Providing superior health care with great technology. - IT Director Kaiser Permanente Employee Review

4.0
Mar 2, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The IT work at Kaiser Permanente is extremely broad and varied. Our implementation of an Electronic Medical record is the largest non-government system in the world. Our technology is positively impacting the way health care is delivered. There are many different types of positions in IT and the ability to grow professionally is tremendous. Kaiser Permanente is located in CA, Oregon, Washington state. Washington DC, Hawaii, Colorado, Ohio and Georgia. There are many opportunities in all of these locations. Salaries are fairly good and benefits are great and include health, dental, vision, 403b and pension plan. Overall, a good place to work.

Cons

Kaiser Permanente is very large and bureaucratic. Kaiser Permanente has nearly 200,000 staff and physicians. Frequently, decision making is a long and arduous process. Dealing with the unionized staff can be difficult at times as they sometimes seem to have their own agendas and are more interested in protecting their jobs and doing as little as possible. Management staff has to frequently travel out of town for meetings at corporate headquarters. Kaiser Permanente supports work/life balance, but employees have to take responsibility to manage the balance. If not, you could work 12 hours a day 7 days a week and still not complete the work.

Explore other reviews about Kaiser Permanente

5.0
Jun 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay, benefits & honestly an easy job

Cons

High school like environment, other than that its a great department

4.0
Sep 9, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Kaiser is a great place to work and build a career over time. In my experience salaries are above market for most positions, and the benefits are so good that many people become "lifers". The health coverage is extremely generous, and time off starts off adequate and gets better over time (18 days when you start, moving up to 33 after 15+ years - this does not include sick time). Employees truly believe in the mission of KP (at least, I do) and it's clear that this is a place where employees' contributions are valued. Although my role is not part of any of the unions, the fact that our workforce is predominantly unionized also places a positive role in KP's reputation as a good place for workers (although having unionized staff also presents many challenges). Overall, I enjoy working at KP and would recommend it to others, but understand that you are entering a big bureaucracy. A friendly, mission-driven bureaucracy, but still.

Cons

Cons: having lots of "lifers" means that innovative ideas and workflows are not always adopted without a fight. People have their roles deeply embedded here, and any threat to the status quo is seen as negative, even though we need to make some pretty radical changes given the new health care environment post-ACA. There's a lot of "not my job" attitudes here. It's hard to navigate the layers of bureaucracy, both in terms of personnel/HR/benefits, and in getting work done (there are often 4-5 departments at the regional and national KP levels working on similar areas, and no guidance on who does what.) Be aware that KP is not immune to reorganizations and layoffs -- they do make a good attempt to ensure workers are hired elsewhere in the organization, but there are no guarantees, and there can be a lot of turnover in certain departments. Benefits are currently generous but are always subject to downgrades in the future, so just be aware of that. Some changes to the pension and retiree medical benefits are about to hit, and with them a wave of Baby Boomers will be taking retirement, which should hopefully open up many new management opportunities for Millennials. Oh, and the biggest con of all: we still - STILL - use Lotus Notes for email. Shocking, I know, but true.

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