Dear Angie,
I made the opposite move 8 years ago(corporation to hospital), I can give
you my corporate impressions. I worked for a so called "sweat shop" for
approx. 1 year, that was one life experience I'm glad is over! I then went
to a large corporation(pharmaceutical) and there is definitely an upside,
good pay and benefits, greater ease in scheduling staff for vacations and
holidays and other perks available to employees if they choose to take
them(corporate health club memberships i.e.). I met and worked with people
from all over the world and made some great friends.
I came to this job(hospital)for various reasons; 1) Closer to family 2+ vs
12+ hours by car. 2) I escaped the metro area rat race. 3)Less politics and
bureaucracy. I worked in research for the pharmaceutical corporation. I
consider research a worthy endeavor, however I have a lot more variety in
this setting. At the time it was actually a lateral move wage-wise although,
if I'd have stayed in the corporation I suspect my incremental pay increases
would have been greater. The pay/benefits gap between clinical vs corporate
environments would close a great deal if the Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement
situation would improve, but that's another can of worms.
I am very happy in my position and I would not go back. Life here is not
perfect by any stretch, we certainly have our share of politics and
bureaucracy and although not a major metropolitan area this is definitely
not Mayberry. Like a lot of things you need to judge case by case. In my
situation this works for me. In your case it sounds like a move to corporate
may be just the thing. As long as you know the corporation is solid you
should be just fine. Nothing is ever a panacea, there are just degrees of
good and bad.
Thomas Jasper HT(ASCP) BAS
Histology Team Leader
SMDC Clinical Laboratory
Duluth, MN
tjasper@smdc.org