Humana Reviews

Pros

If you are smart enough to negotiate a high salary in the beginning, you can make out pretty well.

Many locations nationwide.

Multitude of departments means there is often a job out there you will fit into.

Cons

Pay raises are based on a percentage, which actually puts those that start their career there at a disadvantage compared to those that come in from other companies.

Performance reviews have no bearing on pay increase, advancement opportunity, or anything of significance. They are pretty much just a pat on the back or a request to do something better.

Very political. If you meet the right people and do your best to woo them, you'll do well. However, if you prefer to be rewarded for performance and dedication to your job, you will be extremely disappointed.

Lack of communication from management. Everyone below management level is on a need-to-know basis...bordering on deception.

Benefits are mediocre at best. As an employee you are the guinea pig for the company; especially in regard to your health coverage. Now you only have a choice between various levels of high deductible health plans. Meanwhile, in the same market, PPO's and sometimes even HMO's are offered.

Sleepless nights. If you want to work in healthcare to help people, avoid the private payer. All decisions ultimately come down to the bottom line impact. It has a very dehumanizing effect.

You will be solicited to contribute to charities, Political Action Committees (PAC), or any other program that has little benefit to you unless you have vested interest.

Advice to Senior Management

Create an environment that encourages growth within the company and rewarding employees that contribute to the company's success. This would include changes such as restructuring the arbitrary process for salaries of a position i.e. one person doing the same job as a colleague should not be making 20k+ less if their performance is comparable.

 Be more open with your employees. There is no reason employees should not be notified of a pay increase, or lack thereof, immediately after calibration (the process where budgets are established and pay increases decided).

Enough with the corporate Kool-Aid and the solicitation. It is difficult for your average associate to genuinely care about the long-term success of the company when you consider them expendable and a short-term employee.

Pros

The pay out during open enrollment period is great, during the rest of the year its pretty slow

Cons

No room for growth, raises aren't given on a timely basis

Pros

The best reason to work for Humana is you have no fair of lay off, and the pay is good.

Cons

The Tampa office is made up of clicks, and if you are not part of the click, opportunities are not given to you.

Advice to Senior Management

Management need to talk the talk and walk the walk. Don't keep promising to do something, then doing something completely different.

Pros

Their ability to survive in todays market.

Cons

Old boy network alive and well.

Advice to Senior Management

Its not the 1800's wake up.

Pros

The pay is good, that's about it.

Cons

insurance is terrible high deductible health plan. You have to pay $3,500 oop before you have any coverage.

Advice to Senior Management

Management is not hired on their ability...There is a lot of office poltics and favortism.

Pros

- Depending on the department that you work in, management can be very flexible about your work arrangements (work from home, etc.)
- Family friendly envirionment
- Cheap to live in Louisville
- Suprising, great ethnic restaurants (wide range of food- indian, ethiopian, french, cuban, etc.)
- Good pay- especially if recruited from out of town
- For the most part, friendly people

Cons

- Difficult to find leadership opportunities since there is not a lot of movement amongst upper management (ex. Directors, VP). As a result, most movements are lateral.

-Do not always find the most competent people working in roles- placement very heavily dependent on who you know.

-If you are from out of town, the singles life here is disappointing. People get married and have families pretty young here (early to mid 20s).

-Small town envirionment which can seem very cliquish if you are from out of town- circles here are very dependent on the neighborhoods you grew up in and the high school (yes high schoool) that you went to, regardless of your age. The cliques spill over into the work envirionment. Hence, you do not always find the most competent people working in the various roles across the company.

- Unable to retain talent that it recruits from out of state. Those who tend to stay at the company are those who are either from Louisville or its surrounding areas, or have married someone from Louisville. if you are not from here, it can feel like you are living in a bubble.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management needs to move on and give the chance for new thoughts and ideas to penetrate throughout the company- CEO has been there for 15+ years. the company very much depends on the mindset that its past successes will automatically detemine that of its future- health insurance is an industry that has been historically stagnant and resistant to change. Yet with the onslaught of healthcare reform and the health industry's trend to become more consumer-centric, leadership needs FRESH, CREATIVE ideas...although ideas are being created in the trenches of middle management, it is not permeating upwards. As a result, the company many times is unable to retain the great talent that it recruits from out of state.

Pros

* 23 PTO days to start (29 after 10 years)
* Some flexibility to work remotely (on my team, at least)
* Work/life balance is good (regular 9-5 hours, at least on my team)
* Great 401(k) matching program
* Emphasis on promotion from within

Cons

* Health coverage plan is extremely poor (high-deductible, although there is an HSA matching contribution plan)
* Raises are extremely rare (i.e. factoring in inflation, the longer you work here, the less you make)
* Promotions seem few and far between
* Siloed departments and functional areas (very little integration; sense of separateness even at the same location)
* Many managers lack competency for their levels (they were promoted from call rep positions during Humana's growth in the past 10 years)
* Diversity is limited (given lip service but not much more)
* Gym is NOT free and has very limited hours
* Cafeteria is expensive and of mediocre quality

Advice to Senior Management

Be more clear and concise about strategy. Make high-level, top-down commitments to diversity and integration, particularly integration of data systems (consider fully implementing SAP or a similar ERP system). Create more clarity around career paths and possibilities. GIVE RAISES, at least cost-of-living adjustments; otherwise employees are losing money by staying (and good, intelligent employees will choose not to stay). Make the gym free (most other Fortune 500 companies have free gyms; no excuse for it not being so here, particularly for a health care company). Give employees better health plans, or at least more options.

Pros

- Growing company (my division)
- Good benefits
- Pretty good at sticking to a 40 hour work week with some flexibility
- Nice "campus" in terms of gym, cafeteria, etc.

Cons

- It's a large company, so nobody actually cares about you. You can be one of the most diligent workers, but the middle management will always find something to criticize you or your team for.
- Management is EXTREMELY overdone. They monitored bathroom breaks, if that gives you an indication of how much they micromanage.
- Management also never truly takes any of your ideas into consideration no matter how good they are unless they asked you to do it as a "side project" and expect you to still do all your other work to its general capacity as well.

Advice to Senior Management

- Get middle management people that actually know how to manage (not micro-manage), give feedback, and recognize talent

Pros

Working with people who care.
Opportunity to help others.
Strong community assistance.
Excellent pay and benefits.
Excellent growth potential.
Embraces diversity.
Encourages healthy work and home life.
Innovative and explores opportunities to expand into new product development.
Seeks continuous improvement activities.

Cons

Complex processes that can create challenges to be effective for customers.
Some of the Leadership do not get on the level of employees to truly understand challenges.

Advice to Senior Management

Advice: Disguise yourself and "get dirty" and work with employees at different levels to obtain a better perspective of their challenges. Even if you have worked up through the ranks, it is too easy to forget how difficult the simplest of tasks can be. Every one needs an occasional reminder. In addition, read a book by Dr. Edward Deming.
Feedback: Overall, my experience at Humana has enriched my life and I want to say thank you.

Pros

Was in the training program. Enjoyed it.

Cons

Long work hours and disorganized upper managment