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    UW Medicine Reviews

    Updated May 27, 2017
    183 reviews

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    Full-time Part-time
    3.3
    Star Star Star Star Star
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    Approve of CEO
    UW Medicine CEO Paul G. Ramsey
    Paul G. Ramsey
    2 Ratings

    183 Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • Great benefits, good service culture (in 24 reviews)

    • Most people leave around 3:30 pm so work-life balance is great if you're into that (in 12 reviews)

    Cons

    • UW resists cost of living pay raises during contract bargaining (in 4 reviews)

    • low pay, terrible CEO just got fired (in 5 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. Helpful (1)

      "Hit or miss."

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Research Assistant in Seattle, WA
      Current Employee - Research Assistant in Seattle, WA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at UW Medicine full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Great benefits. Work-life balance. Tenure.

      Cons

      Management can vary greatly, depending on your own department structure.

    2. Helpful (1)

      "The size affects productivity"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      Former Employee - Program Manager in Seattle, WA
      Former Employee - Program Manager in Seattle, WA

      I worked at UW Medicine full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      You'll be contributing to health care at one of the biggest employers in the region with the possibility of moving within the University of Washington system

      Cons

      There are just too many protocols to satisfy meaning that often times, timelines get stretched beyond recognition and nothing gets completed as had been planned
      Pay is not as good as at other comparable employers in the area and so staff keep moving, and then high turnover contributes to delays

      Advice to Management

      Pay mid level staff better to get more loyalty and stay power
      Cut back on some of the unnecessary committees on this and that

    3. "Well intentioned, but high turn over and lack of incentive to stay."

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Patient Services Specialist in Seattle, WA
      Current Employee - Patient Services Specialist in Seattle, WA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at UW Medicine full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Full benefits, pension plan, great health insurance, union protection. Connected to the transit system and subsidized transit card. Direct deposit.

      Cons

      Multiple competing priorities and lack of support for admin support staff. Lack of raises once you reach top of pay scale (usually within 1-3 years after hire). UW resists cost of living pay raises during contract bargaining. SEIU 925 doesn't communicate much with union members until the last minute.

      Advice to Management

      Give admin support staff cost of living raises without the union having to fight you for it. Support staff when patients are abusive to staff. Don't reward bad behavior from staff and patients.

      4. Is this helpful? The community relies on everyone sharing – Add Anonymous Review

    4. Helpful (1)

      "I'm now Ron Swanson and loathe government"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Seattle, WA
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Seattle, WA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at UW Medicine full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      1) Lack of micromanagement is a positive.
      2) Good health care benefits and retirement plans.
      3) Easy accessibility by light rail or other public transit.

      Cons

      1) Low pay for the area.
      2) Abusing job titles to mask technical positions, lowering their pay grade.
      3) Sometimes I go two weeks without seeing my manager, who is either on vacation, sick, or too busy for basic check-ins. Do they even care?
      4) Far too much stress given the paltry salary.
      5) Both UW and UW Medicine seem to discriminate heavily against younger employees, giving them grunt work and not promoting from within. They'd rather hire mediocre staff ages 35-50 who aren't a flight risk and won't complain.
      6) Working retail and fast food in high school was almost more enjoyable than this soul-sucking job.

      Advice to Management

      It's not a responsible use of tax dollars to have young employees leaving your organization due to stupid bureaucracy and poor leadership.

    5. Helpful (1)

      "Not bad...but worth it?"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Medical Laboratory Scientist in Seattle, WA
      Current Employee - Medical Laboratory Scientist in Seattle, WA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at UW Medicine full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      -Benefits are pretty good
      -Location is easy to get to
      -Great support from higher ups

      Cons

      -Lower pay than surrounding hospitals
      -Always seem to be understaffed, mostly no room in budget
      -Everything revolves around the success of nurses and doctors, which is disappointing if you aren't either of those.

      Advice to Management

      If you want to succeed against Childrens, Virginia Mason, Swedish, and even Harborview, start paying on par to them. Also, look beyond the nurses and medical school to help make UWMC better.

    6. "Stressful, unrealistic, and unsupportive"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Seattle, WA
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Seattle, WA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at UW Medicine full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Constantly changing environment with daily learning opportunities.

      Cons

      Not a safe working environment, dysfunctional leadership, and processes that impede growth at personal and organization levels.

      Advice to Management

      Change your approach or keep losing valuable employees.

    7. "Great benefits, lots of opportunities, and plenty of red tape"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Analyst in Seattle, WA
      Current Employee - Analyst in Seattle, WA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at UW Medicine full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Vacation and sick leave is generous, good health insurance options, it's usually easy to take time off, don't need to regularly work overtime, co-workers who care, raises have been small but provided the last few years - hope they continue. Direct leadership cares and asks for input.

      Cons

      Lots of red tape, takes too long to hire staff, hard to get new positions approved, expensive parking, locations are spread out so we must travel between locations, upper mgmt often requests info with very little warning and it's almost always needed ASAP.

      Advice to Management

      Consolidate staff in the same location, fill open positions, reduce parking expense, provide more time for 'urgent' requests so staff do not have to drop everything to make it happen.

    8. "Patient Care Coordinator"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Patient Care Coordinator in Seattle, WA
      Current Employee - Patient Care Coordinator in Seattle, WA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at UW Medicine full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Best benefits around as far as time off!

      Cons

      Medium pay, high fee for on site parking.

      Advice to Management

      Management is pretty hands-off

    9. Helpful (1)

      "Great mission, but low pay"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Program Coordinator in Seattle, WA
      Current Employee - Program Coordinator in Seattle, WA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at UW Medicine full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      I feel like my job is worthwhile and contributes to clinical research, which is good for human society.

      Cons

      There's no way to advance in my department, and the pay is much less than I've received elsewhere.

      Advice to Management

      When the union has been telling you for years that you're underpaying a huge portion of your staff, believe them, and then fix it.

    10. Helpful (1)

      "CTICU a great place to work"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Cardiothoracic Icu Nurse in Seattle, WA
      Former Employee - Cardiothoracic Icu Nurse in Seattle, WA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook

      I worked at UW Medicine full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      - Management is very invested in nurses' continuing education. Each nurse is given a budget to use towards professional development, conferences, memberships, journals, etc.
      - Extremely flexible scheduling: self-scheduling system, work 12x12hr shifts in each month, arranged however you please.
      - Many opportunities to get involved: project time pay approved for committees, bedside teaching, projects, etc.

      Cons

      - VERY high stress environment, which leads to quick burnout and--at times--hostile providers/colleagues

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