Brilliant science and scientists in a beautiful setting.

Getting to meet many people at different levels and functions at the Lab

Benefits are quite good - medical/dental are comprehensive and premiums very low, and employer-funded pension is excellent.

Working with people who take pride in what they do, do it well, and making the Lab look great.

Non-scientific staff's general competence and willingness to venture outside of their job description is wildly inconsistent. The key for anyone new to the Lab is to figure out who the people are in each department that can be relied on.

Honest, consistent communication and transparency. Stop allowing dept heads to create silos (their own "kingdoms"). HR leadership approaches role as one of protecting the Lab from its employees. No focus on employee development at the institutional level, esp for non-scientific staff.

Actual HR leadership vs bean-counting personnel. Actively compete for the best employees (who now have the option of working in NYC, for NYC $ w/o the daily commute!) with both pay and flexible work. Offload leaders who won't work as part of the larger team.

The culture that was built when there were 200 employees 30 yrs ago cannot be the culture today with 1100. You have dept heads with their own agendas sometimes in opposition to the Lab - in an org of this size, you must build consistency across depts. If leaders won't work together, get new leaders.