Pros
I have worked for UW in Philly for about 6 years. When I arrived, the organization was a well oiled machine. The CEO during the majority of my tenure, J.M., was one of the most energetic and gregarious CEOs I have ever met. Her energy was infectious -- I felt that we were truly a team that wanted to do great things for the community, so working at UW didnt feel like a typical job. It felt like we had a purpose. I actually could feel and hear the impact (no pun intended) my work has done for others. When I got to work every morning, I had zero desire to cause myself harm like I would at other corporate jobs. My fellow coworkers were pleasant, the atmosphere was relaxed. Days off were abundant. Business casual. Summer hours. Early dismissal fridays. Diverse. Salary was pretty good for the amount of work I was doing. I can honestly say that most of those positive attributes are still there. The building's location is even awesome, right in the middle of the city. However...
Cons
J.M. was on the way out, and the temperament of everyone changed for the worst. We received a new CEO, one many felt did not mesh well with UW's vibe. It was all downhill from there. More meetings about trivial matters. I also started noticing that gossip/backstabbing became more frequent, (especially in management) I had to stay at work longer and people were just randomly resigning/getting fired. I'm talking about people who were there for years, smiling to my face one day, shouting to the heavens about UW's message and strangely gone the next. I'd log into my computer every morning and see " So and So is no longer working at UW." Jeez, we lost another one. I figured that something was fishy. It was then I had a feeling that one day, others would get that same email about me. Turns out I was right, unfortunately. I digress. Cons -- For starters, I started losing my autonomy. The merger with other UWs brought in new overlords and more people to please. Cue the micromanagement. Cue the "we dont want to disappoint the new CEO" meetings. Cue the unnecessary changes to an already established system. Naturally, this caused the once oiled machine to explode into a million pieces. UW is not the utopia it once was. It's now another run of the mill corporate america environment. If you can stomach that, you'll be ok.
