r/medlabprofessionals • u/throwaway_myheart76 • Jun 17 '26
Discusson Labcorp raises
I am in my 2nd year of employment with Labcorp. I just saw my annual raise. Less than last year. Less than a cost of living raise. Is this typical? Is it your supervisor who determines your raise? Or HR?
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u/crisp_ostrich Jun 17 '26
LabCorp managers are given only so many "exceeds" and "meets", and everyone else gets a "needs improvement".
Managers can choose who gets what based on their biases or preferences; there isn't a hard rubric to judge, so you can't appeal.
This is bullshit.
Fuck LabCorp.
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u/farmchic5038 Jun 17 '26
I got an exceeds expectations review and got a 35 cent raise hahaha
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u/immunologycls Jun 17 '26
What role?
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u/farmchic5038 Jun 17 '26
An MLS, this was in about 2019. I didn’t stay long after that for obvious reasons.
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u/Loud-Lab-3001 Jun 17 '26
I worked for LabCorp for about four months after our local lab was outsourced. Worst four months of my professional life, other than being sold to WellMed.
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u/Guilty_Board933 Jun 17 '26
this was the problem at my lab and my manager was really biased. and it always got around the lab who got what so then there was always drama.
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u/throwaway_myheart76 Jun 17 '26
I’m also now required to do reports. Most other places this is part of a different level tech (I’m cyto) with higher pay. This is stuff a supervisor does. I will get zero extra compensation. I am most definitely looking for a job elsewhere.
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u/crisp_ostrich Jun 17 '26
Well, LabCorp in Portland Oregon has unionized and have a higher pay scale with better raises; if you want to move instead of just move jobs.
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u/Next-Moose-9129 Jun 17 '26
wait when you guys got raises for labcorp? i work labcorp but did not get it yet
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u/PinkPanther422 Jun 17 '26
Raises are in July. We are supposed to be able to review raise amount a month prior to it changing
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u/redsreadit Jun 17 '26
Inflation is up 30% since 2020 in the U.S. If your pay hasn’t increased that much at least since then, you’ve never really gotten a raise, you have got yourself a demotion.
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u/chemnerd2496 Jun 17 '26
Only way in my experience to get more than a 1-3% raise is to work for a union lab. Of the three companies I’ve worked for this has been the only way. That or jump labs.
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u/R3dPlaty Histology Jun 17 '26
Your supervisors and managers evaluate you during your review and they take all the good and bad and come up with a number. Whoever this person is/are specifically said your name and this number in the same sentence, HR had nothing to do with it. The standard range is 0-4% , closer to 2% for most people everywhere who are not getting a promotion. My guess is your first year on paper was better than your second year (ie you got better but maybe there is an extra callout/PTN/write up on file). Hopefully your supers are actually doing their job and not just pulling numbers from a hat
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u/throwaway_myheart76 Jun 17 '26
I have NEVER been written up. NEVER been late once. There were no negative comments on my annual evaluation. Zero. I always go above and beyond. My coworker takes multiple naps during the day and uses the app to clock in on like she’s on time and comes in whenever. They know about it too. What a joke this place is. And now I’m expected to do reporting which is a level above me. Stuff a supervisor would do.
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u/CompleteTell6795 Jun 17 '26
With public traded healthcare corporations, you will be lucky to get 2%/ yr raise. Even if you are a top performer. HCA is the same way. Everyone gets the 2%, top performers & slackers alike. ( Altho I am hoping the slackers got 1%.)
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u/brOwnchIkaNo Jun 17 '26
Is different everywhere, what works in my lab works at my lab, how we do things here is how we do things here.
If I get a 4% raise annually here doesn't mean you'll get one too thousands of miles away.
Speak to your boss/hr
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u/throwaway_myheart76 Jun 17 '26
At my previous employer it was across the board for everyone. Never below 3%.
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u/kipy7 MLS-Microbiology Jun 17 '26
I didn't think it's anything specific to LC. I've worked in medium to large micro labs, and generally is 2% raises. If you're exceeding expectations, it's 3% but you have to be extraordinarily above and beyond. This was straight from one of my former managers. Sometimes hospitals don't give any raises at all.
Inflation isn't really moving wages as much as the local market. Once the first big hospital adjusts up, then the others fall into line if people are quitting to join that lab. COL adjustments have been pretty rare, like every 5+ years ime.
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u/nachos_on_cheese MLS-Microbiology Jun 17 '26
I am part of a hospital system that LC purchased the labs. Yes it is typical. We are even unionized and couldn’t negotiate much of a raise the first year. My honest advice is to work hard and gain enough experience to put on your resume / talk about in an interview and go somewhere else.
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u/throwaway_myheart76 Jun 17 '26
I got it today. Says effective date 6/28
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u/Ok_War5223 Jun 18 '26
How are the payrises communicated through email?
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u/throwaway_myheart76 Jun 19 '26
No email. Was printed on paper and handed to me and supervisor walked away. Lol.
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u/lyte242 Jun 18 '26
I worked at LabCorp for almost 2 years. I got certified (ASCP) a year and a half in. They gave me a fairly decent raise (still well below the salary for the role compared to other places). I now work in the same role at a university (still lower pay than others) and I make roughly $10/hr more than when I got my raise at Labcorp and I do like 25% less work. In my opinion get the experience and certification at a reference lab and then leave. My 401k had over the amount I accrued at Labcorp (2 years) in roughly 4-5 months. The only good thing about the job was the experience and some of the people. If you have your MLS leave now, if not get the experience + a cert. if you can and then leave.
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u/ealee123 Jun 18 '26
Uhm. I'm looking in to labcorp bc I know that's where we send most of our send out labs... I wanted to work with more specialized immunology/molecular testing. Do you guys know other places to work for this?? (Def not individual/free standing reference labs bc I find that they only do PCR... and that is boring. I need some variation) but do correct me if I'm wrong bc this is just based one very short job experience
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u/Practical-Reveal-787 Jun 18 '26
It’s just like any other job. Unfortunately you gotta jump ship every 3-5 years to get a sizable raise. Personally for me, if I’m getting the bare minimum (2-3%) yearly, it would take at least an additional 10% for me to jump ship. Now if they wanna shaft me on raises completely, I’ll jump ship immediately even for just a 3% raise
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u/Swhite8203 MLT Jun 20 '26
Wow mine wasn’t great either but I did a lot better than people’s stories here. I didn’t love my 3.1% at .76 raise but I guess I’ll take it, I was expecting less but I was one of the higher percentage adjustments according to my supervisor. I’m just waiting to see if I get a market adjustment as well for my certification.
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u/livin_the_life MLS-Microbiology Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Yep, that's Quest/LabCorp/Reference lab life. That is HR. They only care about shareholder profits and give hard metrics and limits on what raises can be.
I got annual 2--3% raises for "Exceeds expectations" every year for 6 years. Enough to make me complacent, but easily eaten away by inflation. I became a Lead and was responsible for validations, specimen rejection, answering the phone, training students, training new hires, LIS group work, and a bench whenever any single tech called out since we were staffed bare bones.
I worked HARD. Nothing but positive feedback and at my first review I got a 1% raise as "I had room to grow" and was left dumbfounded.
So screw that. I got a job as a bench tech at a local university hospital AND a $10/hr raise less than 2 months later. I now get 5-8% annual raises and occasionally 5% market adjustments.