allowed for all to hear, but expect copious repetition of pop music. Sample receiving and processing relied too much on paperwork rather than more modern approaches using computers only. Different "stations/areas" allow for one to avoid having to do the exact same thing every day; management creates the monthly schedule and assigns everyone to a station. Sometimes many more samples are brought in than average and when combined with 1 or 2 people calling-in sick, it will be a long and tedious day. Work is only over when all samples are processed/set-up; sometimes 5pm, sometimes 9pm. Teamwork can be lacking some days and everyone suffers from this. Many different tests and microbiological processes are learned; though sometimes repetitive, it is still very interesting and enjoyable for those interested in the work and the various methods by which to selectively grow a specific microorganism. Different media and petri dishes and incubators and other testing is really fun, and one learns A LOT in a short period of time; for some this is fascinating and is the foundation for future jobs; but for others, complaining about every single aspect is the norm.  Employees often feel underappreciated and this is no help for morale. Pay raises are not common during the first 1-2 years. Those who do not miss too many work days and those who get along with and converse with the team are typically less likely to experience stress and anxiety. Not particularly introvert-friendly. There are days when everyone is in a good mood and works efficiently- and these days are absolutely phenomenal for all involved. As long as work is being done, conversing and enjoying the work while listening to music is a likely occurrence; and good days like that are usually smooth and work is completed on-time. New friends are easy to make here, so long as one leaves their personal issues and complaints at the door before entering.

The main reason they include health insurance at this company is because that way you can afford a therapist because you'll need one to work here for more than your probationary period. This company has no redeeming qualities, and having worked at several labs I thought were bad, Deibel took the cake as the worst, by far. For example, after validating a method, a coworker with no analytical chemistry background decided to start playing around with the calibration curves, and used ones that gave wrong(high#'s) data during the validation for the customers, to get the data he(thought they) wanted, and then they wonder why no-one trust their data? 
As someone who now works for a company who could use Deibel to test our products, I would never in a million years encourage them to do so, the data is probably borderline worthless and will set your company back financially, and you don't want your reputation tied to this place.
A good analogy for this company would be the blind leading the blind, as management is usually not trained or qualified in any meaningful way beyond possibly sleeping their way to the top, but hey if you like sleeping your way to the top and are unqualified this company may be for you! 
A typical day at Deibel will include getting there on time, then four hours of listening to the same pop music(for some reason this is OK to blast on your phone, but don't use it as a phone!), oh and no "side conversations" with your coworkers, you will get yelled at for this, or written up, even if there's literally nothing to do you're expected to be an actor and pretend to be busy for days on end and not talk to anyone about anything besides work that doesn't exist. Next you'll goto lunch, where about halfway through management will find an excuse to find you and need something, and then get weird when you tell them you're at lunch. Then you'll go back to work, and keeping quiet and busy, one way or another, you'll slowly finish off your day before going home and developing a drinking problem, or use your health insurance and get a therapist because there's something wrong with you for working here or considering it, unless it's your first job, and even then I'd give it a year max.

This job is great if you want loads of overtime to pay your bills, but expect to have much less time for other obligations or hobbies. Work weeks are usually at least 55 hours for micro techs and can break 60. Some nights the techs only get to go home after midnight.

You can advance quickly here if you work hard and are motivated to teach yourself new skills. Training is incomplete and disorganized because the trainers are just other techs who have their own work to do, so you really need to be proactive in asking questions and getting other trained techs to teach you. If you want lab experience for grad school applications or better paying lab jobs, this is a good place to start. You can be hired without any lab experience and can get the microbiologist position in less than a year at this point due to the high turnover.

Corporate doesn't pay enough to be competitive, so the lab can't keep good workers or hire them in the first place. A college degree was previously required to get the job, but they dropped that requirement, which might have been fine if they had left any other standards in place. Some of the techs working here are almost unbelievably unsuited for employment. Some of them show up to work hours late or not at all, without even calling the lab, then spend the whole day on their phones or talking to their lab friends without doing much work. Unfortunately, since this lab has a shared work load and everyone goes home only when the work is done, anyone with a good or even average work ethic is left doing tons of extra work for their negligent coworkers. Expect to be exhausted and still working at 10 pm while the same people who came in late are either playing on their phones or just left early. With the difficulties in hiring, management in Madison can't do very much in terms of disciplinary action so this wildly unfair distribution of labor just continues.

Some of the people in the micro department are great coworkers, and it's easy to appreciate the ones who genuinely care about their work and pull their weight. There just needs to be better pay so that the lab can attract more of the good ones and lose some of the bad.

Every aspect of this job looking back makes me sick to my stomach. When you initially start management seems nice, but please don't let them fool you, they try and hide you from everything that is happening around you. They will tell you that there is a little bit of mandatory overtime, but in reality you will be working overtime EVERY DAY (12 hour days are frequent) because of the huge sample load. Overtime is never paid out correctly because they have the weirdest pay schedule, which is every 15 to 17 days it's not every two weeks like they say overtime does not add up correctly with this schedule ever. Everyone around you is exhausted mentally and physically, you will have to laugh at the pain to cope with the intense amount of stress that you are put under. Management makes everything worse they are constantly having secret conversations about you behind your back making things extremely uncomfortable and they never own up to any of their own mistakes. You would think that given the amount of work you receive on a daily basis that management would try and help you, but that's not the case they just avoid every aspect of responsibility and will leave you there until 10pm when they leave around 5pm and never show their faces on weekends. This is the most toxic environment you will ever experience that it makes you question your relationship with everyone around you. I strongly advise you to stay away from this company there is no point to work here the benefits are now terrible, they don't help with a retirement plan (401k), and the other competitors pay better anyway.  

Daily tasks involve processing food and environmental samples from clients, usually by PCR or plate counts. The work isn't too complex, and training is fairly quick. The hiring process was also quick - I was able to start almost immediately after the interview. 

Management tries their best to make employees happy. Managers are friendly and approachable, and give you a good rundown of the workflow for the day. Coworkers are great as well - most staff is on the younger side (mid twenties) so recent college graduates fit in nicely. 

The trouble with working at Deibel isn't about the laboratory side of things, but the corporate side. Corporate sells business to clients by any means necessary, meaning clients do whatever they want without regard for lab operations. This leads to wildly fluctuating workloads - some days you might not get a single sample, whereas others you might have to stay until midnight to finish processing everything. This leads to both burnout and boredom at the same time, which explains the high turnover rates. Work also comes in waves, meaning you might suddenly be working 60-hour weeks until new techs are hired (which takes forever).

If you don't mind an entirely unpredictable work schedule and lots of overtime, this job isn't half bad. Benefits are pretty good, job is simple, and pay is great for the qualifications/area. Just be mindful of yourself, and be prepared for unexpected workloads. 

The managers dont care for anyone else but themselves half the time. If you get told to lie to make the customer happy with the tests that is exactly what you better do or else it will be one thing after another you did wrong. The wait period for supplies and equipment needed to do your job is terrible considering everything that needs to be ordered is "forgotten" by manager so they have to rush it last minute. The employees are all around the same age so they all talk the same amount of crus about people. Very clique like in the lab and people WILL talk about you behind your back. I highly suggest NOBODY work here. Once in a while you get lunch bought but other than that nothing good really comes from the lab. And if someone messes up on a test they dont admit to it at all and then the whole crew gets blamed for the mistake and everyone has to sit and listen to nagging for over and hour about stuff they qere already nagged about. And on top of ALL that they give you more and more stuff to do without any mention if any type of raise at all. Even though in the beginning they say after a year how well you do your job they will. Then after the year review claim everybody is working to much overtime to even afford to give anyone a raise.

With this company you will have career opportunity if you are willing to learn and grow along with your hard work.
I have learned so many things in my years at this company and have been given opportunities for advancement along the way but that came with being willing to put myself out there and advocating for what I wanted! I had several managers during my career here, some were better than others, but you have to take into account that those individuals are learning too and managing others isn't an easy task. Communication has been the greatest tool I have utilized in my last 11 years, and I believe being open and honest about your career ambitions will drive your success. This company has made great strides in the last few years to make that communication much easier, there are several avenues to reach out to upper management and shared services. This company has also instituted a robust training program for both lab skills and leadership skills and has consistently been expanding continuous learning opportunities.


The work environment was extremely demanding and often felt unsustainable. Employees were routinely expected to handle heavy workloads under tight deadlines, with overtime becoming common. In my experience, the pay did not reflect the level of responsibility or time required, and communication issues—such as negative discussions about staff instead of constructive feedback—contributed to poor morale.

Management was a significant concern during my time there. Leadership often appeared unprepared to effectively oversee a microbiology lab, offering limited guidance while still imposing unrealistic expectations. Quality oversight felt inconsistent, which increased pressure on employees and raised concerns about the reliability of the work being produced.

Cost-cutting seemed to take priority over proper resources. The lab was frequently expected to deliver high-quality results while using limited or low-quality equipment, with requests for necessary tools denied due to budget constraints. Overall, this workplace places productivity and cost control ahead of employee support and operational integrity, making it a difficult environment for long-term employment.


This lab is really good at one thing and that is for those seeking lab experience. Other than that it severely lacks every where else. Management moves very slowly on getting things done. Raises and reviews are not given on-time. I've been at this job for awhile now making $15.50 and finally got a $2 raise. Unfortunately they increased the starting pay so I'm only making 50 cents more than a new hire. That's not right.. There isn't even an HR representative at the lab. Overtime is mandatory but they'll lie in the interviews saying you'll get a little overtime. That in hand makes it severely challenging to find a good balance between personal life and work. Especially since they require you to show up at the sametime unless you work past midnight. On top of that you are given two 5 minute breaks and a lunch that can be 30 minutes to an hour which you can take whenever you want. The environment is much like high-school and there is always gossip. With that being said, there is very high turnover rate and not a lot of people who enjoy working there including myself..

I would just start out by cautioning you not to accept any job offer from this company. Ill tell you some things that they wont make you aware of before you start. They won't tell you that the flexibility needed for potential overtime is an EVERYDAY thing. You're working 12 to 13 hours a day and the way the pay periods are set up, you barely see any overtime pay. They won't tell you that the competent employees they have left are all quitting and the ones left over are so burnt out that they call out often, leaving the place severely understaffed. But, Alas, do not fret, you will never be without work. Even though there aren't enough people to complete daily duties, the samples still flow in non stop. There is no positivity here. Management is no help. Stay away from this nightmare of a company. You can't move ahead at this place unless there's a crisis of staffing and they have no other choice. They won't tell you that they pay far less then other companies and right now, its not worth the risk. Things aren't looking to get any better, anytime soon. I will tell you that you'll hate it here. You'll cry at some point and reconsider your life choices on a daily basis. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Laboratory technician 140 salaries reported	$19.28 per hour
Laboratory assistant 13 salaries reported	$18.73 per hour
Entry level laboratory technician 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour
Courier driver 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour
Chemistry technician 42 salaries reported	$19.95 per hour

Working at Deibel Laboratories: Company Overview and Reviews

Deibel Laboratories

Deibel Laboratories Ratings

Popular jobs at Deibel Laboratories

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected