A recent
perusal of the HCT reviews on GlassDoor has revealed that, of the past ten
reviews left this quarter, a mighty ONE is positive about the place! A further
one is neutral, whereas, for some unfathomable reason, eight former and current employees
have seen fit to leave several (oops – many!) black marks on HCT’s report card.
How can that possibly be?
So take a careful
scrutiny of the comments below, and then see if you can detect a common
recurring theme. It should not be too difficult. Even better, see if you can
match each review with its Glassdoor title, as per below!
·
Worst Management
·
There is a War at HCT: Faculty and Staff
are bleeding
·
Yikes!
·
Toxic Working Environment
·
Professional Suicide
· Toxic beyond belief
·
Could improve
December
2023 - Cons
Lots of micromanagement of faculty
(i.e., faculty punch in and out every day at a time clock, not allowed to leave
campus for lunch even and no restaurants on campus!) with next to no
consequences for student misconduct; makes effective teaching very challenging.
Severely restricted our healthcare in the middle of the year; suddenly changed
working conditions without notice/last minute (i.e., required faculty to teach
on Saturdays, five weeks after the semester had started, with only 72 hours'
notice); haven't given faculty a raise in 12 years. Punitive, not transparent,
unpredictable, inconsiderate, exploitative (many faculty have over 250
students), and minimal if any consequences for students: poor behavior,
academic dishonesty, missing of exams, etc. Not a very academic environment at
all with minimal opportunities for research, guest speakers, committees, clubs,
etc. Very insular with next to no collaboration with outside universities.
Minimal opportunity for promotion, even after earning a PhD. No student
diversity.
November
2023 - Cons
Arrogant management; not much room for
independent working; too much control by the management
Advice
to Management
Learn to be open, kind, and supportive.
Your faculty is running your system, so you should look after their benefits
concretely not by offering tiny and meaningless romantic surprise gifts to
compensate skipping annual bonuses.
October
2023 - Cons
No opportunity for growth. The manager's
degree needs to be rechecked as they have zero sense of operation. Insanely
dumb policies were issued such as presence on Friday just to complete working
hours. The weekly meeting does nothing except put more pressure on staff.
Everyone is mentally disturbed by the dumbness of the higher organizational
hierarchy. Please refrain from applying unless you have no other place.
Advice
to Management
Please read some books to understand
about basic motivators and consider staff human. We also have a family to look
after.
October
2023 - Cons
If it costs your peace, then it is
expensive. Don’t be taken away by the salary package. The job is like working
in two full time jobs plus one part time. Academic freedom died here. Faculty
are mentally drained and no hope to ease the pain they feel. You are in a race
against the computer/automation of tasks inside a maze of nonstop monitoring of
missed actions in the computer system. Example: Missed to take the attendance
yesterday, 6:00 AM, email will be sent that you missed it. Attendance alert
from students at 6:00 AM. On average 10-15 emails per day, Moderation is stressful
and time consuming. 4-6 courses per term. Student class number increased to 28.
Working in HCT is like earning money that you will just use for
hospitalization. No humanity at all.
Advice
to Management
We cannot beat the computer. It is a
tool to help us, not to stress us.
October
2023 - Cons
It is one of the worst working
environments in the world. I will share facts based on my experiences in HCT
for the past years.
• A military style and incompetent leader in an academic
environment run HCT with no real academic experience in a large environment. He
views all faculty as unfit. He has a lot of issues and doesn’t know how to deal
with them.
• The middle/upper management focuses on marketing themselves in the
media at the expense of faculty time and efforts. The focus is on themselves.
•
HR is famous for releasing rules followed by several revisions. They are very
slow to respond to inquiries.
• Administration staff are popular for passing
their duties to faculty.
• You are expected to teach 15 credit hours in four
days except Friday. Each class is 2 hours long for 3 credit hours. Do the math
per week.
• Students and faculty can’t leave the class even 5 minutes earlier.
If you do, you will get a warning letter.
• Too many administrative duties on
faculty. Faculty consistently overloaded with work, leading to burnout and
fatigue.
• You must come to campus on Friday even if no duties or teaching are
needed. Just to put in some hours.
• Toxic working environment. Everyone fears
everyone. Passing blame is a common practice. Many faculty face instances of
bullying, gossip, or general negativity among colleagues. Giving warning
letters is common, even for ridiculous HR rules such as not wearing a tie.
•
There is no transparency between the upper management and employees.
• It is a
highly complex working environment with many rules and procedures. Other
institutions work to improve processes and procedures; HCT, on the other hand,
adds processes and procedures to the existing ones.
• Upper management
decisions change very often.
• No promotion; it is tough to get promoted. Why?
To save money.
• It has never been a salary raise.
• Summer teaching is
mandatory with no compensation, unlike other real universities in the country
and worldwide.
• Biometric sign-in is required, and you must complete 36.5
hours weekly, unlike other federally funded excellent real universities.
Failing to achieve these hours will result in financial penalties.
• The leader
doesn’t care about research, only teaching.
• Invigilate high school students
taking EMSAT on Sundays is optional at this moment, with ridiculously low
compensation ($80 for six hours). However, due to this very low compensation,
very few are volunteering for this task. This might change and make it
compulsory without payment based on circulating rumors. Anyway, it is coming.
•
The absence of private spaces or areas to concentrate leads to constant
disruptions. There are no offices, just cubicles in a large area housing many
faculty.
• Faculty don’t have ergonomically designed furniture, leading to
discomfort over prolonged periods.
• Lack of transparency from management about
HCT goals, expectations, or changes, leading to feelings of insecurity,
confusion, and certainly.
• Based on the latest news, more faculty are leaving
than new hires are coming. They are asking us to refer friends to apply for
HCT, but most faculty are not complying or encouraging friends to do so. I am
sure you understand why.
• Tickets are paid the same despite your country of
origin and distance from UAE.
In a nutshell, it is crucial for you to
prioritize a healthy working environment. Working in a toxic workplace hampers
your productivity and creative potential and can lead to detrimental physical
and mental health consequences. Chronic stress, anxiety, and a sense of
disillusionment are common repercussions of such environments like HCT.
Furthermore, a toxic workplace can hinder your career progression and stifle
opportunities for growth and learning. Therefore, it is imperative for you to
conduct thorough research, seek feedback, and trust your instincts when
evaluating potential employment opportunities in HCT. Avoiding toxic work
environments will pave the way for a fulfilling and sustainable career journey.
Unless you are desperate for a job, then come and join us. There are many fake
positive reviews. There is absolutely nothing positive in this institution. It
is not a real university as we know it; it is more of an elementary school run
and operated by people who don’t understand the academic field.
Advice
to Management
Hopeless to advise. He doesn’t listen.
Don’t treat faculty as slaves with master’s or Ph.D. degrees.
September
2023 - Cons
Toxic environment, good educational
background is a real disadvantage for promotion, nothing is about education but
management, lazy, very weak ability of students etc
Advice
to Management
Give some credits for your employees
with proper education and experiences from real world class institutions
September
2023 - Cons
It is a completely toxic and dysfunctional
place, run by people who have no clue about education. The psycho bullying
atmosphere starts at the top and others follow suit. There is no education
happening here, just mercenaries collecting money and high managers enjoying
bossing people around before eventually stabbing them. Admin employees are told
to leave reviews on this site to make the organization look decent. You should
only accept a job here if you are totally desperate and willing to do anything
with no ethical compass.
Advice
to Management
They will not listen, there is no point.
Glassdoor Summary: HCT has an overall rating of 3.3 out of 5, based on over 353 reviews
left anonymously by employees. 51% of employees would recommend working
at HCT to a friend and 39% have a positive
outlook for the business. This rating
has decreased by -11% over the last 12 months.
Meanwhile,
the current Ratings Distribution for the Educational Empire of Evil stands as follows:
5
stars: 14%
4
stars: 15%
3
stars: 23%
2
stars: 14%
1
star: 34%
