Northwestern University reviews

On boarding is an inconsistent experience. Training is not mandatory and thus many new employees struggle through their work or end up leaving. Once you're an employee they do very little to retain you, promote you, etc. The annual review process is very demoralizing and your annual increase for doing a good job is usually less than 3%. A new executive vice president is now running thinks like a corporation and ruining what used to be a great place to work.

Working at NU often feels like a caste system to me, and the faculty are in the cloud hovering over the pyramid of administrative deans, senior management, middle management, and administrative staff. A hierarchy is evident in most all corporate employment structures, though the separation between faculty and staff is more apparent than I ever experienced working in corporations. This is unfortunate because a large portion university activities happen because of the work being done by those at the bottom of the hierarchy. Because university staff positions do offer a number of great benefits, and this should not to be overlooked or minimized, even entry level positions have many applicants. This allows the university to ignore what I believe is a pretty significant employee morale issue. A dysfunctional department will still be able to easily attract new staff, and many employees will remain in dysfunctional departments just to hold onto a great healthcare package.