sous chef

building services attendant

student coordinator

electrician

educator

University System of New Hampshire

In 20+ years of employment, I have never seen more controlling, toxic manager behavior. In my experience, HR at UNH is not there to help the employee or guide the manager to use more positive and effective behaviors, but to protect the manager from any consequences of his bullying behaviors. Doors close and whispered conversations happen, followed by someone else getting told-off for a supposed mistake. There seemed to be a huge wall between highly paid management and hourly staff that made it feel more like a corporate manufacturing environment than a university; this was really strange because most hourly staff members are educated or skilled. I never even met my manager's boss; communication is one way, downhill.

My manager checked up on employees constantly, even checking time spent on bathroom breaks, eavesdropping on basic conversations with coworkers to make sure conversations didn't turn social and to jump in and criticize if a minor error was being discussed by employees. He would get employees to report each other for errors. If he lashed out with  criticism before knowing the facts and then found out that he was wrong, he would not admit it or apologize, and that happened often. He made everyone tell him about details so much that employees spent almost as much time reporting on and defending their daily work as they spent doing that work. This made some employees seem to fear him and not trust each other.  

There were some nice and interesting people, but the environment made it hard to make relationships. 

I recommend that you don't consider the tuition benefit, because you will probably not be able to make much use of it, if any. There are some good benefits like a choice of health insurance plans.

You have to pay a non-refundable annual fee of about $75 to park on campus. Staff parking can be hard to find. I had to get there about 30-40 minutes early in the morning to get a spot within a 5-7 minute walk to my building, and I was told that is normal.

If you are considering a teaching position at the University of New Hampshire, please take a minute and think twice. Unless you want to use this place as a stepping stone on your way to something bigger and better, save your soul the damage you may be subjecting it to. They will suck your blood dry, use you to the max, and show you no reward or appreciation for all your hard work. They have one of the most corporate mentality ever, so much so that it's hard to remember at times you're working for an educational institution. The students and faculty are at the bottom of their priority list. Not once in my long years of service here have I witnessed a gesture from the Administration of showing respect, or expressing how much they value their students and faculty. Everything they do revolves around money. Money is never spent on things that benefit the faculty and students, but on beautifying buildings, stadiums, falsely improving their ratings, and increasing their own salaries.The most incompetent and heartless management, from the bottom and all the way up, that you can ever imagine. And forget about job security. You go on doing the very best job anyone can do, spend all your time perfecting your teaching, loving and caring for your students as though they were your own, and your overall performance is nothing short of pure perfection. But instead of a reward, you can wake up one day, and you will have lost your job without as much as an explanation. So, please run. You deserve better than working for UNH.

While the benefits package at UNH is very good (getting worse each year though) and I personally benefitted greatly from the free tuition benefit, that is about where the "pros" end. This organization does absolutely nothing to advance employees, and you are not rewarded any more or less whether you go above and beyond, or you do bare minimum - this mindset spills into job performance, where most will do bare minimum because they know there is no reward/consequence for doing anything more. 

The part that irks me the most is the blatant disregard for job descriptions - I guarantee that everyone on this campus has had additional duties not listed in their job description added to their workloads - with no added compensation. Additionally, the managers and directors who have been here for 10+ years basically get to do whatever they want - they are untouchable in the eyes of administration. 

Finally, UNH has consistently failed to keep up with the "going rate" for jobs. The pay grades are misleading at best, as I've never seen anyone start even close to the midpoint range listed - you will start near the bottom of the pay range. The outside world (orgs outside UNH) is paying increasingly more, while UNH is consistently falling short on salaries. 

Overall, the middle management/administration jobs are pretty cushy, but would avoid any of the service/labor jobs at all costs as these are FAR below industry average for salary. 

Were it not for the 403B, zero stars might be more appropriate. After 15 years of working at UNH, I left making only about $5,000 more per year than when I started. The benefits are decent: health insurance, 403B with a healthy employer contribution, as well as a tuition waiver, which counts as a benefit only if your employer allows you time off to attend classes (that is the exception, not the rule--no matter what they claim). Wages are not competitive at all and the management style leaves a lot to be desired. Upper management is teeming with bullies and micromanagers and corporate types who only care about the bottom line. The workload is such that there isn't enough time in the day to complete everything. Management actively discourages comp time and refuses to pay overtime, so if you get behind, you really have no choice but to work longer hours on your own time if you don't wish to be frazzled all the time. They won't compensate accordingly nor hire auxiliary staff to help. Most of the faculty are rude and condescending. They treat staff like untouchables. I got out in the nick of time since the caliber of student had been on the decline. That bar was lowered the minute UNH placed more emphasis on tuition dollars rather than the quality of the degree.

Manager lacked any practical knowledge or education in the area supervised and yet criticized those reporting to them who had years in the field.  The same manager would openly ridicule others, which was embarrassing to watch.  The manager was protected by upper-management for some unknown reason and despite repeated reports of their abusive behavior.

Watch carefully and you'll see a great deal of abuse of power from those in the upper-level tier.  If you are smart, you will not take on a lower-level staff position.  These positions are dumping grounds for work off-loaded by managers.  You will be asked to do work outside your job description and there is a caveat that allows them to require you to do work outside your job description for up to 12 weeks. 

Compensation for staff is not equitable throughout the UNH system. Check the market rate of pay for the job you are applying for.  

If you are applying for a staff position, ask clarifying questions about the job duties at your interview.  A job description summarized by less than five sentences is a red flag.   

Don't take the bait.  Run.  This place will cause more stress than it's worth.

Typical day, do the work of two people for the low price of one. In the first six months 15 people quit in my section, because the HR motto is if you don't like you can quit, when it comes to low pay, malicious managers and coworkers, and a hostile work environment. HR will try to convince you you're a part time employee while you work a full-time job without benefits, unpaid overtime and no holidays that other employees "enjoy". At Plymouth State University labor laws don't exist because of some convenient loopholes. Managers treat everyone as if they are completely incompetent. They act as if it takes a talented rocket scientist to clean a building. It you ever you try to help make their life\job easier by providing them with information regarding work, you're ostrasized for undermining their authority. Most of the other employees are nice great people, but there is a clique of people, friends of management, the greatest cleaners to walk the earth that hate everyone in the world, who never have anything good or nice to say unless something negative qualifies. The best part of the job was quitting without notice after being treated like criminal for trying to be helpful. Good luck to anyone thinking of working here, don't waste your time or sanity.

UNH can be a rewarding place to work and also a frustrating place to work. Lots of great people but job movement can be glacial. It pays to make a plan if you intend to stay and map out a strategy. Make sure you can make use of the tuition benefit - not all departments let staff take courses during work. But the education benefit translates to night programs at GSC and even PSU or UNHM. Upper level management is out of touch with staff and while the student needs are central to most operations there is latitude in doing the right thing - in most cases. So if you work with students, learn the boundaries first! 
Lots of folks stay here a long time which speaks to the good. But don't let it discourage you if this is your dream job.

Management is horrible. They push you around and they demand you to do stuff. They don’t appreciate what you do for them. They are not the best people to work for. I was doing hay and there are a lot of stalls and I was the only one doing hay. The manager came over to me and said can you hurry up my horse needs hay. Management has no patience and if you are not a student there you will be treated badly. You have to kept your mouth shut and obey them. It wasn’t a good or fun place to work. My breaking point was when no one would cover for me and management expected me to come in during a huge snow storm. He wanted me to shovel my way out of my driveway and drive there. Not a fun place to work. You are the peasants and management is the ruler.

I left with 6 months. Severely understaffed with project management team creating unrealistic deadlines and giving temp roles that are underpaid so you can't ever hire a temp. HR is the worst I have ever seen. They only have two roles within IT, all paid exactly the same. Doesn't matter if you are on the help desk or you a cyber security expert, you make the same. No performance bonus and pay raises are the same for all employees regardless of performance. Some great people work here and work really hard, but HR and senior leaders have created a culture of burnout and there are so many other IT jobs in area paying better.

I've worked at UNH for over 15+ years after working 10 years in the private sector.  Although the benefits have changed over the years, they are better than most employers out there still.  From my experience, the workplace culture has been positive and my department values a healthy work/life balance.  The only con has been that most employees tend to stay at UNH for awhile, which can limit internal growth potential.Overall, it's a great place to work.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sous chef 9 salaries reported	$21.11 per hour
Building services attendant 4 salaries reported	$14.88 per hour
Student coordinator 3 salaries reported	$47,333 per year
Electrician 2 salaries reported	$22.50 per hour
Educator 3 salaries reported	$41,500 per year

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