Northwest Administrators Reviews in Seattle, WA

Current Employee – been working at Northwest Administrators full-time for more than a year

Pros – Excellent pay, union benefits, dental/medical/vision, PENSION, room to move up within the company

Cons – The dress code is ridiculous - nylons for women even if they're wearing pants?! The break/lunch schedules for contract employees are downright draconian. Also, management styles vary dramatically by department; you might move to a new department and find that your new boss is super uptight, or that they're actually just concerned with everyone getting their work done. Also, I know for a fact that current employees have been asked to go and post positive reviews. Which is sketchy.

Advice to Senior Management – Revamp the dress code (especially considering 75% of the departments never see a customer). Make the hiring process from contract employee to salaried employee more transparent (right now, as a contract employee, I have no way to apply for a salaried position even if I hear about it, which I may not!). Take employee complaints about management (Pension Services) more seriously.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Northwest Administrators full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – - Good compensation including Christmas bonus.
 - Great Medical/Dental/Vision and 401k benefits. Defined Benefit Pension option for bargained employees.
 - ORCA and ride-share programs.
 - Excellent location.
 - Great hours and work/life balance.

Cons – - Dress code: I have seen many reviews about the dress code but this company handles the health and retirement of several hundred thousand people and we need to look the part.
 - Parking: It is hard to park in Eastlake.

Advice to Senior Management – Allow for more time in schedules to interact with staff.

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

Former Employee – worked at Northwest Administrators full-time

Pros – Decent pay
Health/Dental
Great view of Lake Union/Space Needle.
Christmas Bonus

Cons – - Micromanagemente
- Annual Reviews are late by up to 6 months, so if you are doing bad they will tell you when its too late.
- Complete disregard to loyal employees.
- They reward you with certificates from Microsoft Word and $5 gift cards to Starbucks which isn't enough for one drink.
- Favoritism from supervisors if you know someone in upper management
- Equipment from the 1990s
- Dress code from 1980s
- Tardy Policy, they hate it when you are late and wont reward you for coming in early/staying late unless its overtime.
- Clock in machine is in the end of the hallway (you will routinely see employees running from the entrance to the clock in machine at 7:59 AM (Dayshift) and 4:14 PM (Nightshift)
- The alternate way to clock in is on the computer which requires a login password on the main screen and an additional login password on the portal.
- Must pay for parking even though the company owns the garage/building.

Advice to Senior Management – It's 2013, not 1950s. The policies should be changed. Employee morale is horrible.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Northwest Administrators full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The wages are pretty decent and remain so if you are in a union position. The benefits are affordable. There are some very nice people working in the office who have taken it upon themselves to improve office morale- without any support or encouragement from management.

Cons – Simply put, the management of this company is so out of touch that it's actually funny. The dress code explicitly forbids things like western wear suits, string ties, and culottes. I have actually witnessed a member of management take a ruler and measure the sleeves on an employee's summer blouse to determine if said sleeves met the mandated 4 inch rule. If you are a union contract employee you are not supposed to have any beverage at your desk except for water in a company branded bottle, however coffee and other beverages are perfectly acceptable for management. A former employee was reprimanded for going to the water fountain to refill her company approved water bottle. Despite the fact that a large percentage of work done is data entry, the use of personal music devices is forbidden. I was informed that this policy was in place, and this is a direct quote, "Because one time, this one guy was, like, watching a movie on his iPod" Most of the policies in place at NWA seem to be overreactions to one time infractions by past employees.

All of the above is ridiculous and maddening, but the truly frustrating part is that the day to day business procedures of the company are also hopelessly out of date. Most employees do not have the option to email clients and lack any web access at all, even to sites that would greatly improve their efficiency. For instance, no one is allowed to access the postal service website to determine the validity of an address to which they are sending an important letter for the 4th time. Attempts to update or streamline processes are dismissed as 'shortcuts' and are thus deemed unacceptable. Several times basic office supplies such as envelopes have been unavailable for up to a week.

Advice to Senior Management – Get your policies out of 1970 and into the 21st century. When the turnover rate for a department is 3-12 employees per month, you have a problem. Your employees are dissatisfied to a dangerous degree. You are putting your business at risk. The levels of apathy and outright negligence are incredibly high. It is very apparent to every employee that upper management believes that all employees are interchangeable cogs in the money machine, unworthy of respect or consideration. The dissatisfaction and rancor levels in the office are so high that I would not be surprised to learn that major fraud has taken place; some employees would do it more out of spite than greed. This is a toxic place to work.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Northwest Administrators full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – union protection (which can also be a con)
good pay for non-management

Cons – the medical customer service call center supervisors are horrible. one is a huge gossip that tells her 'friends' everyone's business. the other is so spineless that he can't even tell people to shut up when they are being loud in the call center. the supervisors also have no clue the actual content of what the reps do. they can't help you with anything except scheduling and payroll.

as far as the company goes, the higher ups (literally the 4th floor) have no idea what goes on and don't seem to care. once a year they come down from their offices and serve christmas lunch to the employees. maybe if they walked around they could see that people are unhappy and need a morale boost. oh, and they might figure out that in 2013 no woman should be required to wear nylons with a dress, let alone with pants.

Advice to Senior Management – medical should require that people in management know everything that their reps know. they should also look at what the reason is for high turnover. i was making $21 an hour and still decided to walk away for my own sanity. that reflects on the management.

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

Current Employee – been working at Northwest Administrators full-time for more than a year

Pros – Occasional Travel (If managment likes you)
If you like to stay silent for 8 hours / day management will think you are a diligent worker
Health Insurance/Dental pretty good
If you are in the union it is extremely hard to get fired so job security!

Cons – Strict Dress Code
No sympathy towards employees (who cares about a death in your family)
Trust is completely broken by being tardy by 5 minutes a few times to work (Not clocking in exactly at O'clock, oh by the way there was a meeting called about how we are supposed to be salary workers therefore it is about the 'work' not the 'time' being made up.)
If you are a union worker you need to purchase a company waterbottle, You can't have a can of coke at your desk unless you put it in the company waterbottle first

But mainly,
Favorable 'projects' given to Supervisor's friends not employees who have earned it
    -one employee was really terrible at entering data so he was given another project where he could actually think. This is actually QUITE rewarding for this job. The employee read books while billing time to the Trust. Talk about compliance!
    -Temporary Trainer position given to a person with absolutely zero patience, calls new employees "stupid" repeatedly during training.
                     - Senior positions given to people who have no motivation and have been with the company for over a year versus employees who are actually professional and want to work towards understanding and solutions with clients.

So NO, Not everyone is nice and people who work hard don't get rewarded.

Advice to Senior Management – So many things wrong with this company. I hope Chris Hughes reads this site sometimes and can make things a little more tolerable for the employees to see what is going on with his company and make steps to change it.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Northwest Administrators full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good medical benefits, bonuses, proximity to Starbucks.

Cons – Negative environment, no incentive to excel or to provide innovation, refusal to change and adapt to the changing world, micro management.

Advice to Senior Management – Northwest Administrators demonstrates the highest level of micro management from a company in the 21st century. Every minute of any employee’s day is monitored and checked in order to make sure the employee is complying with the standards of conduct set forth by the company. An employee is evaluated on whether their tie is on straight, that they are in their chair by 7:59am, not out of their chair before 5:01pm, and that they take their scheduled breaks at the appropriate time and for only the allotted amount of time. These of course are salary employees who are not required to punch a time clock. This however, is in complete contradiction with the idea that it is expected of every employee to put in extra time when they are on the road. Employees are expected to act as though they are hourly when it suits the company’s needs (such as never leaving the office before 5:00pm) and that they are salary when it suits the company’s needs (such as spending extra hours when working with a client). There is however, no reward for putting in extra time. Those who stay late or show up early are given no incentive to continue doing so. Employees who show up a few minutes late once or twice are vilified and accused of the highest treason. It does not matter if your quality of work is high and you are succeeding at your job, those three minutes you missed in the morning is the only thing that reflect on you as an employee.
This brings me to the point that every employee is assumed guilty of committing every indiscretion upon hire and is therefore not trusted out of the sight of upper management. That is of course with the exception of the employees who have managed to win over their male superiors with coy flirting and inappropriate office relationships. These employees can do no wrong. Another way to succeed within this company is to accuse other employees of doing something “wrong” and getting them caught in the act. This will get you a promotion. Some of the most inappropriate and out of line employees have won themselves a promotion because they preach the NWA mantra and accuse others of not following their lead and drinking the Kool-Aid. Never mind the fact that they keep salacious photos on their phones and that they themselves are the very definition of a liability within the office environment.
Furthermore, the management is comprised of adults who suffer from severe “little man syndrome”. The emotional maturity of those in management reflects that of an 8 year old who is desperately trying to be popular in school. These adults were clearly bullied and wildly unpopular growing up and have decided to turn their job into their revenge. For a young employee, your supervisors are not helpful resources or people to look up to for advice on how to advance your skills or your career. Your supervisor is the principal that is going to call your Mom and accuse you of skipping class. It is refreshing to know that in my new job, at a new company, that my boss is like a mentor. I can learn from her and excel in my job because of her guidance and support. This is not the case at NWA.
Northwest Administrators is simply lucky that uninformed people have fallen into a job with the company and have the misfortune of having to work there. In the two years I spent there, 25 people came and went in my department. We had a department the size of 30. There is a complete lack of incentive to succeed and grow within the institution. Smart people, who are valuable employees leave every day and thankfully for them, go on to bigger and better things.

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

Former Employee – worked at Northwest Administrators full-time for more than a year

Pros – You can be lazy and take 2 hour lunches and nobody cares

Cons – -Worst employer ever
-Everyone is scared of the idiotic owner
-Everything is micromanaged
-No room for growth
-Pay is not competitive
-They expect you to make business calls on your personal cell phone

Advice to Senior Management – Beyond hopeless

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 Northwest Administrators full-time for more than a year

Pros – Stable company.
Great benefits, and fair pay...better than fair for entry level positions.
Lots of opportunity for growth and development.
Nice office space.
Friendly knowledge people working to provivde great service to customers.

Cons – Lack of flexibility...the policies are the policies. So no flextime, no casual Fridays, for instance.

Advice to Senior Management – Need to recognize that the world has changed and workplace policies need to meet the changing needs of employees.

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

Former Employee – worked at Northwest Administrators full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – This was a great opportunity for me right out of school. I learned a lot of great skills and work ethic. I also gained a lot of experience working out of my comfort zone as I worked with a variety of clients in the Audit function. With my hard work and progress I gained additional assignments that increased in priority within the Department. Eventually, I gained the trust of Management to be given travel trips to the East Coast and Los Angeles. Not all of my travel was glamourous, but they never promised that either. The travel was still really nice as I was able to do some sightseeing on the company's dime.

Overall, the position is a great entry level position that allowed me to figure out what I wanted to do with my career. A real positive was how supportive my Supervisor was to developing me and my skills to put me in a postion for a promotion if one became available.

As to the other posts on here about the postion, I don't know what they are talking about. All I can say from my experience is that I had a great time and developed as a professional. I can only imagine that those posts were from one of the less than professional workers that were in the Department at the same time as me. He just wasn't a very hard worker, but wanted the nice trips like Miami or Chicago even though they didn't give their best effort.

Cons – The Company is a little conservative especially for Seattle, but I get it. They want to show they can be trusted with the Billions of dollars these trust funds invest with them. Who would you want watching your investments a guy in a shirt and tie or some shlub in torn jeans.

Advice to Senior Management – Open up the dress code just a little. Slacks and a button up shirt is still professional for those that aren't meeting with clients.

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