Penn named a top workplace in Philadelphia

Penn employees, on the whole, tend to consider the University an excellent place to work.

The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News jointly named Penn and its health system the third best workplace in Philadelphia earlier this month.

Vivian Johnson, a Penn Dining cashier, has been a Penn employee for 31 years. While she did not take the survey on which the ranking was based — WorkPlace Dynamics only received 616 completed surveys from Penn — she agreed with the ranking.

“When I came to work at Penn, I did not intend to stay,” Johnson said. However, she appreciated the benefits as well as the experience, although “the pay is not that great.”

Stacy Singleton, a cook for Penn Dining, agreed that she was a satisfied employee. “I love feeding the students,” she said, and has enjoyed the employee benefits for 21 years.

The study results, which are based on employee satisfaction surveys, said Penn’s workplace strengths are direction, execution, career, managers, conditions, pay and benefits.

Penn followed Brown’s Super Stores and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the rankings.

The University chose to participate in the ranking because the administration was “confident that Penn is an outstanding employer,” according to a statement from Vice President for Human Resources Jack Heuer.

“The survey results confirmed this confidence,” Heuer wrote.

The ranking isn’t surprising because the University offers major benefits for its 35,531 employees, according to Penn President Amy Gutmann. For example, adoption benefits for employees are available for up to $5,000 starting this year.

Additionally, employees are entitled to “multi-generational, multi-faceted resources,” such as back-up care for children and adult dependents, retirement benefits, tuition benefits, career counseling and a competitive salary structure, according to Heuer.

Increased family benefits and facilities like a new fitness center in Weiss Pavilion can only increase employee satisfaction, Gutmann said.

“Our employees know they’re part of an excellent system,” she added.

However, “we’re not always able to provide every benefit that an individual wants,” Heuer wrote. “We’re constantly looking into how to improve our benefits and services.”

The recently added adoption benefits and back-up care, for example, were instituted because employee feedback reflected a need for these services, Heuer wrote.

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