MD Anderson Cancer Center reviews

4.1

79% would recommend to a friend

(3,381 total reviews)
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Peter Pisters

88% approve of CEO

76% positive business outlook

MD Anderson Cancer Center has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 3,381 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The MD Anderson Cancer Center employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Healthcare industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
2.0
Jan 4, 2018

It's not about what you know but who you know

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I am a firm believer that there are always invaluable lessons to take away from a job even if it was a terrible one. The single greatest thing about MD Anderson is that you get to learn a lot just due to the exposure you get from being part of such a large organization. It is relatively easy to move from department to department if you're looking for the next step up or just a change in scenery. It's only challenging if you have burned bridges or just don't try hard enough. Every department is set up differently and will offer a unique perspective in the grand scheme of things.

Cons

The culture at MD Anderson is a deeply ingrained one, perpetuated by a combination of ugly politics and self-entitlement. It's a "friends and family" kind of place where lazy, incompetent people get promoted to leadership positions despite widespread objection. I'm not talking about objection that comes from petty differences or personal vendettas. I'm talking about people who consistently demonstrate incompetence, inappropriate and disrespectful behavior, inability to work well with others, poor attendance, just to name a few. These people are notorious in their respective departments or even outside of their departments for being bad employees. They tend to be the most vocal and must remind everyone how much work they have to do even though they do the bare minimum. They have no reservations about treating others unfairly. They get to where they are by taking credit from others and having close relationships with the people in power. The quiet employees who really are the backbones of MD Anderson just keep their heads down and produce actual work to make the people on top look good. It's a sad cycle that never seems to end. Low employee moral is commonplace. Senior leadership will claim that anyone regardless of their position should feel comfortable reporting these kind of people to HR. That's a bold face lie. From personal experience, I can guarantee you that HR could care less. They pretend to listen for maybe 2 minutes, and the rest of the 10 minutes they can spare is spent on trying to convince you to just suck it up and deal with it. HR department has some of the laziest people (HR generalists in particular) you will ever encounter. Their goal is to stick with the status quo. My HR generalist actually said this to me verbatim "if you don't like what you see, then you can leave." He made no attempt to hide his disdain from having to see me and kept looking at his watch every few seconds - just FYI this was the very first time I have ever approached HR. I went there because I genuinely felt that things needed to change in my department and I wanted to be a voice for all of my coworkers who felt the same way. I walked away extremely disappointed and I will advise anyone against going to HR for anything other than trivial issues. Eventually, I had to leave MD Anderson based on principle. I care about doing the right thing, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to go to work every day and see this vicious cycle continue to turn without any real change.

2.0
Jan 16, 2017

Not Financially Sound

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Teachers Retirement System (TRS) retirement plan Vacation (PTO) accrual

Cons

Senior Leadership not transparent; poor business decisions/leadership No longer feels patient centric (making money and big bonus payouts seems the primary goal) Growth opportunities are stagnant in most cases Processes and systems tend to be outdated

1.0
Jan 7, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Leaders in the cancer field give talks here on the regular. The facilities available are nice, the gym is great. Lots of food options and starbucks everywhere.

Cons

ADMINISTRATORS, MANAGEMENT, ANYONE IN A LEADERSHIP POSITION. Seriously, if you are not coming in as faculty, these people will choose one small part of what you are capable of doing and make you do that all day every day ad nauseam. The administrators are bullies and will check on where you are every hour on the hour. I've seen an admin assistant picked on (someone would flip the orientation of her screen around on her computer if she stepped away, other admins would purposely not give her documents she needed to complete her work). Don't ask questions, don't give your opinion. If you do, the admins will target you in particular for some very harsh treatment. If you ask, in writing, if XYZ bullying behavior is policy or if one person in particular is out of line, administrators will avoid putting anything in writing...and you will be talked to by your boss for wanting it in writing. And I am not low man on the totem pole. I have PhD. Just saying. Worst place I have ever worked in my life. I mean, when I was young I cleaned offices. I worked service positions. THIS IS STILL THE MOST HORRIBLE WORK EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD.

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Glassdoor has 3,610 MD Anderson Cancer Center reviews submitted anonymously by MD Anderson Cancer Center employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if MD Anderson Cancer Center is right for you.