Pros
Not many pros from my point of view: -On the superficial surface, Optum seems great. It portrays fun, excitement, innovation, and seems to put a positive focus on their employees. They use bright happy colors and carefully chosen hooks and phrases that draw you in. It’s all very pretty and Tracy I’ve at quick glance. -The Rewards for Health program, which is actually done with a 3rd party called Rally, is a small pro. You can use the Rally app and do certain challenges and missions for your overall health and you can earn monetary rewards. You can also earn ‘coins’ to get smaller prizes through the app. The monetary rewards can be put towards your insurance premium or you can have it deposited into an HSA account for healthcare related expenses. That’s about it for pros from my experience
Cons
I have not worked for such a large company before, only small independent healthcare facilities. I’m afraid that because of Optum’s “big company trying to get to the top of the corporate America ladder” persona, they have forgotten about their employees and push push push with minimal reward or incentive. Damn near humanly impossible, unobtainable productivity requirements with very strict, non-lenient corrective action policies and procedures cause employees stress, anxiety, and panic knowing that looming overhead are inflexible repercussions that could cost them everything. The attendance policy is rigid and extremely strict-missing 4 days of work for the entire year can get you a written corrective action that stays on your employee record. Missing 6 days for the year is termination of employment. Most companies previously worked for allow anywhere between 2 to 4 missed days per term (4 terms per year) before being personally counseled on what could be attributing to missed days and then working with employee to come up with a plan on how to make it better and/or work for both company/employee. Optum seems to have forgotten that those whom have helped them earn their corporate success are human people that have needs and lives outside of the business, but are unwilling to make small changes that could greatly improve morale and employee satisfaction-thus, in the long run, bettering the company as a whole. Dealing with HR is an absolute nightmare and massive undertaking if you actually need to reach out to them. You never get an actual human to help you-it’s all electronic auto-responses or generic emails with no real help offered. Benefits should be great, as Optum is UnitedHealthcare-health insurance is literally what they do and specialize in, but unfortunately employee benefits are horrid, very poor coverage, constantly jumping through hoops, everything needs a prior authorization which ultimately is denied every single time. I’d be better off not having insurance and paying out of pocket for everything. I was unfortunately part of smaller private facility’s revenue cycle department including coding and health information management that was sold off to Optum because of financial difficulties and reasons but we in that group are contracted to still do the work for that facility but only until Optum decides to move us where needed when it makes fiscal sense. Yes, I could have left and found something different, but it seemed like a good place to work and be a part of on paper. Not to mention, we were informed and notified about this major change 5 days before it was to occur, so there was no time to find something new after the initial shock wore off. And now, after the few months of the honeymoon phase ended and it’s been lost a year, Optum has really become a disappointment and let down and not the best company that cares for and is there for positively for their employees.
