Good in the right department; a nightmare in the wrong one
Pros
Swedish provides good insurance with low premiums. Education can be subsidized if it meets certain criteria, including non-nursing bachelors and graduate programs. Some departments have wonderful cultures (though not many).
Cons
In one word, management. Management demonstrates complete neglect of qualitative evidence and anecdotes that contextualize the quantitative data upon which they base their decisions. So, they understand the "what" behind the data, and fail at extrapolating the "why" time and time again. Staff is constantly harassed by management and threatened without being heard. Experienced staff has left en masse over the past 3 years. The new staff - mainly new grads - and aggressive management have created a toxic culture and an unsafe work environment in many departments. Swedish was also extremely stingy in the most recent contract negotiations. Overall cost of living in Seattle has gone up 6% in the past year alone in an area where most employees earn less than the average salary in the area, while our raises amount to around 2%. We are being paid less to do the same job as time goes by. Shift differentials and standby pay also suck. Furthermore, Swedish created two costly, diversity-related C-suite positions without realizing meaningful change for the disadvantaged employees and patients they sought to help. I see a lot of politically-driven e-mails, superficial partnerships with little substance (i.e. the partnership with Meharry SOM), and absolutely no real action. Maria Shands and Dr. Nwando Anyaoku, I'm looking at you.
