maintenance person

research assistant

graduate researcher

graduate assistant

assistant professor

Saint Louis University

I took the job because I was so impressed during the interview process. I was led to believe the University as a whole, and my department in particular, were healthy, upstanding, progressive, innovative, well organized, and integrated into the University community. Within months of starting, I began to realize none of these things were true. I realized that the very basic quality of care and ethics were not present, leaving the department, University, and individuals working in the department open to lawsuits and other liabilities. Although the staff repeatedly addressed these issues with direct supervisors and others up the chain of command, nothing was done to address egregious problems. When we eventually sat down to talk, we were given a lecture by administrators and told that we were free to leave if we did not like it. 

There were many, many problems within the department, all centered around the awful leadership, who were abusive, inept, and unqualified to lead. These terms are not enhanced for the dramatic effect of this review - I mean them literally. Even basic communication skills were missing in day to day operations leading to immense frustration, confusion, ambiguity, and no continuity from day to day and situation to situation. Decisions that were made were not only frequently unethical, but lacked basic common sense in how to run an organization. 

My coworkers were wonderful, dedicated, and committed, but left one by one due to the above and the administration's unwillingness, inability, or exceptional lethargy in addressing the issues. The result was the loss of many qualified, wonderful professionals over a very short period of time. 

In my tenure, I do not understand how SLU has earned the reputation it has in the Saint Louis community. I am not sure why anyone would voluntarily work or stay working there.

If you're a hard worker and an honest person, please know that this workplace culture will be very frustrating for you. Due to budget constraints, SLUCare is currently retaining toxic, lazy employees because if they let the employee go there is no money allowed towards a replacement. I believe you could darn near kill a patient and get away with it. Laziness, rudeness to doctors and patients, and general ignorance are tolerated because if they fired everyone they should, they would have barely any staff. They put multiple employees worth of tasks onto a single person, regularly. There are no rewards for doing a good job and there are no punishments for performing extremely poorly. If you don't mind being treated the same whether you're a terrible employee or an asset to the clinic, then it's okay. 

Despite repeated warnings about coworkers not following dress codes, providing terrible customer service (including flat-out yelling at patient family members in a posture more on par with an argument taking place in a parking lot), and repeated call-outs, colleagues are treated with kid gloves. No punishments. Just daily "warnings" and empty threats. 

Oh - and don't fall for their "free tuition at SLU" trap. Many of their classes are only offered during your work hours, so the benefit is essentially a lie. Useless.

Worst experience of my life, I would never work at SLU again. Could not get out of there fast enough. unaccommodating when needed to take the day off especially when you have the hours to request off. The managers do not try to build a healthy work relationship with you only concerned about themselves and their pick of favorite employees. Very unorganized will give you the run around! Had a situation with one of the ladies there, first few months of being trained on the job were torment!! I was new and the assistant supervisor did not like to be asked questions about the training process, she was a adult bully and extremely rude. Complained to the supervisor, the supervisor spoke with her assistant supervisor (the trainer) but her attitude only became worse and more blatant. I was constantly on the defense, having to stand up for myself in a professional matter but it was terrible experience that made it hard to learn and retain. Apparently from a lot of the other ladies they had experienced the same ordeal with the assist supervisor being rude in the training process.She was complained on but the actual supervisor would only speak to the assist supervisor and not the head supervisor to actually solve the problem. Again worst experience i will never apply for another position again, very disappointing I thought a lil more of  SLU. Felt very taken for granted.

I worked in every teaching lab and several research labs during my time at SLU for both research and academic purposes.  I thought that students and faculty were all very driven and passionate while also being very diverse in personalities and humble beginnings.  The jobs I took ranged from grading to tutoring and from basic shotgun divergent synthesis on microgram products to innovation of a system capable of both separating while detecting product purity, a system inspired by analytical chemistry techniques used in lab - so to speak.

Overall, the vast wealth of short term and long term jobs at SLU enabled me to experience all of the fields of chemistry.  The faculty was accommodating to both personal issues as well as departmental priorities; at one point in time, I had 5 bosses ask for 5 long term projects. Each member of the staff was more than willing to wait their turn for me to get the job done right.  Organic and biochemistry were the two fields that I gained the most from, while analytical allowed me to fine tune quantitative techniques not typically used in my research.

The best part of the job had to have been the people, hands down.
The worst part of the job was the low or no pay for the high degree of diverse projects as an undergraduate.

I have enjoyed my 18 years working at Saint Louis University. I worked with a few different areas moving up to where I am now in Vascular Surgery.  My typical work day is working with the hospital personnel scheduling tests and surgeries, including the nurses and doctors in my office and the persons in the scheduling and OR areas that are necessary for scheduling the needed procedures.  I work with the patients contacting them of their appointments and details of such.  When applicable, I contact insurance companies to precertify the upcoming appointments including predetermination of services requiring medical necessity documentation. This involves a more in depth process of knowing the criteria of each insurance company and understanding that different policies have different requirements. 

The work environment is pleasant. We have a good group that work well together. I have been blessed to have coworkers and manager that have supported me through some difficult times. 

The management beyond my immediate boss are adequate. There are times that I feel that they could have been better versed on the daily work requirements before enforcing changes. But for the most part they do there jobs well. 

My favorite part of my job is the people I work with. I have made good friends.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It's not a university focused on the numbers game.  The university really do care about its students and tries to do its best to be sure the students know their well being is important.  So with that in mind, you feel as if you're working with a higher sense of purpose.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Because of the lower than average pay and budget cuts in recent years, you're more than likely handling a higher workload with a smaller staff, on a salary that challenges you to live within your means.  Most of those who work here for a number of years do so because of their belief in the university's drive to help its students have an enriching and enlightening college experience as well as improving the lives of those in the surrounding community.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mostly positive, although there is a small bit of strife between a few employees.  And quite  a few times, you wonder at the thought process of higher ups who make decisions that can seem a bit too stringent or unnecessary.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
It varies.  Some days it can be a bit busy.  Other days it can be quiet which allow opportunities to work on or finish up projects.  There is always something interesting happening on campus even if it is not happening within your department.

Custodial position. The benefits offered are awesome BUT you are paying for them in some way. You'll get free health insurance IF you go through a vitality check (kind of like an annual check-up). They have SEVERAL parking garages and lots but they make you pay to park! My position was forced to be in a union about 3-4yrs ago but we dont even know who our union is because we never see them! Oh! But they make sure to take union dues out of your check. They will issue citations for your vehicle being parked in the wrong lot OR after a certain time. Move-in day comes and they utilize the closest lot (which happens to be the most expensive one we pay for) and make us park elsewhere. If you park in this lot, your car will be TOWED. No prorations or anything. Crazy, right? Management? Non-existent. I dont even know why they have that position in this company. The more they make, the less they feel they should do. They try to throw all of their work off on the non-management people and wonder why we're disgruntled employees. (Most) student dont respect us and even look at us like we're beneath them because of our job title. Not the Jesuit way at all! Very high turnover rate. For them to be a multi-million dollar company, they are extremely unorganized. To be honest, I dont think they care about any of us; students or workers alike. They're all about that all mighty dollar

I loved working at Saint Louis University.  There were a few political issues which seem to be a constant part of life in an academic environment.  
I enjoyed my job in Gastroenterology and Hepatology Clinical Research.  The work we did with sponsored clinical research projects kept our unit on the cutting edge of the latest treatment and eventual cure for Hepatitis C.  I was also fortunate to work with physicians on their own clinical research projects, building databases, inputting the data, and retrieving the data through queries from the databases.  I could also assist in analyzing the data and generate reports and graphs for various publications by the physicians.
I felt that I was very well compensated for my efforts and that I had a modicum of job security.  
Working in academia is a culture that is unique from almost all other types of jobs.  There are educational opportunities everywhere within the confines of Saint Louis University.  It is also true that Saint Louis University has a strong historical background in the City of Saint Louis.

Many jobs in SLU Information Technology department were slashed in 2018, which increased the workloads for those that remained. 

No raises were given until a few extra coins were handed out in 2021, which was a slap in the face especially since IT had to bend over backwards during the pandemic to keep the place running. Pay is extremely low, monthly parking is at extortion rates, and many IT staff were relegated to working in basements, makeshift offices, and closets all with poor infrastructure and a lack of resources to do our jobs. Found myself purchasing an untold amount of adapters, hard drives, cables, etc., on my own dime to do the job successfully.  

IT Management was great until it wasn't. An upper management shift in IT was ushered in 2020 that decimated the department--and some of the best, brightest, helpful and knowledgeable all jumped ship because the horizon spelled rough seas ahead. When raises did come in the summer of 2021 after three years, they were so laughable that there was no reason to stick around. 

If wanting to work for a university IT department, I'd strongly looking at other institutions in the region because it's tough trying to make it on a SLU salary. You can find a similar corporate job easily paying $15-20k more for much less responsibilities and expectations.

A typical day at work involved meeting with other staff, faculty and students regarding completion of tasks that needed to be done.  Also included was working in finance and administration to accomplish goals of the department and university.  I learned many aspects of the department and university to complete the tasks that were assigned to me.  Occasionally I would have to teach skills and jobs to others who needed to learn the skills as well.  Management was overall very helpful in accomplishing the work to be completed. The workplace culture was cooperative and people worked well together.  The hardest part of the job was having multiple responsibilities to be accomplished, and it was challenging to meet all requirements according to the priorities established.  The most enjoyable part of the job was working with others to meet goals set to be accomplished.  This was very rewarding, especially seeing graduate students being hired into great positions when they left our university.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance person 6 salaries reported	$28.95 per hour
Research assistant 1 salary reported	$38,055 per year
Graduate researcher 3 salaries reported	$29,000 per year
Graduate assistant 8 salaries reported	$24,563 per year
Assistant professor 10 salaries reported	$88,080 per year

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