UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) Reviews

Pros

UKG walks-the-walk about taking care of employees. It's NOT just lip-service. The benefits are top in the industry - fully paid healthcare/dental/vision for the entire family (that's 0 out of pocket for a family), 45% company 401k match, cash bonus & RSU bonuses possible depending on performance, along with so many resources for growth & mental health. All the way up the leadership ladder, they truly care about employees & their mental health.

Cons

With the merger of 2 companies, stability can feel iffy with so many re-orgs. Some teams are affected more than others, and the support for members on those teams could be better. However, for those that

Pros

I love working at UKG. The workload can be overwhelming at times but my team / manager are always there to support if additional support is ever needed.

Cons

I have no cons at this time. The workload can be overwhelming at times but again I feel I have the support if it becomes unmanageable.

Pros

- Best in class benefits (100% employer-paid healthcare and 45% 401k match) - RSUs awarded as a part of performance - IPO coming in the near future - Has embraced virtual work - Tons of growth potential - sales are strong and we are acquiring the right companies to increase our global presence

Cons

How to approach this review? To start, context is key: UKG, or Ultimate Kronos Group, is a merger of two mid-sized, successful HR software companies: Kronos, mainly focused on timekeeping, and Ultimate Software, mainly focused on payroll. Both were well-respected, growing companies with extremely complimentary products but very, very few overlapping customers. The merging of the two companies was an incredibly smart business decision that tapped into a huge amount of potential growth. Truly a match made in heaven! Culturally, however, the merger was one of the worst fits you could imagine. I am a legacy Ultimate employee, and I admit my bias. I started with Ultimate fairly young and experienced tremendous personal and career growth during my tenure there. However, the reason for my bias was a once in a lifetime work experience at what now, sadly, seems to be a once in a lifetime company. Ultimate ranked as the #2 best company to work for in the United States on the Great Places to Work list the year before the merger. This reflected a work environment that went beyond just great perks and benefits. We are talking about a company (and a leadership team) that treated employees with respect, embracing their whole selves and promoting authenticity and diversity at the highest levels. There was a focus on working smarter not harder, embracing innovation, and constantly looking to improve things not just for our customers but for our employees as well. The tagline, "People first," applied from the lowest paid employee to the most profitable customer, and, I would argue, the lowest paid employee always got priority because it was the right thing to do. Ultimate never had a layoff and committed, publicly, to never having one. Ultimate paid for 100% of healthcare for its employees and their families from the day it was founded. Ultimate increased its 401k match over time, even when it was already wildly above industry standards. Ultimate paid for funeral expenses for every employee who passed away. And at the end of the day, Ultimate valued its employees and treated them with respect - we were, if not a family, at least a group of people who were deeply dedicated to helping each other and thriving together. I had the most fulfilling work experience of my life at Ultimate. I felt trusted, valued, and cared for. I woke up excited for work most days. I made lifelong friends and worked with some of the most passionate, intelligent people I have ever met. We were united around doing something amazing together, which led to a culture that truly, honestly, was excellent. That is not the case anymore. One only has to look at the composition of our executive levels to see the beginning of the end. They are ALL Kronos executives. Where once there was diversity of thought AND diversity of ethnicity and gender, we now have little to none of either. What's it like to work at UKG? Go back in time 20-30 years. Put authoritarian boomers in charge of everything. Employees are now numbers, data points on a spreadsheet that don't matter except in how they can provide more value at less cost. Watch as leadership chooses to run their new, larger, and incredibly more complex company in exactly the same way that they ran their mid-sized timekeeping company for the last 20 years. Watch that fail. Try to teach, share, and collaborate and instead deal with politics, power grabs, and black and white thinking. Watch as the failure to learn, to adapt, to even acknowledge another way of doing things causes an erosion in both the quality of the product and the quality of the service provided to customers. Watch as top talent drains away at a trickle and then a rush (or is aggressively driven out because they dared to push back against the status quo). Watch those jobs become outsourced to India, then rinse and repeat. Is UKG a generally bad place to work? Even after writing everything above... Not really, if I'm honest. There is real opportunity for growth over the next few years as well as the promise of stability that a company of this size typically offers. The amazing Ultimate benefits were kept (for now). Some parts of the org are more functional and have done better at adapting than others. I am not personally unhappy in my job as it stands, which I hope brings some context to the above word vomit - I am not a disgruntled ex-employee, but someone who has watched this process from beginning to end and still somehow has hope, even though it's small, for a better future. I truly want things to be better; I just don't see that happening anytime soon. Overall, UKG is an okay place to work. Nothing shocking when it comes to corporate America I suppose, and I've certainly worked at worse places than this. But the fact that we are just "okay" makes me sad knowing what was lost. The potential for excellence was there, but if you are looking for the excitement, engagement, and innovation that come with a best-in-class work culture, I'd look elsewhere for now.

Pros

Great people who are kind, hardworking, thoughtful, creative and smart. It’s a respectful work environment Very Good benefits

Cons

I think some things have been tough since the merger between Kronos and Ultimate. Mergers generally are challenging and that’s to be expected. The people from both legacy companies are great! The challenge is with the long days and hours people have to put in to go through the process of merging systems, redesigning processes etc. I unfortunately have to say that I’m very concerned about the direction UKG is heading down, especially since the hiring of the new EVP, Chief Product and Technology officer and head of the EPIC organization which includes Teams such as Engineering, Cloud Ops, IT, Security and Product. These groups all roll up to this person. This leader just started a few months ago and yet has been making sweeping changes that are very concerning and have people concerned for the quality of their work experiences and their very jobs. For instance, this leader has recently put in place a rule that we cannot hire anyone outside of 50 miles from the company, current employees can no longer switch to a remote position and guess what? To bad if people leave or if we continue to struggle to hire and retain the best talent. This person has also instituted a very stringent hiring process and recently and very suddenly authorized the layoffs of almost 100 people from one of the departments that fall under them because apparently their roles were redundant. Keep in mind that prior to our merger, neither legacy company had a habit of laying people off. No one can understand why those individuals weren’t given the option to find similar positions in other departments (there are many open positions these people could have been switched to, by the way) Generally, several people are concerned about this person’s leadership style and the fact that they haven’t taken the time to get to know the people or the organization before making these kinds of decisions. Seems that under this person’s leadership this very large organization with UKG is on a fast path away from the People First mentality that the company had.

Pros

have a flexible shift so you can manage the time properly

Cons

HR repsponse kind of slow

Pros

Great place to work. Excellent benefits. Excellent opportunities

Cons

Typical challenges associated with organizations 2 years into a merger of equals

Pros

Benefits, pay, treatment of people

Cons

Some departments could use more support from more hires and necessary technology upgrades

Pros

Good Culture and good people

Cons

Company treats employees well, but employees can get lost in the shuffle.

Pros

Overall good compensation rate of

Cons

No cons observed from my side

Pros

Great benefits and work environment

Cons

Lower pay than most software companies around the country