Kaiser Permanente reviews

Level of work surveillance high (everything you do is on a computer and every 5th patient is sent a questionnaire regarding their experience) A very female work environment - majority of primary care physicians female-and much of the upper management (great if you are a female) A very hyphenated environment e.g. many of the employees are x-Americans (fill in the x with your favorite group i.e. Chinese, African, Philippine and dare I say it: female-American) These tend to affiliate with one another although some like the Phillipino's and Vietnamese are very accepting of outsiders. If you are just a plain vanilla- raised in America of polyglot European extraction lacking an extra x chromosome you can end up feeling like you lack a certain type of cultural/gender mojo. New hires tend to get taken advantage of (i.e. have extra work surreptitiously pawned off on them) because it takes years to become aware of all the little arcane scheduling rules etc and also years to realize that at Kaiser saying no to something you don't want to do is usually ok if you are otherwise a valued employee. Many physicians are hired into the management ranks (mostly xx chromosomes with kids who enjoy the flexibility there admin hours provide) and in general physicians make very poor and expensive managers (i.e. society paid usually hundreds of thousands of dollars to educate someone to be a physician and then they end up doing vacation schedules) because they tend to be both competitive and defensive; not by nature but by way of the acculturation process by which one becomes a practicing physician. Ancillary staff is all unionized and that is a very different environment then most physicians practice in. The typical status hierarchies are upended. As a physician at Kaiser you can be fired but once past the probation period a union employee has to do something like steal from the company before they can be let go; being unable or unwilling to do your job is not enough. If you are a low status specialty (primary care) then you almost certainly will have one of these employees foisted on your department because the surgeons don't have to put up with it. You will have to bow and scrape to these incompetents because to do otherwise is suicide-remember they can be written up for being on their cell phone constantly but they can't be fired. So you will find yourself saying things like gosh I can see your busy (medical assistant on cell phone) but I was wondering if you could do x for Mrs. Y. Primary care has devolved into managing cholesterol levels and hemoglobin A1Cs and other health maintenance tests because Kaiser is very intent on having the best HEDIS scores. This emphasis tends to attenuate other general practice medical skills like lancing a boil (often referred to surgery) or examining a knee (immediate referral to ortho).

I've been here for 8 years as an employee and 2 years as a intern. I have worked in both administration and clinic sides. I have dedicated much of my life to this company, I have sacrificed so much... including my health. My turning point was when a corrupt employee/ Chief steward and manager decided to try and fire me for my absences due to medical reasons. I have a debilitating medical illness that requires me to take off periodically. Kaiser is so staunch with the vacation and sick hours you've earned, that if you exhaust those because of any leave, you are immediately put in a spot and management will keep every tab and eyes on you. Leaves I was out on: medical: major surgery for my health (3 mos, 2012) medical: still birth; grieving (3 mos plus therapy; 2014) medical: work place injury (mental, 3 weeks, 2016). I am currently on leave, and have been thinking of resignation. The first leave was my own medical condition, but I had struggled to get my benefits settled and was constantly harassed by management for my time off. Second... I had experienced great stress from same manager plus another manager that I was hospitalized and I lost my baby due to preeclampsia. Third... stress at work, there are extenuating circumstances which I am not allowed to discussed, however when I first started this new position, the new manager had told an employee from another department that "I better watch my lateness". This is very unprofessional and uncouth. I ended up being ostracized for this as she has forced me to withdraw from people because of rumors she had spread. I reported to upper management for 3 months as I was so upset that I refused to go to work unless I reported to someone else. Furthermore, I had asked for adjustments to my work station, constantly because of my operation prior, and because I'm a Disabled person by CA state law. Though I repeatedly said this, management refused a desk high enough for me and a chair due to "keeping costs down"the solution was to send THEIR ergonomic specialist to evaluate me, after repeatedly telling said person my needs due to my disabilities, i finally got the approval for a higher desk. Her first suggestion (and managers suggestion) was to stack reams of paper under my monitor to raise the height. Still to this day, I have no compatible desk and have 3 reams of paper under my monitor. No changes were made despite the approval of the ergonomist. I am right now being falsely accused and have had council with several upper management. They send a compliance representative to prove that You are guilty. I was shown a piece of paper with people called and was said that I didn't comply. This is all heresay, and even if I never did anything; unless I take this to court, I won't be able to save my job. This is a week after I was found on the floor of my office, face down and unresponsive. I've rescinded to getting out of this toxic environment, as no job is worth my health. The union has many rats and protects their most valuable people, however, if you are not of any value to them, they will do nothing to help. I was a steward and ended up being told on by a chief steward and was sent to talk to compliance about timecard fraud. I proved her wrong, and 2 employees/ union reps vouched for me. I told the area specialist about this, and he knew what was going on. No one voted her out and no one said anything when I quit.