How many times have you complained about hating your job? You may not have it so bad compared to the people working in these companies. 24/7 Wall Street has released a list for the worst companies to work for and we’re bringing them to you and breaking them down. Take a look, though if you work for one of these, you probably already know it.
9. Fiserv
Fiserv provides information management and e-commerce products to the financial services industry. They mostly deal with banks, credit unions, and brokers. It’s more a collection of assets than any prominent business, as they’ve had more than 140 mergers and acquisitions. It’s not surprising, then, that they should appear on this list, as this industry is one of the worst for laying off employees.
This company is cheap. They don’t pay their employees well and come raise time, the offer is quite meager. Several employees were also dissatisfied with the health benefits being offered and chances are with upcoming legislation, it will be even worse. “The deductible is so high that they might as well not ever offer it,” gripes one employee.
When asked about the job, many employees stated that they were given minimal training, making tough business decisions especially hard to make. Senior staff was also very aloof and unresponsive to employee job concerns. Because the company is comprised of so many various acquisitions, the different factions often end up having to fight one another for resources and attention. It also results in a very low morale between coworkers. “Don’t mess with the old school ‘clique’ or you can screw up advancement opportunities,” an employee wrote. Yikes!
8. NCR
NCR is a manufacturer of self-checkout machines, ATMs, and airport self-service kiosks. The company boasts that its technologies are used in 300 million transactions a day and proudly claim to “make your life easier.” Employees vary in their work from the sales level all the way to repair and installation of the machines. Despite the diversity of work, employees can all agree that working for NCR is awful.
Many employees thought that their company’s technology was out of date. They also complained about having to carry around large unsightly manuals with them. Without a doubt, the company has a problem with demanding a full-time commitment from its employees, one former worker even saying that there was an “expectation that [employees] are available to work 24/7.”. You would think a company focused in self-service machines would allow more independence.
7. Sears Holdings (Sears/Kmart)
If you’ve ever shopped at a Sears or Kmart, it’s probably not that surprising to see them on this list. After a merger in 2005, the company has been effectively run by hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert. Lampert had tried and failed miserably in hiring a good CEO for Sears Holdings and ultimately took the position himself under the “if you want something done right you have to do it yourself” mantra. After earning the title of “greatest bumbler in the U.S. retail industry”, we don’t think he’s doing it right either.
Sears Holdings ranked an incredible second to last in customer service in ACSI’s retail category (Walmart still holds the title for absolute worst). Kmart is definitely the weaker of the company’s two divisions based on same-store sales but Sears isn’t doing much better. We feel like it’s only a manner of time before they go under.
The company’s employees agree. With work hours limited, low morale among employees, and the constant pressure of having to convince customers to open new credit cards (which sometimes can’t be registered due to technological dysfunction), it’s no wonder they’re unhappy. Wages were also an issue and one employee said that raises were few and far between as the company focused unsuccessfully on updating its technology. They believe the company would be better to focus in investing the different branch locations and Businessweek agrees, showing that compared to their competitors, Sears and Kmart aren’t even trying to invest in their stores.
6. ADT
For a company that claims to provide the best in home and business security, the definitely don’t provide any sort of security for their employees. With just 16,000 employees and only 400 dealers to install these systems, it’s any wonder ADT can cover the 19 million alarm signals it receives each year.
Employees at ADT complained a lot about the management hierarchy, citing that training was abysmal and that employees were expected to figure out how to do things on their own. While being able to teach oneself is important, it doesn’t make sense when being expected to represent a large company and basic training practices are essential. More than that, workers said that management treated them terribly, often micromanaging projects and in general being very disorganized. Both employees and even customers held contempt for ADT’s drive to pursue new customers. To quote one employee, the decision makers “could care less about customers after first sale”.
5. RadioShack
Trying hard to hang onto customers and their failing chain as evidenced by a pretty lame commercial during this year’s Super Bowl, RadioShack certainly isn’t doing anything for its employees either. In fact the company seems to have a track record for throwing a lot of money at things to gain notice, including a sponsored team in the Tour de France, while failing to invest it where it really counts. One employee commented, “Radioshack constantly changes their focus because they are a struggling company. Basically you’ll be fighting real hard for one sales aspect and get told a month later that it doesn’t matter anymore and that everyone is a failure.”
The district managers seem to come up with sales quotas out of thin air and stress the importance of mobile phone sales and selling services to customers that they wouldn’t ever need. The company offers its workers awful pay compared to competitors and management is often playing favorites, giving employees little to strive for. Then again, considering where they work, there was probably little to strive for in the first place.
4. Dollar General
Just like the disgusting yellow signs outside of each location, employees at Dollar General are pretty dismal. The small box retailer claims to be the largest in the company with over 10,000 stores. Despite this, the title does nothing to actually stimulate sales. In fact, the company has a huge problem with theft. Many workers see customers stealing things on a regular basis but Dollar General pins the losses on the employees, of course doing nothing to prevent the employees that do.
Another large complaint among employees was working hours. There are often very few hours for associates but employees are told they need to have full availability, meaning workers can’ttake on a second job. Meanwhile managers are completely overworked. Customers definitely notice. In the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index, Dollar General ranked very low, even behind J.C. Penney with all of its struggles to stay afloat in recent years.
3. Dillard’s
The department store chain owned and operated by the Dillard family hasn’t done well in recent years. Dillard’s hasn’t seen any recent growth and continues to lose sales to its stiff competition like Macy’s and Kohl’s. The recent emergence of online retailers like Amazon has also given the department store a run for its money.
One of the glaring issues with Dillard’s is the pay which employees take home. Despite the low paycheck and falling sales, the Dillard brothers each take home multiple millions each year. Combine this with unrealistic sales goals and you have a lot of unhappy workers. Many feel completely ignored by management and hold a lot of disdain for having to compete against their coworkers for sales.
2. Express Scripts
Express Scripts is one of the nation’s biggest managers of prescription drug services and since buying Medco Health Solutions in 2012 has become increasingly terrible towards its employees. On top of a series of layoffs, the company overworks their employees to the bone. What’s worse is they boast giving their employees a good work/life balance, only to have a majority of the company feel differently.
Customers haven’t been happy with Express Scripts either. Customer service is rated very low and even employees griped that the company was more concerned with reaching quotas than helping their customers. Relations have been particularly soiled since Walgreens stopped accepting Express Scripts prescriptions and their poor delivery time certainly doesn’t help their standing either.
1. DISH
This isn’t DISH’s first time topping this list. While ranking behind all of its biggest competitors in terms of consumer satisfaction, the bulk of suffering goes to its employees who try to quell the numerous complaints received daily. Not only is the company considered inconsiderate to customers but also treats its employees like crap, earning them Businessweek’s prestigious title of “Meanest Company in America”.
In addition to the unfortunate circumstance of working with understandably irate clients, DISH compensates their employees very poorly. Salaries and benefits are pitiful compared to the rest of the industry, says one employee, who also claims, “I should know as I work in a [department] that sees the salaries.” With this kind of terrible treatment of people, we don’t expect DISH to still be around in coming years, or at least their current and long standing CEO Charlie Ergen, who is seen as the root of these problems. When it comes to terrible treatment of people, to quote the company’s slogan, nothing else compares.
Unfortunately, sometimes we end up in work situations that are less than ideal just to pay the bills. That doesn’t mean we should stop looking for our dream jobs. Create your own. Be an entrepreneur and get yourself out of the rut. Don’t let a CEO rain on your parade.
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