Celebrating and Supporting the Individual
At WGU, we believe in the inherent worth and ability of the individual. This is evident in the work we do—creating pathways to a better life by expanding access to education—and in how we do it—with an unwavering focus on our students.
This core belief in the worth of the individual and our vision to be the most student-centric university are woven into our culture, which is foundational to our success and the success of our students.
To ensure that our 7,500 faculty, staff, and leaders understand and embrace our culture, we have articulated seven Cultural Beliefs that support WGU’s vision and mission as we work to achieve our goals. Every WGU team member participates in workshops that provide training in making our cultural beliefs integral to our work life.
WGU has earned 3.7 stars on average from Glassdoor reviews of current and former employees.
WGU has been named one of the "The Top 100 Companies For Remote Jobs In 2021" by Forbes.
WGU Cultural Beliefs
- One-by-one. We solve for the individual student and advance outcomes one student at a time.
- Advance equity. We create an environment inclusive of diverse individuals and perspectives to enhance and harmonize our work with the communities we serve.
- Aim true. I know our key results and understand my contribution to achieve them.
- Own it. I take accountability for our key results and consider interdependencies as I think and act.
- Trust generously. I extend and earn trust, assume the best, and work for shared success.
- Engage respectfully. I invite inquiry, listen to understand, and contribute actively. I communicate at the right time and in the right way.
- Achieve together. I synchronize my work with the right roles and teams to drive progress and deliver the key results.
The WGU Community
With more than 130,000 students and 7,500 employees living and working throughout the country, it may be difficult to visualize just what the WGU community is. Building a sense of community and camaraderie among a workforce that is largely remote definitely relies on technology. But the real character and personality of our community is driven by the engagement of our employees.
While WGU doesn’t have sports teams, we do have a mascot named Sage. Sage is a Night Owl like many of our students, who manage to fit their studies in early in the morning and late at night. WGU employees and students refer to themselves as Night Owls—our mascot is part of our identity.
WGU’s senior leadership team hosts monthly Town Hall broadcasts that include interactive question-and-answer sessions as well as updates on university initiatives and programs. These sessions always begin with a celebration of one of our students or graduates, and they include recognition of an employee or team as well.
WGU also has an active intranet, called the “Intranest” in a nod to our Night Owl mascot. The Intranest offers employees a wealth of information—from news to a directory to benefits information to links to applications like WorkDay and Sonic Boom, our employee well-being app.
WGU encourages our team members to find ways to contribute in their local communities and to share their volunteer stories. To enrich the lives of our workforce, we offer opportunities to volunteer with local and national organizations such as Just Serve, Feed America, and the Human Rights Campaign.
What's It Like to Work for WGU?
WGU is a great place to work, has great people to work with, and has great values that guide the important work we do. That’s the short version. We’ll now turn it over to our Employee Value Proposition (and our employees themselves) to provide you with deeper insight into our student-centric culture.
WGU Employee Value Proposition
Your work contributes to making a difference in people’s lives—including your own. Everything we do and every decision we make at WGU begins with our students. We keep our mission core to all our decisions and never lose sight of the end goal, and every day we strive to live up to the WGU Promise. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students fulfill their dreams of graduating and creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. With WGU, you participate in a mission you can be proud of.
Our vision is to be the most innovative, student-centric university. WGU has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century. We expect fresh thinking and look for new ideas everywhere. Our innovation profile characterizes an environment that fosters elevated thinking, collaboration, encouragement, and support among a group of cross-industry professionals who promote forward thinking. You’ll be challenged and inspired here at WGU while we all work together to achieve great things.
We are a learning community. One of our most closely held principles is continuous growth and development. Self-improvement is never complete and you will find support, resources, and opportunity that promote curiosity and continuous development.
Regardless of your work location, everyone is well connected with their team members and across the organization. You can expect to work alongside excellent talent. As individuals, we treat others with respect, take accountability for our actions, and never say, “that’s not my job.” WGU has a presence throughout the country with offices in multiple locations. Certain roles are remotely located at home. Our main offices are in beautiful Salt Lake City—convenient to world-renowned natural landscapes and many outdoor sports venues, along with a thriving arts community.
You matter to us! We are an organization that values diversity and recognizes the worth of every individual, and we endeavor to inspire you to reach your full potential. Not only is it our design to compensate you for your contributions through competitive pay and benefit programs, but to also acknowledge and express our gratitude for your achievements and your investment in WGU with meaningful rewards and recognition. As we work together to accomplish our purpose, we strive for an optimal work-life experience so you can achieve work and personal goals.
Continuous Learning & Development
Q&A with our Learning & Talent Department Leader
WGU’s mission statement is “We change lives for the better by creating pathways to opportunity.” This is our mission for students and employees. We provide many different development resources and programs for our faculty and staff at all levels.
WGU has resources for career and skill development for all of our employees. These range from thousands of online courses to cohort-based programs focused on taking people to the next level of leadership
WGU believes in employees driving their individual development with support from their leadership, along with formalized learning opportunities. WGU is an active participant of online development opportunities from LinkedIn Learning, Pluralsight, and others.
WGU believes in and encourages learning with and from other experiences. We promote mentor/mentee relationships and have developed SAGE’s Exchange program. In this program employees temporally to and work in another role to support their development.
WGU strives to promote our employees at a similar rate of growth. In order to do this we have a comprehensive leadership pipeline to enable the next generation of WGU leaders.
WGU employs experts in leadership development who design, develop, and facilitate leadership development. All these programs are vetted with input from the senior leadership team to ensure alignment with WGU’s goals and mission.
Join our student-centric workforce.
A meaningful career awaits you at WGU.
