Women's Job Satisfaction (5=very satisfied)
Senior Specialist
Administrative
January 1970
Negotiate aggressively on salary on your first job offer. Once you're in the Duke system, the most you can hope for is a 5% pay raise if you get a promotion. Duke's HR system is set up to actively encourage good employees to leave Duke if they want to make meaningful advancements in their careers. Also be careful of the many misogynistic and/or inept managers that have made their careers at Duke. I was at Duke for a decade and both saw and experienced wide-ranging incidents of sexism, racism, and bullying from Duke managers during my time there. Every time a formal complaint was made to HR about the behavior, HR brushed it aside unless the employee hired a lawyer. I was flat out told by HR when I quit for a position at another company that there was no point in me having an exit interview about my experience because the Dean of the school didn't care what subordinates thought of their managers or if a department was hemorrhaging money from the school. My last manager at Duke was engaged in illegal and ethically questionable tactics and still nobody at the university seemed to care.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$50k-$80k
-
Recent Bonus
Not eligible for bonus
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CEO supports Gender Diversity?
I'm not sure
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Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
Not for Pay, Promotion, Hiring
-
Level of Flexibility
1 2 3 4 5It greatly varies depending on your supervisor and your department. In my 10 years at Duke, I had supervisors that were greatly supportive and flexible about family issues. Others would flagrantly disregard Duke's own HR policies because they didn't trust their employees. HR doesn't care about bad managers so no point going to them when you run into issues.
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Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
3 paid / 9 unpaid
Duke only offers 3 weeks paid leave. AND if your partner is a Duke employee, only one of you can take advantage of the parental paid leave policy. AND your coworkers are not allowed to donate PTO for your parental leave even though they allow PTO donation for pretty much any other medical reason. It's shameful how poor their paid leave policy is given they have one of the best children's hospitals in the region. Duke should know better and do better.
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Work-Life Friendly Attributes:
Hours
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
Improve my compensation
-
Recommend to Women?
Maybe. Your experience at Duke will greatly depend on what area of the school and what department you work for. Each school operates like its own business and each department is like it's own mini business within that business. Some departments are amazing, supportive places to grow your career. Others are professional dumpster fires. Make sure you know exactly what you're getting into before you accept a job offer at Duke.
Supervisory Staff Assistant
January 1970
Take as many trainings as you can to make yourself familiar with Duke systems.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$25k-$50k
-
Recent Bonus
$0-$10k
-
CEO supports Gender Diversity?
Yes
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
Yes
-
Level of Flexibility
1 2 3 4 5It is all dependent on the division you work for
-
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
None taken
-
Work-Life Friendly Attributes:
Hours, Culture, Policies
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
Improve my compensation
-
Recommend to Women?
Yes
January 1970
It’s seventh grade mean girls all over again, very sadly.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$100k-$150k
-
Recent Bonus
$0-$10k
-
CEO supports Gender Diversity?
I'm not sure
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
Not for Pay, Promotion, Hiring, Evaluation and Reviews
-
Level of Flexibility
1 2 3 4 5 -
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
None taken
-
Work-Life Friendly Attributes:
Hours
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
Increase transparency, support and respect expertise (or don’t hire for it), and treat individuals with respect.
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Recommend to Women?
No
January 1970
Get as much money as possible at hire; wages basically never increase again without transferring departments
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$50k-$80k
-
Recent Bonus
Not eligible for bonus
-
CEO supports Gender Diversity?
Yes
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
Not for Pay, Promotion, Hiring
-
Level of Flexibility
1 2 3 4 5 -
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
3 paid / unpaid
Took 12 with my own saved sick and vacation
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One Thing Employer Could Improve
Promote more women into leadership positions
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Recommend to Women?
Maybe. Some good benefits
Postdoctoral Fellow
Research & Development
January 1970
If you plan on succeeding as a faculty member, make sure have high ranking collaborators.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$25k-$50k
-
Recent Bonus
Not eligible for bonus
-
CEO supports Gender Diversity?
Yes
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
Yes
-
Level of Flexibility
1 2 3 4 5 -
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
6 paid / unpaid
Duke provides up to three consecutive weeks of 100% paid parental leave to the eligible parent serving as the primary caregiver following the birth or adoption of a child. After 3 weeks, you may used any accrued PTO however if you do not have any accrued PTO it is unpaid.
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Work-Life Friendly Attributes:
Culture
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
Improve my compensation
-
Recommend to Women?
Yes
January 1970
You won't have to work on weekends, and there are interesting people there, but you'll also be around staff who are just phoning it in.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$25k-$50k
-
Recent Bonus
Not eligible for bonus
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
Yes
-
Level of Flexibility
1 2 3 4 5It really just depends on what department you land in at Duke University and who is your manager.
-
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
6 paid / unpaid
They used disability benefits to pay for maternity leave. I also used my vacation time. Maybe that's normal?
-
Work-Life Friendly Attributes:
Hours, Culture
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
Improve my compensation
-
Recommend to Women?
Yes
Staff Assistant
Development
January 1970
Duke is the largest employer in the county. The University has a diverse workforce but upper management is dominated by white men. Pay is lower than the private sector but job security is the trade off. Benefits and time off are excellent and management is very flexible with schedules and childcare situations. Pay grades are public knowledge with rates posted on the university's internal website. The annual review process is very old school but it holds managers to only rewarding a limited number of employees an "excellent" rating. All others are relegated to acceptable even if their work is superior.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$25k-$50k
-
Recent Bonus
$0-$10k
-
Typical Hours (per day)
8 hours
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
No
-
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
None taken
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
-
Recommend to Women?
Yes
Business Manager
Academic Department
January 1970
I have worked here 16 years. For mid-level administrative workers, the children's college tuition benefit is excellent IF your children attend Duke or any other PRIVATE college/university.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$50k-$80k
-
Recent Bonus
$0-$10k
-
Typical Hours (per day)
9 hours
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
No
-
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
None taken
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
-
Recommend to Women?
Maybe. Good benefits package.
Web Administrator
One of the institues
January 1970
Duke is touted for great benefits but they only offer 6 weeks of parental leave and only half of that is paid, though you can also use vacation time if you have it. One bad supervisor can make your life a nightmare and there is no accountability, so get references you trust on any potential bosses. Duke is like the wild west (outside of the hierarchical academic structures), made up of many independent fiefdoms. This can be good and bad.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$50k-$80k
-
Recent Bonus
$0-$10k
-
Typical Hours (per day)
9 hours
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
Yes
-
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
None taken
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
-
Recommend to Women?
Maybe. Everything at Duke varies by department and depend on your individual supervisor. Some are nice, some are awful.
January 1970
I've worked here for 5 years and while, like most universities, there are a large number of women in the workforce, few of them are in upper administration or tenured faculty roles. Support for family life is completely dependent on the department you work for. Though Duke HR claims to encourage systems like compressed work weeks or working remotely, this is not a reality in most departments here. Faculty receive much better parental leave benefits than staff which can cause strife within departments. The on-campus daycare "benefit" is a joke costing more than similarly ranked daycares in the area (and more than many lower ranked women make at Duke). Women are often paid less than their male counterparts for the same job and same experience levels.
Job Satisfaction Level
-
Recent Salary
$25k-$50k
-
Recent Bonus
$0-$10k
-
Typical Hours (per day)
8 hours
-
Are Women and Men Treated Equally?
No
-
Took Maternity Leave Here? (Weeks)
3 paid / 9 unpaid
-
One Thing Employer Could Improve
-
Recommend to Women?
Maybe. If you are either at the start of your career or well-established with older children or no children, it can be a great place to work. Women at the start of their families often get the shaft.
