Overworked, yet still underutilized - Technical Writer Optum Employee Review

1.0
28 Feb 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexibility with hours, friendly coworkers, decent pay

Cons

Where should I start? The pay doesn't seem decent anymore when you realize that you are expected to be on call on top of your regular 40 hours a week. Working nights and weekends is a regular occurrence. My lead would call me daily at home for special projects. Also, I found they HAD to be flexible with in-office hours because they were imposing so much on my personal time. Nepotism ran rampant in the company. Everyone was related to everyone at QSSI, whether by blood or marriage. I felt a lot of the employees on my floor would not speak to me because I am not Indian. The project I was on was poorly managed which caused all the deliverables to be late. The schedule was poorly constructed and leads would not do what they were supposed to do in a timely manner. When they finally did complete their portion(s), the rest of us were expected to scramble, work evenings and weekends to get the deliverable out as soon as possible. However, while we were working hard, we were cutting corners and not providing a good product to the client. Every deliverable we sent to CMS was returned with scathing comments. A lot of sub par employees were hired to fill a huge need for bodies. Instead of getting rid of the poor employees, this company just makes the efficient employees work harder. No motivation from management. Despite working tons of overtime, my PM never said thank you, never uttered a nice word. He only said something when he was displeased. The CMS people we had to deal with were rude. I understand we kept providing them with sub par deliverables, but there is a professional way to respond. Deb Seate needs some sensitivity training.

Explore other reviews about Optum

5.0
25 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great Pay. Great Benefits. Great People. awesome front line management. Frequent meals and employee input.

Cons

Worked like a cog machine.

3.0
4 June 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some very talented people give so much of themselves to the company, the clients and their co-workers. I work with (and have worked with) some excellent, smart, supportive people.

Cons

Too many layoffs. Upper management is clueless about how the day to day work gets done, what it takes to make certain changes to processes, and how to treat employees. Some are great. Mostly, they just look at numbers. So many of us have been doing our jobs long enough to know what is needed for certain requests. But we don't get a voice. We just have to do it and suck it up. They are firing ('reduction in force') all of the seasoned staff and let the rest deal with the fall-out. So many teams are losing good people but those people are training their off-shore replacements before they are told about being cut. So how is that a reduction in force? It's just a reduction in payroll numbers. Everyone is on edge just waiting for the next axe to fall. And we have to try and learn or teach another role with less experienced people and more work. It's crazy. On milestone anniversaries, they send an email recognition but once the milestone gets to over 15 years, you are a target. Pay and benefits are fine by me. Raises are practically non-existent, even after layoffs and asking employees to take on more responsibility. that's messed up. They talk about work/life balance but that doesn't trickle down to the actual workers who are so stressed they fear for their jobs if they don't do the extra mile. Many of us are just hanging on instead of quitting so we can at least get some severance. Others are actively looking.

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