phlebotomist

courier

histology technician

laboratory assistant

customer service representative

PathGroup

I have worked in different cytogenetics labs in USA and Pathgroup is by far the worst experience I ever had. This is the only lab I will not ever consider of going back. I rather change career or move to another state and do something else if Pathgroup is my only choice. The job is too depressing, there is not teamwork, not flexibility, there is mandatory overtime all the time, and they write you up for anything. You are always in constant state of fear, and protecting yourself which creates unnecessary stress and depression therefore low productivity. By the time you get home you are mentally drained. The weekends are not even long enough to recharge. 
Management mantra is "everyone is replaceable" and that explain why they are always hiring. They are always updating program, software, non-stop validation, implementing evaluation program....and nothing improve! Too much input, energy and time and the output (final cases reported) is so low. They are always asking for overtime, especially during the holidays. I chose to work in healthcare and I know we MUST work during the holidays and I have done it for more than 10 yrs but in Pathgroup it was too depressing, they don't celebrate anything. They just give you a meal in Thanksgiving and an email to work overtime during the holiday. Overtime is needed not because of the volume, but due to Pathgroup system. It's a bottleneck everywhere! People get frustrated and they leave because there is not incentive to stay. Benefits are horrible, culture is sad and depressing, salary is lower compared to other cytogenetic labs in the area. Pathgroup is the perfect place to start your lab experience, once people get the experience they leave.  Something positive about Pathgroup is the cytogenetic directors. Pathgroup hired the best cytogenetics directors, they are so knowledgeable, professional and they have so much respect for you as a tech and as a person. If the directors have more input as a management maybe less people will stay longer in Pathgroup. 
We all leave Pathgroup with Impostor syndrome :(

I worked in the Cytology Department and found the actual work itself to be engaging and worthwhile. Unfortunately, the workplace culture made it difficult to have a positive experience.

The training process lacked consistency and follow-through. Expectations were often unclear, feedback was not always constructive, and opportunities for growth did not align with what was communicated during hiring. Employees could remain in the same stage of training for extended periods without clear guidance on how to progress.

I also experienced the environment as unprofessional and clique-oriented. There were frequent personal conversations during work hours, and mistakes were sometimes addressed in ways that felt discouraging rather than educational. Rather than fostering teamwork and support, there was often a lack of collaboration when employees were struggling or needed assistance.

Management appeared aware of concerns regarding communication and workplace culture, but I did not observe meaningful efforts to address them. As a result, the department often felt stressful and anxiety-inducing rather than supportive of employee development.

From a workload perspective, the work itself was reasonable and provided valuable experience. However, workflow inefficiencies and uneven accountability among staff sometimes resulted in employees staying later than necessary.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the technical aspects of the job, but the workplace culture overshadowed that experience. I cannot recommend this department to prospective employees unless significant improvements are made to training, professionalism, communication, and team dynamics.

The coworkers were great. The last manager I had was super kind and good to me. However big management just didn’t care. You’re expected to make a lot of supply deliveries too. Also the cars are tiny. They are too cheap to buy SUVs like Quest and Labcorp so you often have boxes piled up and can’t see anything. Labcorp lets you use have the company SUVs for personal use as well. Pathgroup should offer the same. 
Also the environment and atmosphere there is drab, dull, tense and micro-managed.
Outside of the courier department, a lot of drama goes on. It’s like high school and it’s sad how bad certain managers would treat their employees. One manager went as far to be cruel to one great employee because they had such a great work ethic and was super intelligent....they had better work ethic and personality than the manager’s. So, this was considered “threatening” to them and they made the employee’s life a living nightmare until they cried every day and was forced to quit. The doctors there have no say in how everyone is treated and they felt pretty helpless. The bad managers run their departments in a way so that they don’t have to do much of the work and if something goes wrong, they will force an employee to sign a write-up even if they didn’t do anything wrong so that the manager doesn’t get blamed. How do they threaten them? By threatening to write-up every one of your coworkers if you don’t do it. They were gaslighted. Most of the middle managers are unhappy and get burned out or move on to another lab. Also if you’re a phlebotomist, you either got it good or bad depending on your location and manager. I had some phlebotomists hate their job and some that loved it. 

Typical day at work is getting my slides early in the morning.  PathGroup does have some good systems. These include IT, couriers and histology/immunohistochemistry. No issues with getting recuts or stains in a timely manner. There is definitely plenty of work at PathGroup. 

That is about all that is good about PathGroup. Involvement by Nashville is non-existent. PathGroup operates as a franchise, not a corporation. Your experience will highly depend on your franchise owner and hospital you are at. From my experience the relationships of the “physician leaders” is one of distrust, no communication and avoidance. There is no “we” at PathGroup. There is no team. There is no corporate culture. It is just you, yourself and I. No one has anyone’s back. There isn’t a back stabbing environment. It is an environment of indifference. You wonder who is in charge? Who is the boss? Who owns this place?

If you are a pathologist with 10 plus years of experience, have been around and are offered a leadership position it is a great opportunity. If you are a new pathologist do not even consider any offers from this “company.”  Everything online posted about PathGroup is indeed true. Honestly any pathologist who is above average does not belong at PathGroup. 

If you have a high level of integrity and dedication to patient care PathGroup is not for you. You have to be the type of person “to look the other way” when it comes to what you will see at PathGroup. As an internationally well known pathologist said best, PathGroup is good for small hospitals.”  Think deep about that before becoming a pathologist with PathGroup. 

the job itself is simple. It’s the management that makes a simple job difficult. You’re required to do a bunch of trainings that don’t apply to your actual job. Management comes up with a bunch of irrelevant things that you’re required to do. it seems like they tack on extra things every week. They are quick to write you up over small things when you are on the road. There is no support if something happens with your vehicle. You are pretty much responsible for yourself. Management acts like they care about you personally, but at the end of the day, only care about things related to the business. If you get hurt on the job, they pretend to care about you but they only care about when you’re coming back. You are responsible with keeping up with the maintenance of your car. if you already have a lot of stops, they will add even more and won’t care about it overwhelming you. if you make a mistake at any point, you will have a bunch of managers calling your phone trying to investigate what happened. The job itself is very repetitive. It can get boring going to the same stops every day. If you’re a person that hates routine, you probably won’t like this job.  also the pay is not that great and you don’t get raises that often. When you do get raises, they are basically pennies.  also, some of the management is not very patient with new hires. If you come in too late, you’ll get bad attitudes from people. there’s also a lot of gossip overall. 

To be short I started working here after I got out of the navy and as soon as I started at my PSC I was the only one there most of the days. The patient load was massive, almost too much for one person to handle on some days and the nurses and patients were very rude to deal with at times at that location. This company is very business oriented and does not really cater in anyway shape or form to the employee, it only takes  one compliant from either a patient or nurse to get you removed from that location and moved to another. The clients that they serve can be somewhat unprofessional at times and if you do not part take in their unprofessional activities the client can have you removed without even a moments notice and without a good reason. Another thing is they give the patients 100% control, even if you do your job perfectly by the book if the patient complains once about anything you will be removed from your location and sometimes even terminated. So if you have a rude patient that’s having a bad day and they complain about you in anyway shape or form that goes against you and you will receive a write up. This business is not employee focused and is more business focus and does little to represent the employee and their performance and depending on the manager will not stand up for you or take up for you. 

Receives specimens from an “eight doctor and two CRNP” client facility and verifies that specimens match patient demographics; performs data entry of patient demographics, clinical information, specimen source, and test(s) orders from client specimen requisitions into PathConnect company software and accession/label specimen containers as needed; check test(s) ordered for medical necessity requirements and ABN if applicable; documents any orders which are lacking appropriate documentation to Physician staff and PathGroup supervisor; keep the Client’s nurses and MAs up-to-date on any compliance issues or test changes; order and stock supplies for all exam rooms and lab areas; answers departmental phone calls and assists clients as needed with add-ons, questions, and compliance concerns; exercises all laboratory safety precautions and adheres to lab procedures as stated in procedure manuals; contributes to positive work climate and to the team effort of client department and PathGroup; maintains Client Services telephone/email logs; records daily refrigerator and freezer temperature logs; records all critical or STAT results; maintain and cleans daily centrifuge; abides by all regulatory, company, and departmental regulations, policies and procedures, including the Corporate Compliance Program.

What is the best part of working at the company?
They will absolutely utilize your skill set

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There was an incredible amount of responsibility placed on an underpaid staff. I've performed this type of work for many companies over decades and I've never had to deal with this level of micromanaging yet lack of leadership.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
As long as you take on extra duties without expecting extra pay, work overtime unquestionably at the drop of a hat, and adhere to the rigorous standards put in place regardless of the number of hurdles placed in front of you on a daily basis, you'll go far.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Working nights, you're out of the loop on major pivots in policy. There is no such thing as the word "no" when it comes to the client. Inevitably the last people to touch a document before it goes to signature (the transcriptionists) are the ones held accountable for every error that has been inserted since they did not comb through every detail prior to sending it. The compensation absolutely does not match the accountability and stress level that is inherent to this job.

PathGroup used to be "Physician Centered & Patient Focused" when I first joined the group, but it has been more and more disappointing as time goes on.  Instead of focusing on work quality for better patient care, the senior management is concentrating on revenue and profit, even at the expense of patient care.  Also, the pay for Pathologists was above average  in 2012, but slipped to below average now as my raise has been minimal over the years and it is better to just find another job than negotiating salary with them.  Also, their molecular department is outdated in their reporting system, as the company is too cheap to use a commercial artificial intelligence software, but instead still do manual curation for all genomic variants without proper classification/annotation service.  Even worse, I also overheard some conversations that they cut corners in reporting by only analyzing a small subset (e.g., 10-15% of total genes) of  certain gene panels without properly inform their clients just to gain business.  If you are a conscientious and ethical scientist or pathologist, please be aware of those shady business operations before making a decision to work there!

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working for this company is the people. I have worked in a variety of positions during my career journey, and I can honestly say this is the best atmosphere I have ever worked in. From my coworkers to the pathologist, everyone had a teamwork spirit, and we handled situations before they became major issues for the company. I highly recommend this company, because it is a nice place to work and there is always an opportunity for growth.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful issue I encountered during my time here was the transition to the new facility and new systems. Once we established a method, the workflow was much smoother and more manageable.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The culture is amazing. This is a team environment in which effective communication is key to success. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day for a grosser involved taking one tray at a time (shaves, punches, and excisions), then grossing the specimens (scanning, verifying, measuring, cutting, and preparing them for processing). After having enough specimens, we would load them on the processor.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Phlebotomist 25 salaries reported	$19.58 per hour
Courier 2 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Histology technician 14 salaries reported	$30.30 per hour
Laboratory assistant 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour
Customer service representative 1 salary reported	$24.00 per hour

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