University of Phoenix Reviews in Phoenix, AZ Area

Pros

Great benefits package! Tuition discount! Friendly coworkers!

Cons

Managers and upper management guidlines are inconsistent throughout the University. What is okay for one division is not okay for another with upper management changing rules. Negative attitude and individuals in management out for themselves.

Advice to Senior Management

Please care for the employees that work within your organization because we have cared for the university and its students. The university turned it back on me when I got sick.

Pros

work hour are good, have the pleasure of having a great manager for my team. Tuition benefit is an awesome perk.

Cons

There have been a lot of changes that make having a career progression plan almost impossible right now. Very frustrating.

Advice to Senior Management

Develop the career progression model and find different ways to recognize and incentivize employes in the mean time.

Pros

The work environment is low stress and professional. The people I work with are well trained, and add much to the job experience.

Cons

The hours can be late depending on the shift. Also, working with customer service can be a draining task, and can present frustration

Advice to Senior Management

I am very proud of the company I work for. The experience here has been the best of any place I've worked.

Pros

The schedule was relatively flexible and the benefits were well above those of other companies. there is a cafeteria and gym at the main Phoenix campus. Covered parking if your shift started early. Easy to make friends with coworkers.

Cons

The cafeteria is expensive and the gym is packed all the time. When you leave the company, you don't exist, even to good friends you made there.
     Management is a bit aloof as to what is really happening with their teams. Upper management is worse. They both focus too much on the number of students enrolled and not the quality of the students enrolled. Top performers have low retention but that doesn't matter because their students struggled through the first class and barely managed to pass. Two weeks into the next class, there is no more responsibility on the part of the enrollment counselor, even when the student drops out during the third week of the class.
     There is little to no communication when it comes to new programs...they just appear on the website and counselors look like idiots because they don't know about it.
     My manager was always giving me extra assignments that took away from my smiling and dialing and I ultimately got let go because my numbers were sub-par. When my manager asked me why my numbers were low, I told him it was because of all the extra crap he makes me do. If I said no to a project, he would give the dead leads to work with. If I did the projects, I got better leads but had no time to work them.

Advice to Senior Management

Play fair. Promote from your own division and promote only those that can actually do the job. Promoting your buddies from other divisions just so you can work together is not beneficial for anyone.

Pros

Great training program and for me quite a few classes to teach. A great deal of autonomy for instructors.

Cons

No direct supervision, contract management is one sided, low pay, unannounced changes to contract and course requirements. If you have a common last name then you may get dropped from the university e-mail list.

Advice to Senior Management

Contract employees are full time employees and should be accorded the same respect as any other employee.

Pros

Free education until Graduate program, then significant savings. If yor goal is to obtain an education while you work at UOP it is a great choice. The benefit package is excellent and reasonably priced as well. The company takes good care of employees from a benefits standpoint.

Cons

The mid-level managers are very inexperienced and offer no significant coachng abilities or assistance with career growth. The managers focus on the number of students more than the quality of the students being admitted to the program. The position is more comparable to a sales call center than an advisory role.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend time developing and training the low and mid level managers competencies. Communications and transparency are lacking in day to day operations. Promotions into management positions should not be based on a person's performance related to the number of students enrolled. Persons possessing leadership qualities, emotional intelligence, and business development knowledge would be much better management candidates.

Pros

tuition reimbursement, decent health benefits

Cons

too much emphasis on selling education to students

Pros

The pay, benefits and professional development are the only reasons to work there along with the relaxed atmosphere where it seems there is no accountability for actually working.

Cons

I would not recommend this place for someone who is motivated, competent or looking to bring innovation to the workplace. There is too many layers, politics and conflicts of interest between outside companies and the internal departments. When there were layoffs and cutbacks of employees they were still overspending on ineffective marketing, expensive sports partnerships, paying huge salaries to friends and business partners of VPs and Presidents.

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend taking a hard look at the ROI of departments and look for blatant conflicts of interest that are happening in the organization. While top level managers are prospering the employees who actually do the work are treated poorly, have incompetent managers or receiving no recognition for their work.

Pros

Attend classes at University of Phoenix free of charge (awesome perk).
No micromanaging as long as you are working hard.
You get to determine your game plan for the day without much interference.
You can put your feet up on your desk, walk around, bounce a ball off the wall, etc. (as long as you stay on the phone).
You can take your lunch break pretty much whenever you want.
Cafeteria and gym on site at the Phoenix location.
Manager was very cool and let me alter my work schedule when needed.
Chances for lateral and vertical moves within the company.

Cons

Lots of outbound calling to leads that have already been called countless times.
Receive many inbound calls from people who are terrible candidates for an expensive online education.
Too many meetings.
Not for the faint of heart - you will talk to some grouchy folks from time to time.
Being on the phone so much can be a grind sometimes.
Company was in a state of flux and confusion following the the GAO investigation (might be better now, though).

Advice to Senior Management

Stop with any marketing that makes potential students think they are going to be able to attend through Pell grants alone.

Pros

They sell the place well up front. The benefits are pretty good if you don't already have a degree.

Cons

Upper manager is ignorant of what really goes on happy they people below them feed them the lines they want to hear. Local management speaks out of both sides of their mouth - don't work over 40 hours but also be available 24-7. Make exceptions to every policy they have. Good ol' boy/girls club. When they say they change lives, it is framed in the positive but I would take it with a serious grain of salt.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit promoting bloviated PHD-ed and MSN-ed into management areas. They are not business minded nor employee focused. Keep them as Faculty where they can be stroked for their intelligence.