Health Quality Ontario Reviews

Pros

lots of opportunities great work culture

Cons

lots of instability in the work environment

Pros

Provincial level work was rewarding

Cons

Senior Team not cohesive and created make work projects

Pros

Very nice people to work with and the company culture was really good.

Cons

Good benefits but could improve on their compensation.

Pros

People are very well-intentioned, excellent at what they do and come to work wanting to have fun.

Cons

Our objective wasn't always clear and most employees had very little impact on decisions reached by management.

Pros

I worked at Health Quality Ontario from its inception in 2011 until Dec 2016. During that time, the organization matured into its mandate to be the province's advisor on quality (per the Excellent Care for All Act). In my experience, the people were deeply caring and committed (to one another and to the vision); the work was fulfilling, and our contributions to improving the quality of health care were substantive. Were the early days of HQO tumultuous? Of course. It was a new organization formed in response to new legislation (ECFAA), and was created from the convergence of 5 legacy teams, each of which had its own mandate and culture. It is not surprising that we experienced a period of instability. Did we make mistakes along the way? Most definitely – we all did, at all levels – but it was never from any sort of malicious intent, and led to learning. Through the perseverance of thoughtful leaders and staff, we moved forward. Attention to improving organizational culture, establishing internal and external relationships, and increasing clarification of our role within the larger context of health care were, from my experience, some of the factors that lead to change. It saddens me read some of the postings on Glassdoor. I would encourage those who are continuing to struggle with the culture to connect with their leadership team and engage in a productive conversation. You might be pleasantly surprised by the response. Respectfully submitted, Susan Taylor

Cons

The mandate is broad, and the work is important. It can be difficult to balance all demands and stay nimble enough to respond to emerging issues.

Pros

- Educated staff; many folks are overqualified for the role - Meaningful work; HQO has the opportunity to lead meaningful work in the health sector - Organization is trying to turn things around with employee engagement

Cons

- Depressing environment; there pervasive feeling of isolation and lack of team - Direct supervisors are imbalanced on their focus on managing up as opposed to investing time and resources to developing capacity of employees and supporting their programs - Culture of "Just do it" with little room for negotiation or understanding; people are busy running around with "make work" projects / duplicated work. There is little support / time investment to look at the existing processes and reduce the duplication/"busy work." Status quo seems to be the most preferred option for employees who have already been / seen a lot of change - This is a seniority based, not a merit based organization. People who have been with the organization longer have differential treatment by supervising manager in both social and professional aspects - work life balance varies; but when the balance is off, it is often due to busy work to appease someone. Because there isn't that upfront investment to understand why you are doing the work, it appears as mostly "busy work"

Pros

Potentiall to do some really good and fulfilling work

Cons

The challenges of working here are too numerous to mention. There is blatant favoritism, which upper management does not even make an effort to hide. You get promoted based on whether you talk a good talk, and know the right people, rather than whether you actually do good work. The new management takes advice regarding staffing and projects from people they have known at other roles in other organizations, and that advice is not necessarily accurate or in the best interests of HQO. This place has had 4 CEOs in 4 years! Current upper management seems to hire a lot of friends and acquaintances, rather than hiring based on actual skills and merit. The turnover rate is astounding, both voluntary, and involuntary. The waste of dollars that goes into packages for restructuring is likely enormous. Morale is at rock bottom, with constant staffing changes, and direction of projects changing daily, hence making for a lot of errors and loss of productivity in an organization that is supposedly all about quality. One goes to work for the day wondering if today will be the last......There is constant infighting and struggles for control between departments, and no sense of teamwork.

Pros

- Highly educated workforce (even by healthcare standards) with multiple degrees from top schools. - Work is meaningful and you are at the forefront of change in Ontario's health sector.

Cons

- Very impersonal people (mostly management) - this may be due to the fact that many people work remotely from all over Ontario and come to the office once every 2-3 months. It makes you feel very isolated and even depressed at work. - Some management staff are clearly frustrated, a little arrogant, and have poor communication. It's hard to be respected and given a voice. - I have been told to shut up in a meeting and accused by one of my supervisors because of her own failure and frustrations. - Some people don't value work-life. It's just all work for them and if you happen to cross paths with such people here, they make it all work for you too. This is not because there is any actual work that needs to be done but just because they want you to feel miserable too. - You cannot advance. Period. People have been in the same roles for years - that they're already overqualified for.

Pros

If you're thinking of working at HQO please try and talk with staff. There is clearly huge resentment on this site, but I'm convinced it's coming from one or maybe a few employees. I would bet from the patterns that it's someone passed over for promotion or maybe someone who was fired. This seems to be their outlet through posting multiple reviews, which is easy to do. I'm really not sure why someone would stay here if they're so bitter. They are certainly reading this, so please look for something that makes you happier. The negative reviews have some pretty clear patterns to them, but decide that for yourself. Just question the rants and even (diplomatically) ask about them if interviewed. I'm very happy here and I think the majority of staff are too. The leadership is generally strong and thoughtful and they make real attempts to be open and fair. I'm not one of them and won't be posting multiple reviews, for whatever that's worth. Other staff seem to be posting now and hopefully that continues.

Cons

We do need more space. There are some teams that are struggling with management and culture, but if you work hard and are a reasonable team member you should do well here.

Pros

- Competitive salary, good benefits, TTC-accessible location - The mandate/vision of the company is inspiring, so it's satisfying to contribute to the work - Generally people are friendly. Less petty office politics compared to other organizations I have worked for, but HQO is relatively small

Cons

- It is very obvious that some managers/team leads/senior analysts are only in their position because they have been there longer than anyone else, or are a favourite of the manager/director. It is not uncommon for junior staff or new hires to have more experience than the person one to two levels above them. Once they realize this, they tend to leave - General lack of technical expertise where it counts most. A lot of time and taxpayer money are wasted doing things manually, and no one bothers to try and improve things. - For such a small organization, the lack of transparency regarding decisions about timelines and projects is high.