Acxiom Reviews

Pros

Acxiom is a company that still understands the importance of and supports balance of personal and professional life amongst its associates.

Cons

Acxiom is loosing the aspects of what made it a great place to work. The changes being made by leadership are either not thought through well enough or are not being communicated properly, resulting in low morale and a feeling of abandonment.

Advice to Senior Management

Remember, associates are the life blood of Acxiom. They are, also, people. Therefore, be sensitive to the psychological affects decisions begin made and being implemented have on the work force.

Pros

Paid Time off and flexibility both are very hard to beat at Acxiom.

Cons

As the title implies, pay cuts, job cuts, layoffs and people having to go part time or take Unpaid Vacation leaves is a reality. Stay away for now.

Advice to Senior Management

Take care of employees, not drive them away.

Pros

Acxiom is an excellent organization that treats its workers very well. Great benefits, great knowledge base, great opportunities for advancements.

Cons

A little slow at times, but this can give you an opportunity to re-evaluate yourself and your role within the organization.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep working on advancing the technical leadership. Always maintain open and constant communication with your employees. Stay focused and directed.

Pros

Acxiom offers lots of opportunities to learn from colleagues and to work with top clients in many industries. The culture is fairly laid-back, although that is changing. The paid time off seems generous and the leadership generally seems flexible and understanding on an individual basis.

Cons

It's fairly easy to be pigeon-holed, either by not taking the initiative to branch out, or by becoming good enough at what you do that your direct leadership doesn't want you to move up. The company is going through lots of change right now as well, cutting benefits, salaries, and hours. Some of these efforts seem to be aimed at cutting costs without massive layoffs, which is great, but only for those that can afford the cuts rather than finding another job.
There's a lot of confusion along with the changes, and not many helpful answers coming down from leadership.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want the associates to get behind your changes, spend the time and money to understand how your changes make their jobs more difficult. Then make a visible effort to solve those problems before you force the changes, rather than calling a surprise meeting to say, "We're doing this now so figure out how to get it done on top of all your other work."

Pros

Acxiom provides a good deal of flexibility in your work schedule. In Little Rock there is covered parking and a workout facility offered at no charge. The relationship with your peers is excellent and it can be a fun place to work.

Cons

Depending on the account, the hours can be extremely long and work can pile up due to the fact the account is not generating enough revenue to warrant more resources. I agree that the client and shareholders come first, but it should not be at the expense of the associate.

Advice to Senior Management

Fully develop and test the solution being offered to any new or existing client before implementing it. Make sure the resources are available to complete this in a timely and efficient manner and avoid allowing the client to dictate the terms. They should be allowed to provide input and thought leadership, but the agreement should benefit both sides.

Pros

Ability to work virtually and to pace yourself
If you can find the right people you can build some of your own solutions

Cons

Poor sales management
Few metrics that are followed consistently
Little strategic vision--many different directions; marketing seems scattershot and not designed to support the sales force
Often it was difficult to get people motivated to help with "out of the box" thinking; if you were jusyt replicating then they could help, but very few creative thinkers in the delivery and product group
A bit of arrogance from the days when they were "the only game in town"

Advice to Senior Management

Develop a solid bench of sales managers
Promote people who have a strategic vision that matches client nedds
Do something about the many layers of people in Conway who seem to have responsibility for one small function and do not understand where they fit in the solution
Remind people that clients are a good thing and should be cherished
Rethink the professional services component; make it a part of any contract

Pros

Telecommuting, flexible schedule, generous vacation and sick leave, headquartered in a small town, covered downtown parking deck, gym, cafeteria, nice office building.

Cons

Terrible morale due to small weekly layoffs across the company, mandatory pay cut across the board, forced unpaid vacation in addition to pay cut, reduced hours in addition to pay cut and forced unpaid vacation. Attrition is a real problem, but management will not acknowledge it as such. It appears then to be part of an orchestrated effort to create an environment that encourages employees to leave voluntarily, therefore freeing Acxiom from the expense of layoffs. The only thing on the minds of management is cost-cutting, a short-sighted and flawed plan. Management seems to only be concerned with acquiring their bonuses. Employees are treated with contempt and disrespect.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop the bloodletting. You cannot run this company without the expertise of those who've brought it this far. Your policies are driving some of the best talent that we have/had away, and in some cases they are going to our competitors. You are driving wedges between employees by treating them differently when it comes to sacrifice. Sacrifice has been made by those who can afford it the least. There is no single driving vision that encourages and inspires. There is no unity. There is little if any regard whatsoever on the part of most employees beyond their paycheck for this success of this company. Most of us are simply hanging on until we can move on. Management sings one sweet tune, but it is nothing more than a ruse for Wall Street.

Pros

Effort and dedication by some people

Cons

Management treats everyone like they work in Arkansas and is clueless.
Management behaves as if Acxiom is the only company in the world.
Promises the moon, and thats the last you hear if it.
Gives out a bonus one year, then cuts your pay and forces unpaid vacation the next.
I know some people that are making less now than when they started with Acxiom.

Advice to Senior Management

Start treating associates like they have value. Not a cost center.
Back up promises with actions.

Pros

For those that love customer data it is close to heaven. For IT technology lovers it may be the same.

Cons

Things are very chaotic at the moment. Communication and a common view /language seem te be missing.

Advice to Senior Management

Current way management reacts to crisis makes everybody unhappy. Heavy cuts salaries and sending people home leaves Acxiom very weak and unprepared when the economy gets going again. It is showing lack of long term commitment / vision. This is time to innovate and the competitions seems to know.

Pros

They haven't started locking down personal internet usage yet... Great annual tech symposium funded mostly by vendors so it shouldn't be in danger of being canned.

Cons

In three years it went from a great place to work that was taking notes from the progressive tech employers in Silicon Valley with emphasis on getting the job done and a very flexible work environment to an "old school" business mentality where being in the office 8-5 at your desk is thought to be the most productive. Fear of being laid off or let go runs rampant; pay cuts and furloughs were said to save jobs yet the lay-offs continue every 2-3 weeks. Morale is in the basement.

Advice to Senior Management

Take some advice from the retired leadership and restore Acxiom's culture or won't ever be able to distinguish yourself from any other employers and when the economy turns around you will find yourself with a severe lack of talent as other major tech employers are moving into the area.