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    University of Pennsylvania Reviews

    Updated July 24, 2017
    1,205 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    4.1
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann
    Amy Gutmann
    488 Ratings

    1,205 Employee Reviews

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    Pros
    Cons

    • There very little room for advancement (in 13 reviews)

    • Salary is less then competitive, work/life balance (in 13 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "Postdoctoral Researcher"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at University of Pennsylvania full-time

      Pros

      Great intellectual community. Very good benefits. Awesome city.

      Cons

      Fine pay for a post-doc, but not great for a person with a PhD.

    2. "Team Coordinator"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I worked at University of Pennsylvania full-time

      Pros

      Awesome staff and work environment with lots of perks + great summer experience

      Cons

      nothing that I can think of!

      3. Join the University of Pennsylvania team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Research Assistant"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      Pros

      Amazing Research Experience! Cutting-edge work!

      Cons

      None that I can think of

    4. "Open and positive work environment"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Library Services Assistant
      Current Employee - Library Services Assistant
      Recommends

      Pros

      Great benefits
      Library is unionized, not every job is though

      Cons

      Too little formal job training

    5. "Administrative Coordinator but held various other positions at Penn"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Administrative Coordinator in Philadelphia, PA
      Current Employee - Administrative Coordinator in Philadelphia, PA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook

      I have been working at University of Pennsylvania full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Good vacation time including week between XMAS & New Years, decent sick policy,
      Health insurance is OK - not the worst but not the best considering the access to medical school, Schie Eye and Dental School. Decent tuition benefits if you want to get your undergraduate degree. Decent tuition benefits for your child. Some benefits like disability and sick time have been improved so it is a start - they are looking at paid family leave - will see how that goes

      Cons

      No room for advancement, management needs some people training, low pay, not very flexible - they talk a good game with flexible working conditions but try getting them is a whole other story. Performance management is a joke - does not really matter if you are a stellar employee or a just meets requirements employee - everyone gets the same raise so there is no incentive to be a stellar employee as you will not get a higher raise and rarely are there opportunities to be promoted. Very much depends on which part of the university you work - each school is like it's own fiefdom with little fiefdoms within them - very decentralized system with their own rules and regulations. Pretty much most of HR duties has been outsourced - apply for jobs online only, all benefits applications are outsourced so you are not really sure what exactly Penn's remaining HR folks do - they have a whole compensation department that looks at reclassifying positions - good luck with that - rarely does a reclassification to a higher level occur. If you are really good at your job - management wants to keep you locked into that job and even internal promotions are hard to come by as they want to keep you locked down into your current position. Some resistance to change by people that have been at Penn for a long time (I myself have been here for 25+ years and have worked in 3 different areas at Penn).

      Advice to Management

      Learn to value your good, long term employees - they know what they are doing. Some manager really, really micromanage - not a great idea if you want to keep good employees - no one likes someone constantly looking over your shoulder! Start to pay better - you used to work at Penn for the benefits and knew the pay was lower that for profit corps, however, many other places in the PHilly area now offer the same or better benefits than Penn (that is why Penn is no longer on the list of best places to work in Philly) and Penn still has not come up to speed in competitiveness with other Philly area employers

    6. "Research Assistant"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at University of Pennsylvania part-time

      Pros

      Friendly coworkers and boss. Thorough training and continuous support.

      Cons

      Wish it was easier to get Full-Time positions.

    7. "Part-time research assistant"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Graduate Research Assistant
      Former Employee - Graduate Research Assistant
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at University of Pennsylvania part-time

      Pros

      - Really smart and happy coworkers
      - Flexible hours

      Cons

      - The pay is low
      - Intensive research work

    8. "goodd"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends

      I have been working at University of Pennsylvania full-time

      Pros

      good location decent life

      Cons

      nope nope nope good enough

    9. "Technology Consultant"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at University of Pennsylvania part-time

      Pros

      Best Place to work at

      Cons

      Cant really say any bad things about my alma mater.

    10. "Review"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at University of Pennsylvania full-time

      Pros

      benefits are good and great networking

      Cons

      not competitive salary for entry level

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