I guess my nose wasn't brown enough. And, oh yeah, I have some self-respect.
Pros
The paychecks come with some regularity. Most of the patients are nice. I made some great friends working here. We're even better friends now that most of us are working somewhere else. There's constant gossip and speculation to keep you entertained. That 2% yearly raise on your below average market salary is BOMB. (Usually it's 1%, but I'm assuming you're an exceptional employee.)
Cons
Be prepared for your manager to take all the credit for your work. Be prepared for them to manipulate laws to get out of paying overtime or giving you the comp time you've earned. You'll be told to work harder, to the point that you give up because you realize no matter what you do, it will never be enough. Know that private meetings are not private, and ostracism follows complaints. Know the only way to advance is to brown nose whoever your manager is. Prepare to have 20 bosses. One will tell you to do something one way, and then another will tell you to do it a different way, then the first one will come back and yell at you for not doing it their way, then a third will tell you a different way, ad nauseum. You won't be given a job description. You'll be told that your role is "under development" so more and more work can be piled on you until you're completely overwhelmed. When you mention that this isn't the job you were hired for, you will be told "Well, we told you this role was under development!" Know that if you do complain, you will be reminded of exactly how replaceable you are. You'll be told that you are unnecessary, and that you're a "dime a dozen". You'll be laughed at by management. Be prepared to have to sign a sheet every time you go to the bathroom, so they can "monitor your productivity". If you have irritable bowel, this isn't the job for you. It would be more effective if they just went ahead and gave you a key attached to a hubcap, like a gas station. Be aware that tattoos and "unnatural" hair colors/styles are forbidden. Half of the staff looks like they were in a terrible accident, because they use bandages to cover them. If your tattoo peeks out, or your hairstyle is not to their liking, you will be sent home. Know that the likelihood of getting hired here without knowing someone in management is slim. There's no "internal promotion". Management hires their friends, and the entire company is so full of cliques you need Janice Ian to draw you a map of the lunchroom so you know who's sitting where. Mean Girls translates from high school to the corporate world at JenCare. Be prepared to be "catch-phrased" to death. You'll be reminded that there is no "I" in team. You'll be confident in your knowledge that a penny saved is a penny earned. You WILL know that it takes a village. Know they say they are about the patients, but you will quickly realize that they care about the money the patient brings, and retaining as much of it as possible. Example, when the "medical director" for your market states "no insulin pens", she means it. Despite that your patient is blind, and the only way she knows she's getting the correct injection is by listening to the "clicks" of the pen, and that it would be dangerous to provide her with an insulin vial and syringe, it will be the patients problem, because the director is "sure" that the patient has family members that can help. JenCare raises the bar on "Too Many Chiefs, Not Enough Indians". In each market you have the following directors: Network, Medical, Marketing, and the following managers: Referrals, Clerical, Case Management, IT and MA. In each clinic market there are: Clinic Manager, Front Desk Lead, Lead MA, and Lead Referral Coordinator. Then OVER all markets you have the Chen family, the head directors of Medical, IT, Marketing, Nursing and Clerical. Oh, and they all hate each other, and talk about each other, (all the way up to corporate level) and don't hold their tongues in front of "lower level" employees, so everyone knows exactly who hates who. Be prepared that there is NO HR. So, when you finally leave, it may take weeks for your reference to process, if you can find someone to send it to. Be prepared for your life to revolve around endless, pointless meetings and emails, even at 10 pm. Be prepared to stop everything and answer those emails, because if you don't answer within 10 minutes, you WILL get a call. Be prepared to deal with angry patients because they aren't getting the services they were offered at sign-up, or they can't get a medication they need because management has deemed it "too expensive". Be prepared to shake your head to the point of whiplash because your patient's medication is "too expensive" but the executives regularly fly from one market to another to sit in on a pointless, yet fully catered, hour long lunches while answering more emails from company iPhones and laptops. Low level salaries are laughably low, while upper management rolls in six figures, yet they yell at the lower-level employees about wasteful spending, productivity and cutting costs. They will remind you that Gordon Chen advised President Obama, and if you forget that, don't worry, there's a picture of the two shaking hands in every clinic, usually hanging right above one of the fake plastic orchid plants.