Allscripts Technical Writer reviews

Buckle up, y’all. I’ve got a lot to say. I worked faithfully for Allscripts for seven years. For the first few, it was an okay gig. The benefits were average and could always do with improvement, but given the nature of my role, my work-life balance and salary were good enough that I had no major complaints. Then, a few years in, as it happens with companies like this, they started acquiring other companies, advertising it as a great move and good thing for Allscripts. But of course, on the heels of such major expenses, major budget slashes came around, always in the form of major lay-offs. In the first few years of such lay-offs, it wasn’t totally alarming. You hear that this is how corporations try to save themselves money, so you just hope you survive. Then in 2019, the lay-offs became worse. People started disappearing overnight. Whole teams, who had been encouraged to work through holidays, and had dedicated overtime, their nights, and their weekends to finish development on product enhancements that management had over-promised on to clients, were let go in the middle of the day. You would come to work one day looking for the person you previously contacted on a project, only to find that they were suddenly gone and no one knew who replaced them. Sometimes, they didn’t have a replacement. Then, 2020 arrived and with it, the pandemic. I want you to let this next part really sink in to your brain. I was let go in April of 2020, “due to the impact of COVID-19.” I was one of many, many unfortunate souls to have their position eliminated at a healthcare solutions IT company. In the middle of a pandemic. A healthcare crisis. I don’t know about you, but if the fact that such a company is struggling to stay afloat during a time when you think they’d be making money hand over fist doesn’t scream red flag, mismanagement of funds, or that the company is hemorrhaging money, I don’t know what would, honestly. They slashed half of my department and now, I see that they are looking to fill some of the positions again. If you are reading this, I wouldn’t do it. There are better companies out there, ones who respect and value their employees and whose leadership inspire loyalty. Allscripts leadership, especially at the VP level, is unconcerned with the quality of life of the employees under their care. At least, in my experience. At the end, the product I was working on was struggling mightily. I attributed that to management making promises their team couldn’t cash. Instead of owning that, instead of encouraging the team or asking if there was anything they could do to help or make the long days easier, they threatened the employees with the possibility that the whole team could lose their jobs if the product wasn’t successful. Their suggestions for how to get through working overtime and holidays were incredibly out of touch and insulting to grown people. “Throw a pizza party when you work Saturdays,” instead of saying, “I will work with you until we get this done.” I was devastated to lose my job. Unemployment during this pandemic has certainly been traumatic and losing this job has uprooted my personal life in unimaginable ways. So, you can take this review with a grain of salt. I am a little bitter, but I’m also incredibly grateful to be free of this place.