UnitedHealth Group Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

Quality of the people you work with
Good pay
Flexibility to work around the country and stay with the same country
Fortune 20 company?

Cons

Lot of bureaucracy since it's so big
information sharing among the departments is needing improvement

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to work to streamline and make it easier for low level leadership to make bigger changes
More encouragement and promotion for people who come up with innovative solutions to big problems

Pros

IT leadership has great vision and goals.

Cons

It isn't easy to move up or out of your department into jobs that will stretch your existing experience level.

Advice to Senior Management

Seek out staff to proactively advance them to new opportunities.

Pros

You have to quickly learn how to navigate through the organization's processes, and not to rely solely on your manager to set you up when you get on board (e.g. log in access to certain accounts, etc). So far my on-boarding has been better compared to my previous employers, where sometimes it takes a couple weeks just to get your workstation set-up and you have to pretty much stare into space during your first week of work because you don't have a computer. In my experience with UHG, my hiring manager pretty much had my basic workstation ready for use right on my first day.

On-boarding process is pretty easy, as you simply get access to a new hire website and it outlines what you need to do within the 1st week, month, and 90 days from your start date. I am pretty particular with that because it's the first few days of work that you typically have to do piles of paperwork and it's easy to miss something, plus I am not a fan of spending time faxing stuff out to HR. Most of the HR stuff is done online.

As far as being a new hire, it has been great, but you really should be able to hit the ground running, as they pretty much throw you in the middle of a project with little or no information at all, and you have to be proactive with a lot of things to keep up. I'm lucky I got a grasp on things when I got pulled into a project. There's still management engagement, and they provide whatever support they can give you (no micromanagement).

Dress codes range from business attire (suit & tie) to somewhat lower (collar, sleeves, slacks). Since I wasn't oriented with that I typically just assess what other people are wearing in the building and decide which is too casual. Definitely not a shirt-and-jeans environment. This is just for their main building, I guess because the executives reside there. It seems that for the other buildings, it's pretty laid-back. They don't have dress code marshals running around, though, so as far as I know as long as you look presentable, you're not going to be in trouble.

The have a high variety of the age range of the employees, which I like. And they are willing to hang out. I have had jobs where it's pretty much go-to-work-and-go-home type, as most of my teammates just up and leave when it hits end of workday for the most part. Here they have times where you either go for a happy hour with the team someplace nearby, or have lunch in a conference room just to chat - even for just an hour. And that's even when they're extremely busy. I appreciate that in the workplace - it makes me feel like I'm part of the team even if I am a newbie. And that motivates me to go to work everyday. They are pretty good at considering your time at work - they don't just throw meeting schedules on your calendar over lunch hours without checking with you.

It's too early yet to determine how the promotion/performance ratings are being done, so I'll leave that out for the next update.

Cons

Cons are pretty superficial but I'm putting them here anyway...

Their buildings are pretty scattered - I came in a period where hundreds of constructions are going on in the area, so it is crazy trying to navigate between buildings when you have to (they do have an inter-office shuttle service, but still). Hopefully they'll start consolidating their departments into one building so it's easier. Plus, the main building's cafeteria is so much better.

It's not totally a Con, but it's pretty interesting that they don't really orient you firsthand on the dress-code policy, and other house-rules. I don't really care much for having these but I typically had to undergo some orientation about the dress-codes and stuff on my first day. The only orientation they have is more on the employee benefits, important company websites, information management/security policies, sexual harrassment, and insider trading.

I know UHG is driving for "being green", but they need paper plates in their break rooms. Also, they need to work on stocking office supplies. I can't find even the humble push-pin in their stock bin - all I see are folders and printing paper. :)

Their websites need a bit more work because it was a tad confusing for a new hire to navigate through, but once you get used to it it's OK.

Advice to Senior Management

None so far - just keep it up!

Pros

Great company to work for. Many locations across the country. Diversity in the company.

Cons

Great company with some departments being run by clueless leaders. Senior management is not in touch with the reality of the work being done by line workers nor has the skill to direct/guide the workers. Your success depends on how much you are ready to forgo your individuality and agree to everything that your manager has to say. Health plan and benefits suck.
Hiring and attrition are both high. Hiring is done with total disregard to what the person can bring to the table and contribute. It is rather based on who in management knows that person.

Advice to Senior Management

Put checks and balances on who are hired to do a job. Many management positions are filled by clueless people without proper education or experience. An organization of skilled employees cannot be run by clueless management. Don't use the "open door" policy when there isn't anything like an open door policy for discussing issues and concerns. Be engaged with line workers than trust your direct reports to fill you in on their favorite employees.

Pros

The company is predictable and some work is interesting. I think it largely depends on who manages you for how good of an experience it is.

Cons

The health benefits are pretty poor for full time employees.

Pros

UHG is a large company, and I have heard that other lines of business are better-managed, so my experience may not have been average. That said, I have yet to see UHG on any "Top 100 Places to Work" or similar lists. The fact that it's a large company means that if you like the company, perhaps you can move to a more desirable line of business if the one you start in is not a good fit.

Cons

I will start with the fact that my supervisor did not want to give me the day off so I could attend my dad's memorial service. Another person on my team, who did not do the same job I did, already had a scheduled PTO day, and my manager was unwilling to bend her own rule regarding how many people could be off work on a given day. Never mind that my dad's death couldn't be scheduled - she was just unwilling to see this as a special situation. For me, it was downhill from there. I'd been there for 11 months at that point, and did not have frequent unplanned PTO days. I was a good employee, and this case really soured me on this company. It took the approval of the Senior VP of Human Capital for me to get this PTO request approved, so I could spend time with my extended family as we said out final good-byes to my father. This was a unique situation, and one that most employees are unlikely to encounter.

The above situation likely came about because we were severely under-staffed; we simply did not have sufficient staff to consistently complete our work accurately, on-time, and to the satisfaction of our clients, who are UHG employees. The stress was incredible. There was little to no support in taking measures to be proactive; we saw the same problems constantly, pay period after pay period (i.e., every two weeks), and NOTHING was done to try to train employees how to avoid making the mistakes that were resulting in incorrect paychecks. I raised this issue via an "official" channel and was promptly terminated.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow people who want to do quality work to do just that. Support proactiveness. Sufficiently staff your departments so that your employees aren't driven to unhealthy lengths to cope with job stress. Don't just say you're a healthcare company, actually CARE about people's physical and mental health - and that means your insureds' as well as your employees'. Making shareholders happy is necessary and important, of course, but it's not the ONLY important thing.

Pros

Being a large company there are extensive resources that can be drawn upon and many opportunities available. You can find good and bad in any large organization. I'm happy working in a department that has a long term commitment to its employees with concern for our advancement and well being.

Cons

There are many layers of management with organizational politics taking away from productivity. At times UnitedHealth Group can act like an evil empire, particularly with M&A activity.

Advice to Senior Management

I feel UnitedHealth Group management is doing a great job moving the company forward and more important, improving healthcare in difficult times.
I would like to see more real research and development to complement innovation goals.

Pros

Good vacation and relatively good pay
Work can be exciting
Relatively progressive company for the healthcare field
Mostly smart coworkers

Cons

Management neither inspiring nor transparent
Loads of corporate politics and frequent re-orgs (your boss changes annually)
Management is removed and doesn't get its own business, making a lot of stupid decisions
Low value placed on rewarding long term employees, unless you're part of the "fraternity" and hang out with Hemsley

Pros

A good balance between work and personal life.

Cons

Rewards/Bonuses/Raise is low.
No proper direction from management.

Advice to Senior Management

Need better work in managing resources/employees.

Pros

ability to move up quickly

Cons

uber competitive, and expected to work long hours