Health Net Reviews

Pros

Some good HR technology tools for both HR and the employees.

Cons

Weak HR practices, constant rounds of lay-offs, disconnected HR team. Lack of solidarity and teamwork. Poor direction and cohesive leadership

Advice to Senior Management

Work on the culture and the profits will follow - happy employees who are in fear of losing their job on a daily basis will create a production work culture. Raise the bar on performance stop hiring the bottom rung.

Pros

Company allowed staff to grow at their own pace, if you are looking for new challenges, all you need to do is ask.

Cons

Unfortuantely, the Northeast region was sold to United Healthcare, and although a great place to work, thousands found themselves out of work in one of the tightest job markets ever.

Advice to Senior Management

I wished they had been more prudent with respect to salaries and cost of doing buisness, we might not all have been out of work at this time.

Pros

Company cares about being a good corporate and community citizen. It also cares about its employees and their corresponding environment.

Cons

There are far too many meetings to have a meeting to schedule a meetings. Decisions to very important projects took far to long to make. Additionally, the system is outdated and needs to be replaced by a more nimble, flexible one.

Advice to Senior Management

If there are two pieces of advice I'd give to senior management, that would be to integrate the systems and move towards Outlook. Lotus Notes is far too antiquated for today's business environment.

Pros

The vacation time was great.

Cons

Employees did not treat new employees well or even accepted.

Advice to Senior Management

Review your current staff you have otherwise future employees will not last long

Pros

Health Net is a good company. They have a remarkable community service culture - annual Celebration of Children - going on 20 years - employees give up their own Christmas party to throw a grand one for local needy kids. In general, the leaders are people of character, integrity, well-intentioned. Health Net Federal Services is the best-run segment of the company and I would unequivocally recommend working there - the others are hit and miss depending on the leaders, and unfortunately, except for Jay Gellert and Roger Greaves, everyone else is a temporary placeholder.

Cons

The company just can't follow through with leadership development or other employee programs. Its biggest challenge is outdated systems, and therefore limitations, make it impossible for this company to be competitive with their giants like UnitedHealth, Wellpoint, etc.
Basicaly, HN is a wannabe company -they want to be better than they are, and so they keep trying, which is a good thing. There is a huge variety of management styles - so make sure you know the department head's leadership style - there is no consistency across the company in the way employees are treated. Some employees can telecommute, have flexible schedules, and etc; others do not have this possibility, even though the same job.

Advice to Senior Management

Integrate leadership and supervisory skills throughout the company for a consistent employee experience. Emphasize customer service and relationship and don't promise customers things the systems can't handle.

Pros

Competitive pay
Competitive time off
Flexible work hours
Business casual dress policy
Lots of good people trying to get the job done

Cons

Multi-state company trying to fit every state into one
Antiquated computer software
Poor senior management
Extreme pressure to be part of Chairman's spouse charity event

Advice to Senior Management

Health Care is a local business. What works in one state (California) may not work in others. Let the individual states operate the way they need to to be competitive.

Pros

Generous benefits
Some departments allow telecommuting

Cons

Not enough cross training within departments
Does not keep up with advances in technology
ITG outsourced - created lots of problems and ill will.
Lots of bad press and embarrassing lawsuits in recent years.

Advice to Senior Management

Please stop being so penny wise and pound foolish. It was very embarassing to know how much the CEO makes per year, in the midst of the massive layoff of the Northeast division .

Pros

Great hourly pay. Awesome Benefits. Insurance is almost free for a single employee (20$ per paycheck HMO).18 days off on the first year.Tuiton assist is up to $7000 per year for Undergrad and Grad school.401k.etc.

Cons

Still shipping jobs overseas in some Depts (claims, IT etc).Lawsuits, CMS Medicare sanctions.Very structured.Management sucks.

Pros

If you know / are connected to the right executives, there are career opportunities there.

Cons

It is a very relationship driven culture, but when expected results are not achieved, the ax falls fast on senior managers (unless one is tight with the CEO). Middle and lower level management is very inexperienced and creates environments that can be difficult to work within.

Advice to Senior Management

Decide whether the company should be in business, and what kind.

Pros

Strong performers can really excel at Health Net. Pay is average, Benefits very good, Severance is better than industry. They are positioned for strong growth right now so a great time to join them.

Cons

Slow decision making at times, duplication of effort is frustrating as there are competing interests between units. Technology solutions are old.

Advice to Senior Management

Push more decisions further down in the company. Empower middle management and then hold them accountable for results. Value smaller units contribution.