TDP program management inexplicably withheld/delayed promotion and raises - Technology Development Program Associate Optum Employee Review

2.0
Mar 10, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-if you get on a good team/with a good manager this is an opportunity to get your foot in the door in tech.

Cons

-if you’re unlucky with your placement, it could be miserable. -beware: the TDP program is. managed. horribly. This is not a new program, they have been doing this for the better part of a decade and they still don’t have it right. You are a full time employee from the start so this is not an internship. This is or at least was a year long program, with a set “graduation” date where you apply for a final placement which will be a promotion from the TDP position. Generally involves a full grade level change and depending on your review(s) can come with a sizable raise. Coming up to our graduation the TDP program management team sent out zero communications, not even a congratulations the day we graduated. A week after we graduated they sent out communication indicating they would be delaying our promotions 6 weeks (and even then it got delayed further), WITHOUT BACK-PAY to our grad position start date. This is the equivalent of accepting a new internal job that is a grade level above, where you are expected to perform at that higher level but then unexpectedly not being paid that new salary for 6+ weeks. No one from TDP warned us of this until a week AFTER our grad positions started. They said it was due to the timing of yearly reviews and doing it all together “made more sense” despite never requiring a previous graduating TDP class to wait for their promotions. No mention of how missing out on 6+ weeks of that raised pay impacts us. Reviews came a month later and we still weren’t given our promotion packages. Come to find out our managers had our comp packages figured out weeks before we ever graduated and were deliberately delayed by TDP. TDP management never apologized. Never provided an explanation. We asked reasonable, direct questions that went unanswered for weeks (still unanswered as of today). -if you’re desperate for a way in, this is a way I guess. -Do not expect to be treated like an employee with normal rights until you are well out of the TDP program despite being a full time employee from the start.

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5.0
Mar 24, 2026
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CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very good culture and managers are very helpful, good work benefits

Cons

not much movement or increment

3.0
Jun 4, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some very talented people give so much of themselves to the company, the clients and their co-workers. I work with (and have worked with) some excellent, smart, supportive people.

Cons

Too many layoffs. Upper management is clueless about how the day to day work gets done, what it takes to make certain changes to processes, and how to treat employees. Some are great. Mostly, they just look at numbers. So many of us have been doing our jobs long enough to know what is needed for certain requests. But we don't get a voice. We just have to do it and suck it up. They are firing ('reduction in force') all of the seasoned staff and let the rest deal with the fall-out. So many teams are losing good people but those people are training their off-shore replacements before they are told about being cut. So how is that a reduction in force? It's just a reduction in payroll numbers. Everyone is on edge just waiting for the next axe to fall. And we have to try and learn or teach another role with less experienced people and more work. It's crazy. On milestone anniversaries, they send an email recognition but once the milestone gets to over 15 years, you are a target. Pay and benefits are fine by me. Raises are practically non-existent, even after layoffs and asking employees to take on more responsibility. that's messed up. They talk about work/life balance but that doesn't trickle down to the actual workers who are so stressed they fear for their jobs if they don't do the extra mile. Many of us are just hanging on instead of quitting so we can at least get some severance. Others are actively looking.

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