University of Pennsylvania Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Large research facility
A lot of resources/equipment to pursue research endeavors

Cons

Pay
paid on a monthly basis

Pros

Good benefits, nice people, good working environment

Cons

not easy to get promotion

Pros

Personal/career growth for employees. Option to take classes and pursue a degree at a highly ranked institution. Great health benefits for all employees.

Cons

No major negatives, there is a slight disconnect between PIs and staff but that is on a case by case basis.

Advice to Senior Management

Better overall communication with staff, particularly regarding staff changes and work related decisions that effect the staff (need for effective communication).

Pros

Very good tuition benefits, decent health insurance, flexible schedules, generous PTO, work-life balance, mentoring and professional development opportunities, chance to work with intelligent people

Cons

Lower pay than industry, limited opportunities for advancement in my field, bureaucracy and politics sometimes get in the way, annual "merit increases" to pay barely cover cost of living, difficult to get a significant raise.

Advice to Senior Management

More transparency in the systems would be helpful. Sometimes something as seemingly simple as ordering supplies gets overly complicated between finding the correct person to talk to, an approved vendor and so on.

Pros

Benefits of the health system

Cons

Difficult to obtain grants, research lacks funding

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Great work/life balance, excellent benefits; great facilities; people are excellent to work with; free tuition for your kids; great energy on campus.

Cons

Parking is expensive; commute can be long depending on where you live; take a while to get hired- process long

Advice to Senior Management

Make hiring process take a shorter amount of time; require departments to encourage employees to work at home when possible;

Pros

very good research environment, active faculty and students

Cons

But the management within each individual lab is completely up the the skills and personality of the lab head

Advice to Senior Management

provide each employee more channel of feedback other than their direct supervisor, for example, regular feedback from other colleagues and customers.

Pros

brand name recognition
collaborative environment (to an extent)
good career development department
relatively relaxed environment (flexible scheduling, casual dress, etc)

Cons

poor feedback on performance
collaboration is hit or miss-- depends on the individual
standard university politics
potentially overly research focused

Pros

Prestige of working at an Ivy league university; good reputation

Cons

Lots of apathy; poor pay as a postdoc and poor opportunities for advancement

Advice to Senior Management

Reviews that are solicited should not just be done so for reporting purposes, but to serve as an instrument for change in a rapid manner

Pros

Wonderful, talented colleagues, excellent benefits, outstanding reputation, challenging work, great opportunities for professional development, family friendly benefits, diversity, beautiful campus.

Cons

Very decentralized, some people find it hard to transfer within the University

Advice to Senior Management

More communication to staff