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• One of the worst workplaces I've ever had.
  
  I was hired as a laboratory analyst, and although the pay was relatively high ($16-17 per hour), for an analyst the pay was very low. Work was incredibly repetitive and boring, and besides knowledge of laboratory safety, I didn't need anything else from my education to this job. I could have taught a high school student how to do this job. I learned basically nothing working here, and you were never praised if you did well, only if you screwed up or the production quota was behind.
  
  I worked there almost 4 months. It was very stressful. I felt I was undertrained by my coworkers, and when I tried to get them to train me further, nothing happened. I worked very hard but there was little satisfaction in the job, even with the occasional staff event.
  
  I only worked there 4 months because after that point out of the blue they decided to fire me. At first management lied to my face and said I was being laid off. Later they told me I was being 'replaced' because they were changing the job description and needed someone with more experience maintaining the instruments. This shows how much ALS values their employees. They'd rather fire a hardworking employee, and replace them rather than give them the proper training.
  
  There was a massive turn over rate in the company. In my group we lost half of our staff. Dozens of people disappeared over the course of my employment.
  
  I definitely do not recommend ALS. Go elsewhere where people respect you, your skills and your hard work.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 19 October 2013 by Rater #14 | Comments (1) | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 29 3

• By far the worst place I have ever worked. No job security, even for full time employees there years. I've seen them let go really capable workers who deserve to be promoted not fired. No life outside of work as they try and ring you an hour before work to change your days or ask you to take a holiday day, not fair. Lab is disgusting dirty, I've never seen such filth anywhere in my life. Serious lack of communication and a lot of things get lost in translation due to the very weak level of English people have. Any perks they have, ie benefits, bbq parties etc are going down hill fast. It's a fast sinking ship, do not jump aboard.! Work is very repetitive and all to do with output, no matter if its right or not. No recognition for good work. Very negative work environment.
  
  They say safety is there number one policy but my lab went about 4 months without them ordering in the ppe we needed so we were wearing ripped sleeve protectors and aprons, ridiculous.
  
  Thank god I've gotten out, don't make the same mistake I did, stay away from here at all costs!   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 5 September 2013 by Rater #13 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 11 0

• I am just trying to be honest based on my ~~ 4 years of combined experience in ALS (8 months of internship, 1 year in ALS Environmental and 1 year in ALS Minerals). YES the work is stressful, overwhelming and sometimes repetitive. And there is no such thing called job security, as soon as they classify you as a "fat layer", they will trim it. But like the job in "The devil wears Prada", if you can handle it for ~ 2 years, you don't even have to worry about getting a better job down the road, and they will NEVER get rid of anyone to worked hard to show they are valuable to the company. Benefits from ALS is awesome - 100% dental and 100% reimbursed for private hospital room during labor (the list goes on but just saying). I also appreciate the fact that they organized lots of social activities (company BBQ, bowling, Xmas party, Cirque du Soleil, etc)   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 30 November 2012 by Rater #9 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• One of the worst  

  Posted on 10 September 2012 by Rater #11 | Comments (1) | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 12 1

• ALS gave me my first job ever, and I was truly excited to be working at a laboratory, but soon discovered this company does not have anything to do with Science. Most of the positions are REPETITIVE LABOUR jobs, even the jobs requiring a Science degree can be done by a high school graduate with proper training.
  
  The whole company "pretends" to be professional, but you can tell most of the employees despise their dead-end job, the managers promote their friends, and realize their only chance for a wage increase is possible by staying the company for 5 years and apply to be a manager, or work everyday like it's your last day on earth so they promote you to an easier task due to you having mastered your current one.
  
  The management in almost every department pretends to do their job, but really wanders around enforcing rules that they know are meant to be broken just so it looks like they are doing something.
  
  Luckily am a good friend with one supervisor, because we are the only smokers in our shift, and because of this relationship she turns a blind eye on me, but enforces rules on those who she doesn't like.
  
  Just know this: if
  
    read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 26 June 2012 by Rater #8 | Comments (1) | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 12 6

• The ALS business model is straight out of the 1920's. They routinely payout skilled workers as "permanently laid off" and replace them with "no experience necessary" labour. This results in never being able to properly staff any of their labs. No one is ever given a reason as to why they were "permanently laid off", I suspect it is a safety mechanism that saves this company from facing any long term ill health lawsuits as Assay Prep Labs are bad for human health regardless of PPE. Training is pretty well non-exsistent yet qauntity is very much expected. How can you have a qouta system without any sort of production bonus in place? This company is also very bloated with management, resulting in much redundancy and inefficient policy.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 24 March 2012 by Rater #10 | Comments (1) | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 20 0

• I worked there for 9 months and I hated every minute of it. The training is terrible and then they expect you to be an expert at the job after a short amount of time. There is very high employee turnover. Nobody enjoys actually being there. Employees are expected to work overtime and getting a day off is almost impossible. The managers are not properly trained at managing the workers and have poor communication skills. I would not recommend anyone to work at ALS. I have not met a person whom enjoys being at ALS.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 20 February 2012 by Rater #6 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 12 2

• Depending on the department you work in, the job can be low stress or high stress. The management, atmosphere and workload also varies. There are two things that do not vary however, and they are low pay; $14.50 for a science graduate and advancement. Advancement seems to come from high employee turnover rate, if you stay long enough, you'll be the only senior staff and they HAVE to promote you to fill the spot.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 15 October 2011 by Rater #1 | Comments (2) | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 10 0

• This place is the worst place I ever worked for. They have no considerations for their employees, example: dirty dinning room (has to be cleaned by own staff), They pay 20 minutes of break time out of a 12 hours shift and they will complain if you exceed your time by couple minutes. They provide rags as clothes for your protections.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 22 October 2010 by Rater #12 | Comments (1) | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 8 0

• No chance to be promoted to senior level.
  Does not appreciate employees' effort.
  Management lacks foreseeability.  

  Posted on 26 June 2010 by Rater #5 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 10 0

• Currently, not one person is appreciating the wage and promotion freeze. There are employees who have not seen a raise in two years and at the moment, there are people doing specific jobs with a high stress level who are not receiving the wage they are supposed to be getting.
  Higher levels of employment (senior positions) are impossible to obtain because the the pyramid structure put in place.
  Sick days and vacation days are ''earned'' not automatically given. Hours for this are accumulated.
  It is understandable that a company wants to make money however, this seems to be the main focus and not the well being of employees. The economic down turn has made it so people are reluctant to leave their jobs however, now that thngs are looking brighter, people will leave at the regular high turn over rate associated with this company.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 23 June 2009 by Rater #4 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• I've had a lot of opportunity to learn and do more. Lots of good people! Would be good if they had a mentor program.  

  Posted on 30 November 2008 by Rater #3 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• This is a good company to work for, good benefits, lots of opportunties to work in other parts of Canada and the World.  

  Posted on 19 June 2008 by Rater #2 | Comments (3) | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 1 21