Let me guess. You're a real bright know-it-all,with a hotshot degree, who has all of the answers. Translated= corporate shmuck. Listen, sonny, whether those things that you mention happen or not, the bottom line is that they affect real people. Additionally, real people have real families, real bills, real problems. It's people like you that crunch numbers, squeeze profits and cast employees to the wind, like so much chaff. Part of the culture or not, does not mean it is right. Mergers are inevitable, layoffs are inevitable, but treating people the way that corporations, such as LabCorp does, is unacceptable. We live in the 'me, me, me" world which is why the corporate world we live in these days, sucks a big one. Don't hand me that crap about "managing expenses" either. There's more than enough wealth to go around, especially at LabCorp. Unfortunately, the greedy bastards at Corporate choose not to share the wealth with the paeans, at the bottom of the employee food chain. It's people like you who are too stupid to realize that you aren't fooling anyone when you post your quarterly earnings on the website, and then turn around try to convince employees that there's just not enough money for decent raises. By the way, 2% doesn't qualify under the definition of a "decent raise." Especially when health care premiums go up disproportionately, every year.
Obviously, you are not old enough to remember or were never taught the golden rule. You know the old axiom "Do unto others...." Well, trust me smart guy, people like you will get yours. People like me will never be around to witness it, but you will get yours, either here or in the end. Also, you are dead wrong about employee loyalty. There's a ton of employee loyalty out there. It's employee loyalty that keeps ratholes, like LCA, in business. So, you keep living by your "me, me, me" philosophy and see how that works out for you down the road. You probably needed a few more spankings when you were a kid, and a lot less spoiling.