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Open Polytechnic

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Soul destroying, mind-numbing wage slavery for people with PhDs - Academic Staff Member Open Polytechnic Employee Review

1.0
Jul 24, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Yoga classes are good and you get to teach people all over New Zealand.

Cons

There were so many useless administrative processes, which changed every few moths, were badly designed, inefficient, and poorly explained. And no one was interested in ideas for improving the efficiency. Most of the people working there are literally technically incompetent. Even my HoS could barely use a computer. There were no employees there under the age of 40 and the location in Lower Hutt made it very difficult for anyone commuting from Wellington. I didn't do a PhD so I could spend half my time messing around with spreadsheets trying to make sense of other people's poorly designed planning documents. There are so many better newly designed tools that can manage all aspects of the planning and administrative processes but the OP is still using Excel 97 spreadsheets to track hours spent working on revisions that you have to email every week to a admin person who probably then engages in a bunch of other obsolete processes. It was so ridiculous and a waste of resources all around. The board made so many decisions that impacted our teaching without bothering to even consult any of the actual teaching staff, so many times I felt like they were actually trying to make it harder for me to do my job. The whole iQualify thing is another huge slap in the face to the academic staff.

Explore other reviews about Open Polytechnic

4.0
Dec 25, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fabulous culture and flexible arrangements. Working towarrds a valuable endeavour.

Cons

Limited growth and promotion opportunities.

5.0
Aug 23, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The Open Polytechnic is a great place to work. The flexibility makes it easy to balance life and work, and the staff support is excellent. There’s a really positive culture, and I genuinely enjoy being part of the team.

Cons

There are none for me

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