Q&A With The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) Employees

Casual clothes and closed-toe shoes for scientists and lab techs. Business casual for other employees unless there’s a public event on campus

Not allowed.

Covering dental implants, even for teeth missing before the start of employment. Their dental coverage is generous, but this loophole fails to acknowledge that even people who've been steadily employed for years may have had stretches without dental coverage.

1. Ask your boss and/or colleagues to give you a list of people with whom to have introductory meetings. Spread those meetings out over three to four months, so you'll have a chance to ask questions that only occur to you with time. 2. Understand the organization's Strategic Initiatives, and ask your boss to articulate how your work, and his/hers, relate to those initiatives. Also ask which of them are highest priority for your function. 3. Make contacts and friends in other parts of the organization, and keep in touch with them. The ability to see how changes in the environment affect other people will enable you to do your job better. 4. Document your accomplishments, your skills gained, and the constructive alliances you've built as you go, and share this information with your boss. JAX is a highly matrixed organization, and you'll need to construct your own web of resources to succeed and help others succeed.

Talented people

Senior management team should trust people at the Director level, support them in their projects, help them with career development, and promote them whenever possible. In addition, when there is disagreement at the senior level, it should be acknowledged and dealt with at that level, rather than trying to fight for the upper hand through the use of their subordinates.

The office layout at JAX varies based on the individual's role, department and location. Many of our employees (~60%) are animal care workers who don't have an office, per se, but work in animal care rooms. Our Faculty members all have offices as well as smaller desk spaces within the lab. Post-docs and junior scientists typically share office space or have a cubicle assigned to them. Bar Harbor has variable office density by function, and it changes over time since a new building or wing tends to be built or renovated about every 18 months. Farmington has just reached capacity, and density there is becoming less comfortable, with many 2 or 3 to an office now. The next wing in Connecticut is probably 3 or more years from occupancy. Sacramento's density is more stable, but I have fewer details on that.

Personable, visionary, competent. Focused on the future of genomics more than the day-to-day of building a management structure to maximize success, or defining yearly strategic objectives. Organization often feels like a set of individual silos rather than a coherent whole moving towards a single goal.

Varies by job type.

Yes. In addition to Opportunity Development positions, which are field-based jobs focused on finding collaborators and/or customers, some web support, SalesForce administration, medical education, and customer service positions are filled with remote workers.

Faculty promotions are handled in a manner consistent with a university setting: publications and grant success are dominant factors. Lots of potential for promotion within the entry-level faculty cohort. Within the hourly worker pool in Bar Harbor, dominated by animal care technicians, there is a fairly standard, objective set of criteria and typically a well-documented process for employee feedback. For salaried professionals outside of the faculty/professorial ladder, promotions are uncommon and the criteria quixotic. JAX is not looking to build leaders from within, at least not to the extent that they would eventually join the Senior Management Team.

Very good. Salaried workers tend to get 4 weeks paid vacation from the start (after 90-day probationary period); hourly workers start at 2 weeks paid vacation. All employees get 2 floating holidays in each half of the year -- i.e., two before 6/30 and two before 12/31 -- which do not roll over if unused.

403(b) matching

Organization's priorities change too frequently for teams to gain momentum.

Setting strategic direction and communicating it consistently (even to each other)