Good company, good people but old processes and systems - Director, Human Resources Sentara Health Employee Review

4.0
Apr 2, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Really good co-workers and colleagues across the organization. Everyone was very nice and welcoming.

Cons

It is an older company with outdated processes that had not kept pace, particularly in HR. Things have probably improved since leaving, but it was very hierarchical and bureaucratic. It was hard to learn and understand many processes because too much relied upon the memories of people who had been there for years and not much was well-documented. Changes were hard to make, requiring multiple levels of approval and it took far too long to implement improvements. Systems and processes were outdated, so if you joined from a more modernized organization, you became frustrated very quickly. It was common to hear "this is how we've always done it", or "that's not how we do things here". My hope is that with leadership changes that occurred after leaving, things have gotten better. It's a good company and they take very good care of their patients in the hospitals; they just had opportunity to improve the employee experience, especially in HR.

Explore other reviews about Sentara Health

5.0
Jul 5, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

flexible schedule and work from home

Cons

stressful accuracy and productivity standards

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Sentara Health Response
4d
Thank you for taking the time to share a helpful review about your position at Sentara Health! We are happy to hear that the flexible work arrangement has been beneficial.
2.0
Jul 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The team I was on was small but it had good people. My direct manager and her boss were great, but everyone above them were horribly disorganized and incompetent. More on that under cons. Pay was fine, slightly above the average. But raises were inconsistent. The ability to work from home was great. It was rare to be asked to work overtime, so work life balance was good.

Cons

Disorganized upper management who thought they knew better than the folks working in the weeds every day. There were multiple times that they would implement a change that my team would strongly recommend against, but it was shoehorned in anyway. Months later they would come back and say “that was actually a bad idea” and we would have to fix their mistakes, despite warning them against it in the beginning. How well you get trained also depends on your department. My team worked with other teams at Sentara that were often attempting to do things that could have put the company in legal jeopardy, but they were never told not to do it.

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Sentara Health Response
1d
Thank you for sharing your perspective. We’re sorry to hear that your experience with leadership at Sentara Health didn’t meet your expectations. Effective leadership is something we take very seriously, and your feedback is valuable as we continue to evaluate and improve our management practices. We encourage open communication and welcome further insights if you’d like to discuss your concerns in more detail. Please feel free to reach out to hrsolutions@sentara.com.
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