Employee Review of Cleveland Clinic - Check out more reviews of working at Cleveland Clinic

Pay rates are fair (but nothing beyond that) if you begin your tenure at "the top." However, if you start at an entry level position, with entry level pay, there is very little room for improvement. Even more stringent restrictions have recently been placed on pay increases. An annual 3% "cost of living" increase is a luxury, even for advanced positions. This creates families who have an income that is essentially fixed, while at the same time, gas prices, grocery bills, and other essential expenses do nothing but rise. The CCF employee doesn't benefit from an equal increase in income, and he/she certainly doesn't get more than that most times.

After providing years of great service, employees are in no way compensated for a job well done, even if the employee has gone over and above their duties and expectations. At the same time, there are no mechanisms to prevent other employees for doing far less than they are expected. There are no repercussions for poor performance. In this way, job security is high, because it is difficult to "get rid" of employees who are doing poorly. These combined factors lead to disgruntled employees--people who are sick and tired of doing a great job, and getting nothing in return except more work, work that is supposed to be done by another person (who doesn't have to do their job, because it is "secure").

Cleveland Clinic is consistently promoting their "Patients First" motto. While this is true, every single motive behind this is self-serving for the company. Patient safety is important because without it, there would be lawsuits that drain the company of money earned. In fact, there are emails sent out company-wide when an outside quality control group is on campus for a "surprise" visit. These emails warn us to ramp up our safety measures and be certain to treat the patients with the utmost respect; after all, there are people here today watching us. They care about patients when someone is watching them care about patients.

When it comes to employee morale, it is at an all-time low. There used to be a concern for employee welfare, when the company was smaller and couldn't afford to let good employees go. But these days, we are nothing but dispensible, able in the company's eye to be replaced at the drop of a hat. At CCF's Lerner Research Institute, a monthly TGIF would take place one friday of each month. Taking place in the LRI commons area, employees would gather for a couple of hours after work to eat, drink, and discuss science (most working at the Research Institute are scientists). These have been cut completely off with no explanation.

There is a mechanism for employees to relate comments and ideas to better the company called World Class Ideas. This is also for show. Many of us have submitted ideas that were rejected for one reason or another, only to learn that the idea was in fact implemented without ever giving proper credit to the employee who thought of it. One example of this is to offer chicken soup in the main hospital cafeteria every day, not just every so often, because sick patients are often comforted (and helped) by eating chicken soup. The employee who submitted this idea was sent a "rejection" notice. Ever since, there is chicken soup offered in the main hospital cafeteria every day. They liked the idea, but they didn't care to offer the employee credit for it. This credit isn't even monetary; it is a plastic pin that can be displayed on one's ID badge at work. Even so, the employee would have liked the recognition.