Laboratories can provide good interdisciplinary opportunities, job security, and a healthy research environment. Some organizations engage in classified research - particularly, some Department of Defense labs, National Security Agency, and Department of Energy labs. At installations such as this, some percentage of your time might be spent in research that cannot be made public. This work is important and interesting, but will do nothing to enhance your prospects for a move to a non-classified installation. If job mobility is important to you, then it is vital that you keep a high public profile as well, continuing to do research that can be published openly, and continuing to attend conferences in your research area.
Different companies evaluate the contribution in different ways.
At one end of the spectrum are companies who operate labs like IBM Yorktown, Xerox Parc, or Bell Labs, where management has believed that a relatively unfettered research environment will lead to unexpected advances, some of which will generate new commercial products. Although people are encouraged to become involved in some less speculative work, a major part of their time can be spent in work much like that of universities. Again, an important consideration is how openly you will be allowed to talk about your work. Some companies do classified research, and others protect their research and their products as trade secrets or by copyright or patent. Success in a research job may ultimately lead to a job in management of research .