UNC Health reviews

Like many health care organizations, UNC Health Care has experienced significant growth -- what was once just UNC Hospital is now a network of hospitals throughout the state. Unfortunately, at UNC Health Care, with that growth has come: -A weird, confusing organizational structure: search online for "UNC Health Care organizational chart" and notice first how recently it's been updated (January 2017 was the one I found -- that's a year and a half ago!) and then try to make sense of it. Notice that much of the power/decision making is concentrated under white, male CFOs even if the departments have nothing to do with Finance, which creates confusing incentives and disparity (examples: the departments of IT, HR, and Enterprise Analytics all role up to a CFO function, and different CFOs at that.) -Decreased transparency: for instance, hourly rates for positions used to be available on the HR intranet; those were recently (and quietly) removed. The popular "Glad You Asked" forum where employees could ask questions and get a response from executives is being updated less and less frequently and management's response to an employee that asked about it was that they're reviewing the forum and seeking a different solution (my interpretation: expect less transparency). -Ineffective and misaligned HR: the HR department rolls up to a CFO whose priority seems to be only the bottom line rather than culture, retaining talent, internal equity, etc. Employees are hired through 3 distinctly separate organizations: the State of NC, Rex, or UNC Physicians Network. All 3 have completely different benefits, HR policies, salary calculation formulas, holidays, etc. which makes it a nightmare for managers but also creates weird feelings between employees on the same team who are doing the same job with very different compensation & benefits. There have been rumors that the organization plans to align those discrepancies, but that hasn't happened yet which to me, speaks in volumes that key drivers of employee/manager dissatisfaction don't seem to be a priority. -Salary inequity: If you take a job at UNC Health Care, you will only be paid at the Market Reference Point ("MRP") if you have a certain threshold of years of experience. That's it. Nothing else matters, you can otherwise expect to be at the minimum salary + a few extra $$ for any years of experience you do have. But here's the kicker: if you stay in that position for X number of years and therefore MEET the MRP at some point, your salary won't ever be evaluated and adjusted accordingly. So what incentive does that create? It's in your best interest from a salary perspective to do the minimum required to keep your job (you're not paid anything additional for being awesome) for some number of years to up your experience, and then switch jobs often to increase your salary as you meet MRP requirements. And one more thing: there's NO extra benefit for internal vs. external experience. So you doing a job in the health care system for 10 years means you're paid exactly the same as someone who comes off the street with 10 years of experience doing some kind of similar job but who has to learn all of the nuances of UNC Health Care -- and actually, you'll likely be paid LESS because you probably started that job with 5 years of experience and didn't meet the MRP when you started, and you won't get to the MRP with the small market/merit bumps you get each year. You'll probably even be asked to train/mentor that more highly compensated person. Weird huh. Last thing: what HR considers when counting your years of "relevant experience" is VERY subjective. 3 PIECES OF ADVICE TO PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEES: 1) If you're thinking of taking a job at UNC Health Care, do your research on market salary comps and make sure you're being paid a fair salary. Consider reaching out to other health care systems in the area -- for instance, state benefits at UNC Health Care are still good but you may find that Duke offers a much better benefits package if you're offered a job through Rex or UNC Physicians Network. 2) Ask the hiring manager what the most recent Employee Opinion Survey results were for the department you're considering working for -- it will likely tell you volumes (e.g. was the manager willing to share? why / why not?) 3) Right away, ask what specific goals / metrics you're expected to meet in the position you're considering taking -- write those down and get confirmation in writing that those are your goals. Document in detail your one-on-ones with your manager and constantly review together with them how you're doing on your goal progress. If a problem arises where you need to deal with the complicated HR department, the best thing you can have is documented agreement on your progress with your manager.