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Northwestern University

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Declined In Recent Years - Anonymous employee Northwestern University Employee Review

2.0
Aug 14, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits are outstanding. They have a retirement match up to 5% and put in an additional 5%. Health insurance is affordable.

Cons

The pay is terrible and there has been lots of downsizing and job reclassification in recent years. You will work the job of two people. Huge culture shift from years ago is tacking place in that it's taking on a more "corporate" feel in a lot of areas. I think there are many unhappy staff and this is not reflected in the overall rating because the reviews are affected by graduate students. Management does not have concern for workers well being and will run off even long time employees if you do not conform to their current paradigm. The turn over is way too high and it's hard to make meaningful connections with others. Career growth is based on who you know, not what you know. No accountability for upper management and how they treat others.

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May 30, 2026
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Pros

Good work life balance beautiful campus

Cons

Living cost is high compared to compensation

3.0
May 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- NU offers a nice retirement match, and the benefits (not pay) are competitive. - The campus is nice.

Cons

- The benefits are nice but the pay is really not competitive at all, and there is no salary transparency either. - The culture of your office really depends on who is the head. I had a good relationship with my Director of Operations and Center Director which translated throughout the office, but I have heard countless horror stories of horrible and psychologically abusive faculty to work with, especially in the Materials Science & Engineering department. - At the end of the day, you are staff and are treated as such. If you have toxic faculty members to work with, you are stuck, and HR will do nothing to help you because you are staff and replaceable.

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