good place to retire - Senior Database Administrator Kaiser Permanente Employee Review

2.0
Mar 19, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

benefit and work hours are good. It comes with plenty of holidays and PTO. The work culture is very layback. If you are going for a long haul, this is the place. Most people have been with the company for over 10 years. And many are waiting to receive their retirement package.

Cons

Too much politics and autonomous organizations. Each group just cares about its territory. There is a lack of cross-functional team work. There are so much red tapes that discourage you to do any real work. For sure there are plenty of policies just like any big company, but their policies keep changing to the point that even your manager does not work what is the "latest" policy.

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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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