University of Otago Management reviews
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Enjoyable part time job
Sub warden (Former Employee) - Dunedin, Otago - 9 April 2018
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The most useful review selected by IndeedInvolved plive-in pastoral support for first year university students alongside my own studies. Grew in leadership, time management and organisational abilities.
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The department had a terrible culture
Demonstrator (Former Employee) - Dunedin, Otago - 31 January 2020
The department had a terrible culture. The staff organizing the labs were great but any higher up and there was a culture of gossip and belittling as soon as someone turned their back. Not uncommon to see people reduced to tear by supervisors.
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The Marketing Department
Marketing Manager (Current Employee) - Dunedin, Otago - 22 December 2019
My experience has been terrible working for the school. The school keeps sending out offers to students it knows it wont accept. They just want to increase the pool of students so they make sure they have enough money. The school is terrible at ethics and I feel bullied and underappreciated all the time. There has been so much turn over and people leaving because of the new management system. The school treatment of students has caused over-drinking among the students causing one alcoholic-related death. The marketing director that It would help with the marketing.
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Productive
Post-doctoral fellow (Current Employee) - Dunedin, Otago - 8 August 2019
Excellent balance of work life balance i addition to management of research. This work has allowed me to grow and enhance my research skills to develop innovative research thinking.
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A very toxic work environment
General Staff (Former Employee) - Dunedin - 23 January 2019
DO NOT WORK HERE
The ratings/reviews for the University of Otago on this site are quite unbelievable. It's almost as if the University's HR/Marketing teams have populated it with favourable reviews as part of a team bonding exercise. The only thing stopping this was being 100% accurate is that the University doesn't do team building exercises because that would imply they actually cared about their workforce, which they don't.
The University of Otago is a very toxic environment where staff moral is at rock bottom. Management straight out lie to staff and they essentially have 3 plans. 1 - oppose all liquor licenses for pubs in the area and once the site is available, buy the lease for the property and turn it into a study space....then wonder why students booze up at home. 2 - Install CCTV camera on campus and on public streets not owned by the University so they can spy on students doing things they would have normally done in pubs, but because they've all closed are now done at flats. 3 - Promote the University of Otago as a destination for Health Science....even to people who aren't interested in these study options, or to people who stand absolutely no chance of getting into their preferred course such as medicine...why do this? Easy, because if they told them what preparation they really needed, the University wouldn't fill up their BSc courses with lots of rejected Health Science Students.
I worked at Otago for a decade...10 years of essentially zero professional development, constantly being asked to cut costs yet deliver more, watched as Management across -
Pros
There are other university's/organisations you can work for so you don't need to work at Otago
Cons
the list is too long, but an absolutely disgraceful HR team is a good place to start
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Typical institution everyone and everything is monitored but made some nice friends and workmates
Financial manager (Former Employee) - Dunedin City, Otago - 28 September 2016
Typical day at work was to greet your co-workers talk to your immediate colleagues about work related matters.
Learnt how to communicate with people and staff at the time and maintain a good repore with those around you, learnt to read what management expected of you and to achieve those goals.
Learnt to mix with co-workers and work as a team.
Hardest part of the job was to deal with changes in academic management and maintaining the research contracts, to their expectations.
Most enjoyable part of the job was making friendships with my colleagues.
Pros
Relaxed atmosphere most days
Cons
sometimes difficult to get leave
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A bit of a Tower of Babel
Web developer (Former Employee) - Dunedin, Otago - 14 May 2016
There tends to be lots of turf wars and intrigues. It's a big ship and takes a lot of time to reach decision and implement changes.
In fairness, that's pretty typical of all big government/bureaucratic organisations. So I wouldn't hold it against the University.
One unusual thing is that it's a very decentralised institution. Power really reside with each HOD and the core management structure can have difficulty normalising processes and decision making across the University.
If you're considering a job at the University of Otago, take the time to research the culture of the department you'll be working in as this can very quite a lot. Some departments are really easy going, while other are very formal and up-tight.
Pros
Good pay, relatively easy going in most departments, Dunedin is a comfortable city to live in
Cons
A bit of bureaucratic mess, not very challenging
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University of Otago -
Customer Services Administrator (Former Employee) - Dunedin North, Otago - 29 February 2016
Early start of 7.30am this was to have keys to building available for Trade Staff so they could get an early start on jobs before staff and students arrived for the day. Needed a strong knowledge base on what buildings and what departments are within each building as key are issued by numbers only as a security measure.
Process Requests from Departments for work required on buildings we received up to around 150 per day I needed a strong knowledge base on what trade to send it too, if it was an Urgent requirement. Should the request be sent to facilities manager as the cost maybe over $500.
Management pretty good
Co-workers great team
Dealing with people (staff) when there was someone in their park (it costs a lot of money to have a reserved carpark or someone (students) being towed due to parking in someones park.
Pros
Excellent Salary
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Good place to work, wide range of people
Outlet Assistant (Current Employee) - Dunedin - 15 October 2015
Typical day is setting up the Outlets in the food court for lunch service, count and prepare tills while organising team duties.
Get to interact with many different people and work with a fun crew.
Management is always helpful.
Hardest part of the job is seeing food go to waste.
Pros
Free food if left over
Cons
Not many opportunities for breaks
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Research, Analysis and Administration
Head Research Assistant (Former Employee) - Dunedin, New Zealand - 11 October 2013
- Administration based tasks, computer, filing, scanning, photocopying, communicating with students and academic staff, management meetings, managing junior staff, research based tasks such as running participants, preparing project materials, analysis of data
- Management of staff, preparing for meetings, working as a team, tight deadlines
- Great team environment with hard working co-workers
- None, enjoyed every aspect of the job
- Working with an enthusiastic team and helping students.
Pros
Great team environment doing interesting research
Cons
None
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Jobs at University of Otago
Interesting and Accommodating
Electronic Note Taker (Former Employee) - Dunedin - 23 November 2012
I had the opportunity to be paid to sit in on interesting lectures and actually be paid for it.The management was very accommodating, and communicated well.
Pros
interesting lectures, decent wages
Cons
short term employment
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A fantastic professional work setting that encourages research and teamwork
Lab Assistant (Current Employee) - Dunedin - 16 November 2012
A typical work day would involve independent research, that may involved a practical lab component or analysing published literature. At this working institution I have learnt a large portion of my technical expertise and expanded my working knowledge of sciences. The management was fantastic with, great staff members in administration and excellent supervisors. Co-workers are professional and sociable, in an environment that encourages forward thinking and teamwork. The hardest component was also the most enjoyable part of the job, working independently on a project that may not be well published or understood, but grasping an understanding to the project through peer mediation and research gives a sense of satisfaction.
Pros
a team work driven environment
Cons
some long hours
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