Supportive coworkers with great learning opportunities - Working Student Kaiser Permanente Employee Review

Kaiser is a great place to work and build a career over time. In my experience salaries are above market for most positions, and the benefits are so good that many people become "lifers". The health coverage is extremely generous, and time off starts off adequate and gets better over time (18 days when you start, moving up to 33 after 15+ years - this does not include sick time). Employees truly believe in the mission of KP (at least, I do) and it's clear that this is a place where employees' contributions are valued. Although my role is not part of any of the unions, the fact that our workforce is predominantly unionized also places a positive role in KP's reputation as a good place for workers (although having unionized staff also presents many challenges). Overall, I enjoy working at KP and would recommend it to others, but understand that you are entering a big bureaucracy. A friendly, mission-driven bureaucracy, but still.

Cons: having lots of "lifers" means that innovative ideas and workflows are not always adopted without a fight. People have their roles deeply embedded here, and any threat to the status quo is seen as negative, even though we need to make some pretty radical changes given the new health care environment post-ACA. There's a lot of "not my job" attitudes here. It's hard to navigate the layers of bureaucracy, both in terms of personnel/HR/benefits, and in getting work done (there are often 4-5 departments at the regional and national KP levels working on similar areas, and no guidance on who does what.) Be aware that KP is not immune to reorganizations and layoffs -- they do make a good attempt to ensure workers are hired elsewhere in the organization, but there are no guarantees, and there can be a lot of turnover in certain departments. Benefits are currently generous but are always subject to downgrades in the future, so just be aware of that. Some changes to the pension and retiree medical benefits are about to hit, and with them a wave of Baby Boomers will be taking retirement, which should hopefully open up many new management opportunities for Millennials. Oh, and the biggest con of all: we still - STILL - use Lotus Notes for email. Shocking, I know, but true.

Management can be great. Culture is nice, the co workers I had in where amazing. Alot of opportunities for contractors to move up into full time employees if you are a good fit and work hard. A lot of opportunities to learn on the job. Great benefits even through contractor agency. Pay for contractors was competitive.

Some people have been their for years and don't care. They do there job as little as they can and make it hard for other who need to work with them. Management can make or break the experience. My mangers where great but most I have seen did not care or want to be there. It's a big company, so expect alot of corporate friction that can make your job harder. Alot of work can be put on contractors that more seasoned employees don't want to deal with. In my experience office culture and clicks matter more to management than hard work. I saw co workers work hard but get passed up because they didn't match the "culture fit" they wanted. It made me sad. While I was offered a few opportunities even being there for much less time and having less performance.