Best pay, worst treatment - Medical Assistant Kaiser Permanente Employee Review

1.0
Oct 27, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The pay and benefits were great. Time off was always granted if asked in a good amount of time. Most of the time there were hours that could be picked up in different departments to fill in the gaps.

Cons

I guess since they pay well, the management thinks they can treat you however. Personal life and work life balance sucked if you went full time and had an emergency. Personally I experienced the worst treatment by my Department Administration and supervisors because I was being beaten and mistreated by my husband at the time. They forced me out of my position after 11 years with the company, and illegally wrote me up while on medical leave after trying to commit suicide. Union is friends with management and didn’t like to step in to try and help. I lost everything and almost my life and they didn’t care. I was barred from getting a transfer and to this day I apply to positions and am told I don’t qualify for things that I do. This company is backwards. Workers cheat the system to get away with stealing company time. Employees that have worked there for years have what is known as Kaiseritis. They are lazy and do nothing. Management knows and let’s it continue. DAs are not well versed in the departments they run. If you don’t brown nose you won’t get hours. As a MA I found that 6 RNs we’re making medication errors on 1 patient and was targeted for any move I made because they were friends with some of the supervisors. It is ridiculous. It is all about who you know, not what you know there.

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5.0
Jun 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great work life balance and supportive team.

Cons

Slow to change and adapt new technologies.

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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