Cerner Reviews in Kansas City, MO Area

Pros

very good for fresh graduates to learn a lot.

Cons

compensation and benefits are not on par..

Pros

Flexible work conditions if needed.

Cons

Pretty bad work/life balance. Time off is hard to obtain.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop playing favorites.

Pros

The healthcare software industry is doing very well and Cerner is reaping the benefits. Cerner's board of directors has excellent vision and continue to find new ways to produce revenue in a growing market. Cerner will grow for years. to come. Benefits are okay. They have an onsite clinic that is free to associates that buy their health plan. Health insurance is good but very expensive to the associate via premiums and deductible. Since the company stock does so well the associate stock purchase program is valuable. This also helps your 401k as Cerner does a small match to your contributions. WHQ and the innovations campus are nice. I never visited the other campuses. They have a health Center at each that are free to associates. To those with kids they have onsite day care...but is no where near free or even subsidized. The benefit is purely the location.

Cons

Health insurance is expensive. I only worked in the development organization, but based on that your career progression can escalate or be degraded based on the organization in which you land. In certain organizations the senior managers are very complacent and are not looking to go anywhere. However in other organizations there are executives that continue to grow their business and strive to move further up leading you to other opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management

Rather than solely recognize associates based on tenure promote those who do well. I am a manager of associates who financially do better than I do but do less and produce less but since they have longer tenure they are considered for level promotions and further salary increases. As well equally distribute the "Distinguished engineer" role. I'm not recommending giving this to a an undeserving associate, but put the distinguished engineers in multiple organizations rather than feed all of them into one org. This would display that despite the organization, associates have opportunity to progress their careers in more ways than waiting on the boss to move.

Pros

Cost of Living is Low in KC.
LOTS of Travel
There used to be many International Opportunities.

Cons

Pay is Low compared to the industry.
Kansas City isn't the coolest place to work.
80 hour work weeks are normal.
Employee Reviews are not structred well.

Advice to Senior Management

Less is more. Stop over customizing the solutions.

Pros

Diversity - Many diverse cultures are present in this world wide conglomerate.
Social - This is a very social environment to work, much like a college campus
Organized - You will know what your position is, this can be a con also, almost like a cast system.

Cons

Cast system - as mentioned above, once cast, it is very difficult to break out.
Work load - 50+ hours a week is the norm
Respect - see cast system, lip service at best

Advice to Senior Management

Pretend you are a small growing company again
Really listen, pretending to listen is really annoying.

Pros

Decent raises
Good management in my experience

Cons

Must live in Kansas City for most roles

Advice to Senior Management

Do not require traveling consultants to move to Kansas City

Pros

If you show that you are motivated to grow opportunities will be offered to you

Cons

If you are virtual you run the risk of being eliminated.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide equal training for the virtual Solution Delivery Consultants as would be offered for those living in the Kansas City, MO area.

Pros

Salary is very respectable. Employees are younger (22 - 35 mostly). Time off is given when needed. Flexible on the time you arrive.

Cons

They cut the bottom up 20% of employees consistently. Poor feedback on performance until they fire you. They will take every hour from your life you will give them. They expect 55+ hours of work a week although they claim they only want 40 hours. Some lower management have problems confronting and fixing problems that could be addressed which will keep you from being fired.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire managers that have a backbone and can constructively tell you to step up your work before the day they call you into an office right by the door to tell you that you are fired.

Pros

Excellent work environment, atmosphere and culture.

Cons

Work/life balance and compensation for not competitive with external opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on long-term retention of talent.

Pros

Took on a lot of meaningful work.

Cons

Not very structured and could use a little more clarification on process

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work