Children's Medical Center of Dallas Reviews in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Area

Former Employee – worked at Children's Medical Center of Dallas full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – great people to work with. Teaching hospital, with lots of opportunities to learn and share.

Cons – raises not great, salary average...because its a hospital. Often people promoted to manager that don't have proper training.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Children's Medical Center of Dallas full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – There are a lot of good people on the front lines.

Cons – Management is political and dysfunctional and there are a series of layoffs going on of many of their best people.

Advice to Senior Management – Reorganization needs to happen from the top down. You are eliminating some of your best and most experienced people.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Children's Medical Center of Dallas full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Helping the children in your community!!

Cons – Senior management is so dysfunctional. They only worry about the money being added to their personal pockets!! They don't care about the true employees that take care of the patients. They have massive layoffs happening right now!!!!!!

Advice to Senior Management – Care about the employees that make the organization successful!!! Executive Management is flushing this 100 year organization down the toilet.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Children's Medical Center of Dallas full-time for more than a year

Pros – great company, friendly co-workers good level of respect amongst peers

Cons – no "cons" that I can think of

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Children's Medical Center of Dallas full-time for less than a year

Pros – Pay is great and many very nice people.

Cons – Children's has the most dysfunctional culture I have ever experienced. It is very hierarchical and corporate-like. Communication is very difficult in this organization because you can't just communicate with various levels of management, you have to go through the chain of command for almost everything. The turnover is very high, it is challenging to get to know anyone at the organization because it seems like every week someone leaves mysteriously. Due to the high turnover, few people actually know how things should be done or how they have been done.

Advice to Senior Management – Management is touting the establishment of a Just Culture in their organization, but they need to establish an environment of trust and communication before this endeavor will be successful.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Children's Medical Center of Dallas full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great mission and good overall place to work. Nice work-life balance in the IT area. Most of the employees there are enjoyable to be around. The CIO is a tool but that's what you get when the VP of communications is in control. This explains why the website is such a disaster because communications controls it. IT and communications need to work together. They don't.

Cons – Not a lot of opportunity for growth. Very political environment. Friends get promoted instead of those with good work ethics or skills. Salaries can't compete with many other industries out there.

Advice to Senior Management – Communication across the organization could be excellent is a joint IT/Marketing team could collaboratively build a nice intranet and external website. Currently the VP of communications owns it and knows nothing about it and refuses to give up control(power) to someone who could do something amazing with it.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Children's Medical Center of Dallas full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – You'll get to be involved with the mission in every position. Overall the people care and they try to make the work enviornment positive! Covered parking, good public transportation, and good community involvement. I think we do a good job of supporting the mission.

Cons – I see the biggest obstacle we face besides health care reform is seperating ourselves from UT Southwestern. We spend a great deal of time making the doctors happy, sometimes it's not what is best for Children's. We are at the end of the day a business and sometimes I think we forget that. Often we do not do things in the most efficient way. We need innovative leaders, I think this would help cultivate change. I would agree with another review I read that said there are a lot of people that need to be pucked out of their jobs if they are not effective. As a organization we are too nice and therefore we have a lot of employees taking advantage of that.

Advice to Senior Management – Get with it! We need to start thinking in the now, we are great when it comes to patient care, but what about employee care? We need to be supported in the change that is happening. We need less directors and executives and more support. Embrace the ones that make the hospital run at all levels even if they aren't working directly with patients.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Children's Medical Center of Dallas full-time

Pros – The mission of Children's is hard to beat and is what keeps many of the dedicated employees there, in spite of the many short-comings. For a little while, making a difference in a child's life can be worth the sacrifices you make in working here. Many of the people (employees not management) that work here genuinely care about the patients and provide excellent care. Although, more and more of those people are getting burned out and leaving.

Cons – It is an extremely political environment and promotions are granted because of politics, not based on performance, expertise, or ability. Some people in leadership positions (Director and above) are only marginally competent.

Benefits are horrible. You can find some cheap options, but the frustration level when you actually try to use those benefits is enormous. Prepare to spend hours on the phone with HR and the insurance companies just trying to get them to cover what they said they would cover or fix a mistake they made. It's almost enough aggravation to drive you mad!! Benefits have been cut over the past year and more cuts are coming.

Management puts a "spin" on everything. They have hired more communications people to help with marketing to different audiences, including internal. However, if you read a story they wrote about your department or how great the organization is to employees, you would be shocked and not even recognize the place they are describing! It is amazing how selective they are in listening. They only hear what they want to hear, and you'd better only speak up if you agree. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut and you might just be able to keep your job for a littel while longer. Asking for honest feedback is a ploy, and they will retaliate if you speak up.

Management is not consistent in how they treat employees or problems, and speaking up can cost you. There are pockets of good management, and if you are fortunate enough to work in those areas, you will really enjoy your work and benefit from the leadership and mentoring you will receive. However, the environment created and tolerated by the senior leadership usually drives those good managers away eventually, which is disheartening to those hoping for positive change.

Unless you are a nurse, expect your pay to be less than competitive. Perhaps they are counting on the mission to attract and keep you there. If you ask for a raise, you may be lumped into a category of someone who is "driven by money" and that is seen as negative and will hamper any advancement you were hoping for. Even HR leaders speak negatively of those who try to negotiate, provide a counter offer, or otherwise don't accept what you are given or told to do.

Processes are bureacratic and cumbersome. You have to jump through too many hoops to get things done. Too many approvals are required, don't expect to be able to think for yourself or make your own decisions. You will be stripped of any professional judgment that you bring to the job.

If you are not in management, communication is poor regarding changes. We are VERY title-conscious, so if you don't RANK, you will not receive much respect or communication.

Advice to Senior Management – Pay market-competive wages to employees other than nurses, or prepare to lose many good employees when the economy recovers.

Do not talk about how good the financials are in one meeting to look good, then in another meeting tell employees they will have limited pay increases because of finances.

If you pride yourself on accountability, then hold EVERYONE accountable, including management, not just the employees.

Pay attention to what employees tell you, don't just conduct surveys because it looks good or everyone else is doing it. You lose credibility the more you ask for feedback but then discount it or refuse to act on it.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Children's Medical Center of Dallas

Pros – A place with a mission. Children's is dedicated to helping kids, and it feels good to work here. Full of dedicated staff who take their jobs seriously.

Cons – Not very proactive about creative IT solutions, for instance allowing work from home to offset not giving out very many raises.

Advice to Senior Management – Look to your IT staff for ideas on how to maximize employee happiness and output without adding extra money to the bottom line.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Children's Medical Center of Dallas

Pros – Salary, benefits, location, co-workers, and scheduling

Cons – Staff are just numbers and easily replaced
Patient care and cleanlines of the hospital has declined to tightening of the budget

Advice to Senior Management – Look at the employees as people vs numbers; put patient care/safety first regardless of the budget

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend