Regence Reviews

Pros

Good Pay- Tellecommute available- Good people.

Cons

Unprofessional and ineffective mid-level management

Pros

Very profitable company with good pay, new Oregon president might actually improve things, potentially wide variety of new career opportunities, great facilities, generally timid employees

Cons

Middle management is a living example of the Peter Principal. Depressing atmosphere, inefficient use of competing technologies, widespread sneakiness, scheming and backstabbing are core competencies (think Real Housewives without the glitz or plastic surgery), hard to work in management for very long without learning to distrust the entire human race.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management is doing just fine for themselves. Lower management is wrapped in their personal agendas and doesn't want advice. Everyone else just needs to be comfortable with the deceit.

Pros

good company, fair, trying to do the right thing

Cons

shrinking company, operational issues, unknown factor of reform

Advice to Senior Management

change from being a culture of patience to a culture that demands results

Pros

NOT-FOR-PROFIT company that ALSO PAYS TAXES (how cool is that?), great co-workers--including managers, job-shadowing opportunities, telecommuting opportunities, PTO, 401(K), medical-dental-vision coverage OPTIONS, Wellness incentives, some team-building budget (within reason, of course), a "people before profits" mantra, public transit reimbursement, Bicycle Commuters club (open to all), on-site Red Cross Blood Drives six times a year. Best of all: TEAMWORK is respected and supported, and often rewarded.

Cons

Okay, here's the shocker: the downsides at Regence are going to be the SAME downsides at any company. It's true: your experience can depend on your manager and YOU. (Outwit, Outlast, Outplay sound familar, anyone?) Regence has pledged to reform healthcare since before the phrase became popular (again) recently. However, it's with a decidedly Republican bent--which isn't necessarily a downside, just something to consider if that matters to you.

Advice to Senior Management

1, 2 and 3: Insource, insource, insource. Lead job creation and recovery by hiring (how to say this politely) "not overseas". You took a 25% paycut for us a couple of years ago. I was so impressed. I think you're doing it again, but you just haven't told us, right? Don't be so shy about sharing what you do to "take one for the team" publicly.

Pros

The employees really care about the customers.

Cons

The manager I had would ridicule anyone that did not live in Seattle, and she wasn't joking around.

Pros

The benefits including education reimbursement used to be good. If benefits are important to you, it would be worth investigating working for Regence.

Cons

My experience included learning to navigate in a highly political, chaotic and volatile environment. Many of the employees were highly institutionalized and not trained to perform to the demands that organizational change thrust upon them.

Advice to Senior Management

None at this time.

Pros

Great benefits and work life balance. Management gives responsibilities to employees allowing for professional growth and development. People here are very nice and easy to work with. Easy going management style also enables for comfortable working environment. Gym on site, and encouragement from senior management to live an active lifestyle fosters a healthy environment.

Cons

Management tends to hire for positions from outside the company instead of promoting from within. Some managers are very hierarchical, while others are not, so who you work for makes a big difference in career development, employee happiness and ability to be promoted. Regence needs a more standardized system for promotions/employee evaluations to adjust for individual manager styles.

Pros

I know my total comp package was a little high for Portland but not Seattle. My general sense is that most areas receive competitive wages. My staff was mostly long term employees who made more than they're worth (if it was up to me, I would've paid them less and paid my more productive staffers much more. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way). Generous paid vacation time and holidays. Most departments operate under flex-time scheduling. Medical coverage was average but there was also life, 401k, disability, EAP, legal, etc. Paid parking for management. Good downtown office building with a small wooded park as a back yard. Expanded fitness center with good equipment and programs. Generally very intelligent co-workers (a few were even sincere and trustworthy). Layoffs and benefit cutbacks have driven out a large share of the worst employees and management. Staffing is currently very lean, and advancement opportunities usually multiply with economic upturns.

Cons

Most open positions won't be filled, leaving everyone with more work. Many of the best employees have already left for better opportunities. The business culture, particularly in the front-line divisions (Operations, Sales, Finance, etc.), needs a complete overhaul. It's easily the most siloed, unprofessional environment I've ever worked in. When I started at Regence, I struggled to understand the reasoning behind many of my management's decisions. I later realized their decisions were often motivated, not in the best interest of the company or its customers, but in the interests of a few individuals in the department. It took a while, but I figured out the siloed environment at Regence actually sustains all the self serving micro-cultures. They couldn't exist in a company with a singular vision of itself. Inattentive, long distance executives have allowed personal agendas to steer day-to-day decisions and policies for over a decade. I agree with the other reviews describing Regence as "inbred", "passive-aggressive to the extreme" and rife with "female bullying behavior."

Advice to Senior Management

More to the Board of Directors than executive leadership: "Culture" is a touchy-feely word, so it's easy to dismiss it's importance. The current Regence culture is why your operating costs are so high, why your projects fail so often, and why you've lost a third of your business. It disables your best employees and abuses your customers. You should make reforming it your highest priority.

Pros

Most of the people seem pretty good - and interested in being at least work friends. The company does have incentives to the employees.

Cons

You can't trust anyone -ever - not fully anyway. You CANNOT be your self.. you must be what they want.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat people like people.. not just do this now because I said so. But also not that creepy fake interest.

Pros

Telecommuting is an option in many departments; casual attire permitted (jeans but not shorts); opportunities to learn and grow in some departments; my boss and team are great and I enjoy my current job a lot.

Cons

Departments are silo'd; "We've always done it this way" mentality; backwards technologically; afraid of change; last round of staff cuts was awful.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't fear innovation.