Pros
- As mentioned in the title, the culture is very good at Optum (UnitedHealth Group) and it is a great place to work. The majority of people that I met were helpful and friendly as well as hardworking. - The Optum Technology Development Program (TDP) is a nice program for college graduates and individuals looking to get their hands on the various departments and technologies within IT at Optum - WFH is available depending on your department. If your department approves of it, then you will have a good work-life balance - Offices are located in nice towns and the workspaces + equipment are comfortable. However, there was a major push to open-space sitting so despite the great looks of it, many were not fond of it - Good benefits such as discounted health insurance and employee discounts on many retailers and brands - Excellent PTO (approximately 23 days depending on paygrade and increases every 5 years) - Many opportunities to grow in your career, learn new skills and achieve certifications. Most of the trainings that were provided were top-notch.
Cons
- Poor leadership and management. Senior leaders are too busy looking at financials while directors and managers are too busy in their own work to deal with their direct reports - While the Technology Development Program (TDP) is a nice start for college graduates and new employees, it has some major flaws. As stated above, directors and managers are too busy in their own work to deal with "TDPers" and guide them in their careers. Also, Optum doesn't offer enough to TDPers to keep them at Optum because of what is out there in the market at other firms. It went from a program with a nice start and good intentions to a numbers game where it was just about flooding the company with "tech-savvy millennials" leading to many hungry college graduates sitting around with nothing to do, a lack of motivation, and no guidance. - Constant layoffs and changes in organizational structure. When I joined Optum, there had been massive company wide layoffs the year before and it was stable for about 2 years and then they had a year of massive hiring. Then after the 3rd year there were massive layoffs about every month. I was shocked that many senior leaders who had been in the company for 30+ years also got laid off (some of them were pioneers of amazing work at Optum/United). These layoffs caused alarm bells to ring throughout the company and put every employee on edge about their job. - Poor pay structure and employee review system. I guess the benefits like PTO and discounted health insurance make up for the pay structure somewhat however the market has much more to offer now that the company is not as stable as it used to be (in terms of job security). The employee review system is also highly flawed as it makes it very difficult for anyone to move up in paygrade due to unrealistic expectations from senior leadership and lack of guidance from management. - Projects and work were never stable. There would either be too much work for one person to handle or no work at all. - Old technologies and too many processes. Though this was slowly changing, Optum is still very far behind the competition and other tech firms out there - WFH allowance varied by department but it was mainly seen with a negative stigma by senior leadership.
