laboratory technician

technician

field service technician

fire sprinkler technician

driver

AGAT Laboratories

AGAT Laboratories is a rapidly growing company. It owes its success mainly to its shrewd and frugal labour management practices.

For salary it pays very little to its employees unless you work in sales, finance and upper management. All lab techs, logistic and middle management people make the minimum wage in their field. In the lab all workers except team leads are on contract. The company takes full advantage of this and will cut hours to none or lay people off at a moments notice if there are not enough orders from clients. Everyone on contract does not get benefits. This is essentially 80% of the company's work force. 

The work itself is not physically demanding but it is high pressure to get high volume of work orders done and there is a lot of responsibility being shared. You may be asked to stay overtime to get orders done.

Advancement is not even worth it. If you start out in the lab and make it to middle management you are still not making enough money and are just getting involved in a more stressful position. Advancement rarely happens unless management cannot hire someone from outside. There is a high turnover in middle management because it is high stress with little pay. 

If on contract you cannot take more than 2 weeks off at a time. In those instances they encourage the worker to resign and there is no guarantee that the worker will be hired back.

Management was getting stricter by the time I left. They did not encourage talking among workers even during slow periods. While management did not go out of their way to make your experience horrible if you were suspected or caught doing something of minor significance your supervisor would be notified and give you a  prompt warning.

In closing AGAT Laboratories is the worst in its field. No job security and the absolute worst pay. 
On the bright side the work is not horrible and it is a modest start and stepping stone for those just graduating with a degree in science. Just pray that you find something better in the future.

My experience with this company has been mixed. The technical work is engaging and offers opportunities to learn, but this is highly dependent on the manager you report to. In some cases, employees who show initiative or strong capability may be viewed as a threat rather than an asset, which makes it challenging to grow or perform at full potential.
Compensation is below industry standards, and there are no meaningful bonuses or incentives for strong performance. Professional development also feels limited, as access to training, knowledge-sharing events, and cross-department collaboration is often restricted.
A significant concern is the management culture. Issues related to supervisor or lab manager behavior are often overlooked by HR and upper leadership, even when they affect fairness, morale, and productivity. There is no clear communication system or consistent oversight of management practices, which allows defensive, territorial, or otherwise inappropriate behavior to go unaddressed.
To improve, the organization would benefit from stronger leadership involvement, transparent processes for evaluating management practices, and fair recognition of employee contributions. Success should be seen as a collective effort, and workplace concerns should be addressed proactively rather than ignored.
The growth opportunities are limited. If you are hoping to develop your career here, you may be disappointed, as managers appear to be evaluated primarily on revenue generation rather than leadership approach or support for their teams.

AGAT Laboratories is a rapidly growing company. It owes its success mainly to its shrewd and frugal labour management practices.

For salary it pays very little to its employees unless you work in sales, finance and upper management. All lab techs, logistic and middle management people make the minimum wage in their field. In the lab all workers are expected to work long unrealistic hours. If you are willing to break labour standards and work 13 hours a day 7 days a week during peak hours this is the job for you. 

The work itself is not physically demanding but it is high pressure to get high volume of work orders done and there is a lot of responsibility being shared. You will have to stay over time and if you cant you will get bullied into it. However if you get any type of stressed out they get mad at you and tell you to get out and will fire you on the spot.

 Advancement and raises rarely happens unless management cannot hire someone from outside. There is a high turnover in middle management because it is high stress with little pay.

In closing AGAT Laboratories is the worst in its field. No job security and the absolute worst pay.
On the bright side the work is not horrible and it is a modest start and stepping stone for those just graduating with a degree in science. Just pray that you find something better in the future.

Atypical day at work

At the start of a day, it is important that I review what needs to be done.
There will be1.) urgent and important tasks, 2.) urgent but unimportant tasks, and 3.) non-urgent but important tasks. Tasks in category one need to be done first. Tasks in category two need to be addressed but should not overwhelm you. Make time in each day to address tasks in category three.

What I learned

Contribute to continuous improvement of quality & reliability of test results.
I am welcoming and try to put candidates at ease.
Make positive working relationships with all members of the research group.

Management

Working well in a fast pace team as well as alone, good planner and organizer, and problem solving.

My co-workers
working as a team, I have to be willing to go the extra mile with him.

The hardest part of the job
There are a lot of really great people at my level and the prospect of any professional growth was slim.
I became aware of an opportunity that better matched my skills and experience.

The most enjoyable part of the job
I enjoy the analysis and problem-solving skills that successful workforce planning requires.
New challenges which require creative solutions.
New challenges and requests for information that keep it interesting.

Same train of thought as the other reviews left on this website. Wages are embarrassingly low, especially considering they hire people with good education. Benefits are almost nonexistent. For temporary workers they are actually nonexistent. There's no room for negotiation when it comes to salaries. You get what is offered. Not a whole lot of opportunities to evolve with the company, well not unless you want to do more work for the same pay. The volume of work is usually quite high, which occasionally requires you to stay longer than your typical 8 hour shift. Expect to work 10 hour shifts from time to time, thankfully they'll pay you the overtime as long as you run it by their leadership group, if you can call it that. 

Fortunately it's not all bad, I will end on a more positive note. The employees working at AGAT are very good, down to earth people. Most of them are always willing to land a hand as long as they're not drowning in work. The experience you get from AGAT will make a difference on your CV, so that's also a positive. 

High turnover of staff which leads to poor customer service, no bonuses for non management positions, no rewards or appreciation to good workers, toxic culture where fingers are pointed (Blame game), unhappy grumpy staff that try to ruin your day, poor employee job satisfaction, no work life balance, owner of company is very frugal with money when it comes to compensating employees (raises and such) and purchasing quality equipment, no trust in employees, stagnant company growth due to the "Machine bureaucracy" style of leadership, employees ideas for a more productive workplace or workflow is often not heard and dismissed by their managers. No paid sick days, especially crucial during this pandemic!!!!! 

I worked here for four and a half years on and off while I was studying my degree. The first two years, I enjoyed it a ton because my coworkers were so fun and the job itself was pretty stress-free. The longer I stayed however, the more people left the less I enjoyed it. It is repetitive work and is not very rewarding. It is easy to get comfortable and stay for long period of time but do not do this, you will end up unhappy asking yourself why you are still there. 
The people are nice generally speaking, the management is okay, the work is not too hard once you have had enough practice.
The training is terrible, expect to self-teach a bunch. Also, you will need a second job because there is no way you will get by on an Agat salary, especially if you are the sole income earner in your household.

this place is horrible to work at. i was very fresh out of college and i worked there to gain experience. but my job was just to layout samples on tables for other people to login into LIMS and process it to lab for testing. Sample layout clerk were looked down by the co-workers who were on the data entry job. nothing to learn. the work environment was so toxic to work in. People that were working their from long time weren't ready to train new people as they were afraid of  loose their job and ganged up against new employee. I would give this company a minus 0 rating if it was possible. No point to work for a minimum wage job that makes you feel like you are not accepted there. I am happy I left this company and all those negative & toxic people.

Most of the work is repetitive and it can get very exhausting especially at select stations like the rock grinding station. The management is ok but they have to achieve a certain target and they will ask you to work more in order to achieve it if needed. All on a minimum wage. 

Shifts are long and exhausting with a 4 days on, 4 days off schedule working 12 hrs per day. If you have good colleagues in the season, it can be easier to work there while socialising with them. 

The job can be good for your CV if you only have work experience while working in Walmart or similar places in the past, or you need professional work experience for permanent residence. In those cases, working here can arguably be worth the struggle.

As with most things, it's not all bad. However some key aspects to job quality were just not there. AGAT top management is terrible, the founder runs the company like an autocratic dictatorship leaving many employees underpaid and undervalued. During my time here I observed very poor morale resulting in sub standard quality of work. AGATs success is due largely to its marketing veneer, however it lacks substance. The company in my opinion to some extent exploit those who have worked so hard at attaining quality education. Some middle management do their best with what they have and most people are quite friendly despite the hardships of the company culture. I would only recommend working here if there are no other options.     

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Laboratory technician 9 salaries reported	$20.67 per hour
Technician 10 salaries reported	$21.25 per hour
Field service technician 3 salaries reported	$24.67 per hour
Fire sprinkler technician 6 salaries reported	$22.33 per hour
Driver 6 salaries reported	$19.60 per hour

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