Stifling Incompetence and Dysfunctional Leaders in Georgia Region - Sales and Marketing Kaiser Permanente Employee Review

2.0
Mar 31, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A few great colleagues who want to learn and do more to advance KP's mission.

Cons

1. An astonishing bait and switch from the interview process to being brought on board. You will end up being hired and then not be allowed to do your job. 2. There are a lot of threatened people here who fear the competence of others, which means you've got teams of incompetent people who are not held accountable for their own performance. 3. You'll literally be told to be mediocre and to slow down your motivation to do your job well. 4. You'll be discouraged from doing your best or exploring and presenting other ways to improve processes. 5. You will not be allowed to interface with your cross functional colleagues around the nation without "permission" -- which really means that you are not trusted to do your job or to be an adult. Managers and directors here want to claim your successes no matter how small, and if they can't they'll get rid of you. 6. You'll quickly tire of the politics that don't yield anything good or useful. You may even be told directly that you need to make your ideas seem like they are the ideas of others less competent than you-- instead of being supported by your leader. 7. Many often end up reporting into an incompetent, so-called managers who lack professionalism. Some are even allowed to exercise their personal biases, dislikes, and jealousy against you. 8. If you try to do your best, you'll literally be told NOT to, and you may be hated for being professional and articulate. 9. If you come from Fortune 500 companies, are at the top of your game and try to share best practices that can benefit the business, you'll be told "we've never had anyone like you." You'll be told "we move slower than what you're used to." But you'll never be told that you can actually help improve things because you won't be allowed to do so. 10. The marketing and sales departments have either lost or ousted highly competent people, but the common denominators in those situations are are a particular manager and director. 11. In some departments, there are so-called managers that do not know anything (which would not be so bad if they knew how to lead and manage people and processes), yet they are allowed to remain and stifle others that are exceptionally talented and competent. 12. Managers and directors are not hired due to their skills and knowledge -- they are hired because they are friends and family of others entrenched in the organization at higher levels, or because the region fears a discrimination lawsuit if they try to rid themselves of incompetent people who have been hanging on and collecting a paycheck with a sense of entitlement.

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5.0
Jun 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay, benefits & honestly an easy job

Cons

High school like environment, other than that its a great department

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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