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Knowledge Universe Reviews
Updated Jul 6, 2020
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Found 217 of over 225 reviews
34% Recommend to a Friend
59% Approve of CEO
Found 217 of over 225 reviews
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Recommend to a Friend
Approve of CEO
Tom Wyatt
98 Ratings
Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
Pros
- "This company has an amazing opportunity to make a positive impact on hundreds of thousands of lives, and wastes it." (in 5 reviews)
Cons
- "The pay is low and getting a raise is almost impossible.They expect way too much from employees ." (in 15 reviews)
- "doesn't even have to be a degree in anything childcare or education related but still makes more than the veteran teacher who has no degree but does have a CDA, years of training and experience." (in 5 reviews)
- 5.0Dec 22, 2016Client Service RepresentativeFormer Employee, more than 3 yearsLittleton, CO
Pros
Team oriented. Positive work environment. Management is exceptionally intuitive. Incentives are abundant. Training is consistent with corporate needs.
Cons
The Littleton corporate office closed and reverted to headquarters in Portland, OR. Only a few employees were able to transfer to their office.
- 3.0Dec 10, 2015Lead Pre-k TeacherCurrent EmployeeWashington, DC
Pros
Pros are being able to make a difference in the children's lives. Even the ones that disrespect the teachers in many ways. Being able to relate to parents, because I am parent myself. Being able to work with great staff. Even though working with all females can be hard sometimes!
Cons
I don't understand why the company waste soo much money on things that is not useful. Someone said it early, how much money was wasted on the red glasses at PDD. The company just rolled out CarTalk...what is the purpose of this, when we do it anyway through communication, individual family communication sheets and What We Learn Today? How much money was spent on that. Curriculum hasn't changed much. I feel like we talk about the same things over and over again. Where are the art projects in the KU curriculum? Parents are paying a lot of money to have things done redundantly , especially if they have a bother or sister. Honestly, parents bring their children here because of the staff. Word of mouth about how this teacher does this or that teacher does that. Its not about curriculum, it is about the staff and how they implement things. Speaking of staff...let's just say the company needs to do a better job taking care of their staff. The PDD events can be a little different every year. I just read by the end of 2015, KU will be worth 39 BILLION.. Soooooo......
- 2.0Jul 24, 2012IT DepartmentCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsPortland, OR
Pros
Still a good group of talented, professional people. At the functional levels co-workers are fun and productive to work with; people are still committed to their jobs and doing what's right for the organization. Pretty good work/life balance. We can still be proud of what we do, and the children and families who are our customers.
Cons
Going on on 4+ years with no raises and no bonuses, mediocre benefits, poor mid-level management, hypocritical corporate culture and values -- it is not the caring, respectful, positive, and enlighten organization that they like to talk about in the interviews. Note: The relatively new CEO, Tom Wyatt, is a complete and refreshing change from the previous two regimes of senior executive management, which were horrible and incompetent, and he is beginning to get some traction on changing the organization and the culture for the better -- so, hopefully optimistic.
8 - 2.0Sep 30, 2014Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee, more than 5 yearsLittleton, CO
Pros
When I first started it was a great working environment. I loved the people I worked with. It was fun. We felt like we were making a difference in the lives of children
Cons
Leadership changes the direction every 6 months. They continually change the mission and charter statements. How can you see if the direction they've chosen will make a difference if they change it 6 months later? They lay off, they hire, they lay off again. My last manager went into my time card and deleted my overtime because I was over 40 hours. Very illegal! But all she cared about was budget. There were other ways it could have been handled like reducing my vacation time. You can't just remove time I've worked! So, also unethical. And how many thousands of dollars did they spend on that employee engagement survey? They told us we'd have a say and be able to voice our opinions. They built it up so much, for so many months. When we finally took it, it was a joke! There were no places to voice our opinions or have our say. Who cares if we have a best friend at work? I will never have a "best friend" at work. Does "someone" at work care about you? Sure, I'm sure that someone in these 80 people care about me! What a waste of time and money! I'm sure result have improved as you've laid off so many people!
5 - 5.0Apr 13, 2015Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearPortland, OR
Pros
Management makes me feel like I am a valuable asset to the company. I'm encouraged to seek educational opportunities and become a better employee. The work environment is great, laid back but everyone gets their work done. Employees take pride in their work and it shows across the board from the field to the National Support Center. Tom Wyatt has taken casual Friday to casual Monday through Friday and it makes for a comfortable environment that is conducive to productivity. Management takes an interest in their employees and strives to make the work environment a healthy place to be. Random Acts of Kindness week was amazing!! You don't see that in many companies. Encouraging service values in all areas of the company makes this a great place to work.
Cons
Benefits are expensive and coverage isn't up to the average given by other employers. Mail order prescription benefits for maintenance medication is not a good plan. Overall this is a minor con compared to all the positive aspects of working for a great company
1 - 4.0Sep 6, 2015TeacherCurrent Employee, less than 1 yearKaty, TX
Pros
It is a very fun, warm, and exciting environment working with children and all the teachers there. Benefits are great and management really takes care of their employees. It is a new world everyday with kids! They are so loving and that is the best part about this job. Another pro is that this company is all over the USA so you can relocate anywhere and just transfer! It's great to know that I can impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of children while working here.
Cons
Working with small children is exhausting and you will need the energy, but it is worth it! Being a student and a teacher, it is difficult to work part-time in this company especially if you are a lead teacher. Overtime is very hard to get approved but so very much needed with all the work you need to get done.
3 - 1.0Jun 4, 2014Lead TeacherCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearPortland, OR
Pros
Loved the employees, families and center director, which made working for KinderCare tolerable.
Cons
I was actually excited to work with the company and to soon teach and interact with kids. However I quickly realized how revenue obsessed this company is. I get it, you have to make money to survive. However, the financial boundary we had to work with was borderline insane. How can you give kids quality interaction when labor hours were literally enforced down to the bone? But as soon as our center had amazing teachers, the parents noticed this and kept their children enrolled (hey that's great). At the same time, our classroom received more new children and we were actually maxed out in every room. Teachers were stressed out, burnt out and it turned into daycare rather a school atmosphere. I feel terrible for the incredible teachers that will soon be leaving because they cannot deal with the lack of support, labor hours and funds from the corporate office. Bottom line, NO EDUCATION company teaching young children should be for-profit, which KU is. And if you do a good job and your classroom stays filled, you aren't rewarded, of course besides the positive interactions with kids. Period. It truly is the fast food of education. Teachers, get jobs at independent or privately owned schools. Parents, NEVER enroll your children in a crowded classroom when you tour.
2 - 4.0Jul 27, 2012Cusstomer Relationship SpecialistCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearPortland, OR
Pros
Laid back atmosphere and culture. There's a real focus on fun most of the time--they even had a band, complete with guitar, drums, and vocals--for a short time, and there's a company soft ball team. Great people to work with!
Cons
A lot of changes have been happening very quickly lately, and not all of them good. The complete elimination of a department dedicated to assisting the field with following up with interested families is just one case in point. The stability in some departments right now is questionable because of these quick changes.
1 - 3.0Apr 1, 2013Assistant Director of KinderCareCurrent Employee, less than 1 yearColumbus, OH
Pros
Each director has freedom to run her center how she chooses. This means that all throughout town the center can vary in quality. Corporate policy is fair and child-centered. The teachers really love the children. Pay is fair for management.
Cons
I worked for 2 different centers and was so disgusted by the first one that I asked to be relocated after 2 weeks. The children literally told me that they couldn't play on the floor because it was so dirty. The staff told me the vacuum was broken. When I turned it on it worked just fine. It was a shock to the staff that it worked. Training is very poor and short. You do most of your training as you go, so the quality of training depends on the quality of the teacher in that classroom.
2 - 3.0Nov 10, 2015Anonymous EmployeeFormer EmployeePortland, OR
Pros
The mission of the company is great - providing a safe and educational environment for children. The core mission is great and something to rally behind.
Cons
Constant leadership changes - both in terms of people changing and also priorities changing. There is lack of visibility on doing what is actually right for the company. If someone powerful has an idea, it will be forced through, even if it isn't beneficial for the company. KU tried to outsource the entire Finance & Accounting group but eventually decided not to. they did outsource all of IT though. Constantly in financial woes and have a very old school style of leadership and decision making. Not a vibrant workplace.
5
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Knowledge Universe has an overall rating of 2.6 out of 5, based on over 225 reviews left anonymously by employees. 34% of employees would recommend working at Knowledge Universe to a friend and 28% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.
34% of Knowledge Universe employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Knowledge Universe 2.8 out of 5 for work life balance, 2.7 for culture and values and 2.6 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Knowledge Universe to be senior leadership, career development, benefits and the cons to be culture .
