animal technician

support technician

laboratory technician

service technician

specialist

Taconic Biosciences

I worked at Taconic for about 2 years, and it was my first professional job. At first I enjoyed my time there. My coworkers were friendly, I finally had benefits and I was making more money than I ever had. Unfortunately, politics and favoritism reared its ugly head, and it was my first time being exposed to it in my professional life. I had applied for the same position (literally the next step up from entry level) multiple times, and was denied each time. The reasons given to me were very vague and unsatisfactory. I was passed over for individuals who had less experience, mostly because they played nice and appeased to management (even though I had a very high education level and did everything that was asked of me and then some). In addition, there were individuals above me who did nothing to justify their higher salaries (whether it was their lack of work ethic and/or quality of work), making the job even more demoralizing. 

The work itself is not hard, but after a while it becomes draining and monotonous. Animal care at this level is very taxing mentally and emotionally. You often have to re-clean cages because of faulty/cheap tools the company provides. Even when you have paid holidays, it doesn't feel like you really have time off. Since you are working with live animals (which need to be tended to 24/7), your work has to be made up by you (normally on your day off) or someone else. This creates a lot of stress and fatigue. 

As far as room for growth, unless you have a Master's degree in Science or some related field, don't bother. They are very picky when it comes to who they promote, and more often than not they choose people they either like or individuals whose promotion/hiring make the company look "progressive" solely because of their identity. If you take a job here, my advice would be to get some experience and then move on because it is a wasteland devoid of growth and opportunities. 

Pros -
Pay is nice for what we do.
Monday through Friday schedule with an occasional Saturday or Sunday.
You don't work a full day on Friday (4 hours).
Overtime is available if you want it.
Work load is good. You are expected to clean between 650 to 700 boxes a week depending on which department you work in (I know that it sounds like a lot, but its really not when you look at it). 
They start new employees out slow. New hires normally start with holding (animals that are available for sale) and gradually move up to breeder colonies (animals that are bred to produce your holding) and so on.
Pre-covid we had 2 company parties (summer and winter). I'm assuming that once this over they will continue that again.
401k
Paid vacation and sick days
You start earning PTO from day one and will be able to start using it after 90 days.
Pay increases annually

Cons - 
There is no room to move up in the company (animal care tech to supervisor).
Insurance isn't that great. It's overpriced and doesn't cover much. You have to find someone in their network or they don't cover anything. Our insurance company is out of New York so health care companies here in Indiana don't know much about it. You always have to explain when you go in.
Higher ups seem to only care about the money. They are constantly cramming animals into our barriers with little to no room for expansion. 
No snow days. Someone always has to be here to check on the animals. If the roads are bad, you are still expected to be here, but supervisors are normally lenient on time. As long as you get to work safely, it is okay that you are late (only in bad weather). 

I began working in 2017 and things were smooth until the corporate headquarters moved in December of that year, which may or may not have been a coincidence. Management was often absent (to be fair, they were being sent to Europe frequently) and did not inspire confidence when it came to a conflict resolution. A malignant animosity between the two offices (Albany and Germantown) emerged and was pervasive, leading to exceptionally low morale and distrust amongst coworkers. I got the impression that management was biding its time until... something happened, as if there was some end in sight that they simply needed to ride out. Equipment was not suitable for the demands of the job, and was frequently broken with unacceptably long lead times for repair or replacement. Employees who worked the late shift were locked in, quite literally minutes before clock-out time by security, forcing them to have to exit the campus via a poorly-lit, and generally inconvenient exit at the other end. The cleaning shift began (with vacuums roaring) while Customer Service continued to receive calls, and this did not appear to evoke any particular concern for professional appearances. I sincerely hope whatever changes occur in 2019 and beyond will be positive.

In the role, you are able to work remotely, which was a huge benefit. The workload is extremely heavy, and very time consuming. Will often work more than 40 hours in a given week, and since salaried, gives no overtime. When compared to the market rate, this position is underpaid. It does have a corporate feel to it now, and instead of addressing why employees were not using their PTO (no backups, felt they could not), they simply cut how much you were allowed to save, showing a disconnect from the needs of the employees. Most managers in time here were great, supportive, and did their best. When there is a bad one, they do a poor job of removing them from the role. While it was not the case in this position, in other positions here, it often felt people were out to get you for any mistakes. This is not common place, but occurs enough in certain departments to be a concern. Overall, it can be a good job but be prepared for a heavy work load, and once you reach PM, there is not much further advancement.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Coworkers are very helpful, have great starting pay, and flexible start times.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
the day is M-T 9.5 hours but on F -4 hours, standing all-day, rotating weekend work. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Fast-paced, animal-centered. There is always something going on each season building contests, teaching luncheons, blood drives, and health incentive contests.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
 as an ACT animal care tech -In at 5 am change into PPE. Empty containers fill water bottles. Check cages in the room you are working in to ensure there is enough food and water in them. You will either work with mice or rats. You will take the animals out of dirty cages and place them in clean give them the proper amount of food and water, document any abnormalities, and maybe do bloodwork that depends on your training.  You and your co-workers in the room will whip down walls, and sweep and mop floors each day.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Decent pay,  fair pto, start early and get out early

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Nepotism, idle chatter, being moved from place to place, lack of managerial support.  You're on your own until the %$= hits the fan.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I like what the company does but the environment is difficult. Maxxair respiratory helmets,  double gloves, air showers etc... the culture isn't anything to rave about either.  It pays well but you've definitely earned every bit of it.  It's not a peaceful environment. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Change your clothes,  get into helmets and gloves and pass through an air shower into the animal room. Spend day putting animals into clean cages from dirty,  some testing, computer entry, following SOPs without fail. Go out from animals and have lunch,  then go b in a do it all again.  It's physically challenging and mentally too.

Daily work was consistent and meaningful. Depending upon your position, it can be stressful at times. Often, you are supporting other departments and can be involved in process improvements. I was able to learn a lot through their online courses/classes to improve myself in my daily tasks. Depending on department, the managers are relatively good. Others... not so much. The workplace culture has changed from a family-owned business to corporate and does not always look out for its employees. The best part of the job was the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. The hardest part of the job was dealing with some of the international partners and the difference in their work cultures.

The management don’t car if it snows you have to be there’d no matter what the insurance sucks can’t  really move up in the company they favorable people training is not well and having time off does not count for anything you have to make it up on the weekends you get paid every other week don’t know how they get away with that they over crowd the barriers with more animals then they can fit manager could care less about work load or you are always pushed aside like they really don’t care they only care about the money and their own checks if they all pulled together the company would expand greatly if you work here just be careful and who you trust cause everyone is for them selves just remember if you work here good luck and don’t forget what I have said And you are looked down apon and the heath insurance cover nothing oh boy 

Taconic used to be a company that cared about its employees. No longer the case...you are a warm body to fill one of the many holes and treated as such. Massive turnover there. Management positions are offered to off the street employees instead of promoting from within. Job expectations become unreasonably unrealistic the better you are at your job. They will haul as much work at you as humanly possible the faster and better you are and rarely provided or even bothered to offer help. Appointments will go missed or have to be rescheduled because there's no coverage. Even if you take a day off, you are expected to stay later during the week or come in on a day off to finish. Cannot put enough emphasis on the intolerable amount of favoritism in this place. 

The Seattle site that just opened is a complete and total nightmare. Completely unorganized and unprofessional. Employees were working overtime every single week just to get cage changing done simply because they were refusing to hire more techs to lessen the load. Lost all facilities crew at one point so techs were having to take care of things that were not part of their job description while also being expected to finish their own workload by the end of the week. Unreasonable expectations were put on new hires as well. As a Team Coordinator, I was not only expected to attend multiple weekly meetings, help train new hires, and support my team, but also service an entire room by the end of the work week. 




Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Animal technician 15 salaries reported	$20.41 per hour
Support technician 6 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour
Laboratory technician 2 salaries reported	$23.77 per hour
Service technician 4 salaries reported	$19.64 per hour
Specialist 2 salaries reported	$75,000 per year

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